London Ontario – Part 1

I left my Airbnb in Windsor at 10:50 a.m. My pre-booked Flix bus, heading to London, Ontario, arrived promptly, and we boarded while the driver scanned our tickets and helped us organize our luggage. 

I had the unfortunate privilege of sitting beside a lady, who was of Indian ethnicity who spoke on the phone for almost the entire journey. At first, I thought she just needed to answer a call or two, but was I was mistaken. She was the one initiating all the calls and FaceTime. I wondered how many calls it would take before I could get the much-needed sleep I had anticipated during the almost three-hour journey. When it became apparent that I might never get to sleep, I expressed my discomfort by making sounds and comments like “OMG,” accompanied by a dramatic sigh. She seemed to ignore me or just didn’t notice.

It was call after call after call. I was both livid and horrified as I shifted restlessly in my seat. Then, an idea struck me: what if I started playing loud music to interrupt her calls? Surely, she couldn’t continue talking over the music. I retrieved my phone, opened the TikTok app, and clicked on a video. OMG, TikTok would save the day! 

I turned up the volume, and the first video began to play. The lady turned sharply to look at me, and I concentrated on the video. I must have caught a disapproving glance from her from the corners of my eyes, as her expression changed. I kept watching the videos, and the volume was loud. She leaned away from me and switched her phone to the other hand. Was I interrupting her conversation? Was the person on the other end of her call struggling to hear her voice? She ended the call.

I exited the app. Silence. Finally, I thought, I can lean back into my chair and rest now. But I was too quick; there was another call, and she began chatting away again, just when my phone was tucked away in my backpack by my feet. I sat up straight, reached for my phone, opened TikTok, and turned the volume up even louder this time. She shot me a disapproving glance, scolding me without saying a word. 

I kept watching the videos, laughing and exclaiming as if I was having a great time. The truth is, I wasn’t paying attention to the videos at all; it was all an act. She leaned away from me again, trying to avoid my “tantrums.” But it didn’t work—she ended the call yet again.

This cycle continued with her making phone calls and me whipping out my phone to watch loud videos, the lady leaning away and eventually ending the calls and facetimes. Did I mention, she kept facetiming a particular guy? I am not sure how many cycles we had, but at some point I overheard her asking for a job from some lady, said she saw the company had an opening. I did not hear the other side but then she added, oh, i don’t mind if it’s a receptionist opening, anything you have is okay, didn’t hear how the other person replied but she must have been declined as she started apologizing about ‘bothering’ her. She was sorry. 

I felt bad for her. In between our cycles, I had texted my son to tell him of my ordeal with this lady and jokingly retorted about just finding out that I, in fact, could be petty sometimes. As someone who values direct and clear communication, I was surprised by my petty response when a simple “Sorry, ma’am, I’m trying to get some rest” would have sufficed. Could it? But then, I digress.

Her disappointment at the news of no openings reminded me of when I newly came to Canada and was job hunting. The many rejections and how they felt. As someone who was a licensed pharmacist in Nigeria and worked in government institutions both state and federal, corporate pharmaceuticals, and had a private practice running a retail pharmacy, I thought surely someone would offer me a job, right? I am highly skilled, mannered, and hardworking. I was wrong. Then I was told to dumb down my resume when nothing was forthcoming, still got rejected. I realized much later, while my resume was dumbed down, I couldn’t dumb down during the interviews, I spoke with knowledge and authority. I had about a decade of experience as a pharmacist. I thought if I showed confidence and competence, I could get the job, but I did not. I was overqualified, I was told, which was confusing, as my employment counsellor had removed most of my ‘high’ skills so I could get the minimum pay jobs. One employer said he could tell I would leave if I got a better opportunity. My hope was dashed. I had two children to care for alone, and like Destiny’s Child sang, bills. bills, bills. I was applying for support roles and still got rejected because I was either overqualified or lacked the “Canadian work experience”.

These experiences (the lady’s and mine) reflect the stories of many immigrants in Canada. They are diverse yet share a common thread of hope and dreams waiting to be realized. People come to Canada with the belief that dreams can come true here. Immigrants are eager to work hard and take on any job. 

During the fourth stage of a job application process, the VP said to me, “Fola, you remind me a lot of my father; he was always hardworking.” Unfortunately, he informed me that they would not be moving forward with my application. I pondered this for several months, questioning what was wrong with hard work. Eventually, I realized the issue: they were looking for someone with hobbies! This was for an executive and operations support role, with lots of travel. I remembered that during the third stage of interviews, the regional manager had mentioned something similar, and we had discussed my love for theater, classical music, and ceramics. I did not remember to share it this time, I failed because I seemed “too harworking”?

To be continued