The guy who greeted me said his name was Thabang and he was selling insurance. Now on a normal basis I would have shooshed this guy away because I hated these street people who sell insurance. However I did not shoosh the guy: one, because his friend was cute and I was single. Two, because I was bored while I waited for my friend who was at the bank at the time, I was lazy to go in the bank and wait there. So I entertained this guy with his insurance form. I asked questions as if I was interested.
I was dragging the conversation on purpose because then I would not be standing there alone. I even put my phone in the bag and stopped eating the pie. Eventually the other guy, the cute one came over to us and he greeted as well. He was introduced to me by his friend and I was told that his name was Dumi. “Wow you are Xhosa?” I asked him with a smile. “hahaha no I am not, not unless you want me to be”. “ah, thought you were. Most Dumisani’s I know are Xhosa” I said.
Anyway the guy started flirting with me and I was happy that I was passing time with such people. Thabang then reminded me of the insurance he was selling. Dumi joined him as they were selling it to me. Suddenly I was convinced that I should sign up for that insurance, which I did. I filled in the form and got to the banking details. I was so trusting for some reason that Thabang was filling the form himself while I was giving him details by mouth. My bank account number was in my phone so I opened my bag, took my phone, browsed the contacts to the bank account and gave the phone to Dumi so he would call it out to Thabang.
When we were done I saw my friend coming out from the bank and Dumi said he was going to call me, I said he should not. But I knew he would call me if he wanted to because he had my number on the form. When my friend was closer the 2 guys left and I and my friend went to her flat which was 4 streets away from there.
When we got to the flat I realised that my phone was not there. I first thought was that it had fallen on our way there. Then I remembered that no, it did not fall. I never took it back from Dumi. Once again my first thought was he must have forgotten to give it to me as I had also forgotten to take it. I went to the nearest public phone. My frined was left at her flat. I called my phone, a lady who called herself Rosey answered it. She said she was at church square, I told her she had got my phone, she confirmed that she indeed found the phone by the bank building. I asked her to wait for me at church square while I ran there.
It was 4 streets away, I ran the whole time to Church Square, luckily all the robots were opening for me. When I got to Church Square after about 5 minutes I called the phone again. “I waited and waited. You did not get here so I left, I am currently at the rank in Bloed street.” I asked her to wait for me and she said she was going to wait. Without even thinking I ran to Bloed street, which by the way was about +/-9 streets away from church square. I went across two streets and thought: wait a minute, there was no way that lady would be at Bloed within such time. I am being played here. I called the phone again. It rang with no answer. Called once again and it went straight to voicemail.
I started thinking that I never dropped my phone by the banks, this Rosey woman is lying. My phone never came back from Dumi. I went back to Church Square to see if Dumi and Thabang were still there. I looked around and saw another small girl who was holding those same papers they were holding. I thought yes she works with them. She might know their where abouts. “Sorry, sorry, I am looking for Dumi and Thabang” I said to the girl and described what they were wearing. The girl looked shocked and asked me why I wanted them. I told the girl that they mistakenly took my phone.
The girl looked innocent and much younger than the rest of them. She said they had left about a few minutes ago. I asked if there was a girl named Rosey, she said yes, she was with them. I asked where their offices were because then I could still find them there clocking out. The girl said she was about to knock off as well so I could come with her. I pushed her to knock off at that very instant and she did.
We went to their offices which were somewhere on Church Street and Andries. When we got to the building the girl told me to wait by the entrance. I said no I wanted to go up the lift with her. I just thought that she could warn those guys and they might use another exit. I could see that she was starting to see exactly what was going on.
We went up the lift and when we got to the floor I saw that the lift was at the end of one corridor. The stairs were right next to the lift. The girl told me I was not allowed to go any further. I thought well no one would go outside that floor without me seeing them. I was going to stand there the whole night if that was what it took. My phone was 3 days old, there was no way I was just going to give up.
The girl went along the corridor and she got in the first passage. As soon as she was out of sight I followed her. I saw that where she went was another corridor. I then stood at the end of the corridor. So I had the view of the lift and the view of all the doors that the girl might have gone into. After a few minutes an older guy came out with the girl. I jumped a bit thinking that the girl said I was not allowed to be there. The girl pointed at me and that guy came to me.
“What is the matter?” he asked. “What did those boys do?” I told him that they took my phone by mistake when I was signing the form. “Dumi and Thabang went to Sunnyside, but I am going to call them now. He went in one of the doors, I sat down on the floor and waited. He came out and told me Dumi and Thabang were on their way back. He then went back inside. 2 guys wearing hood came from one of the doors and they went pass me. I really could not look at their faces because they looked down and they had these huge hoods over their heads.
I thought omg! Those 2 guys are leaving! For all I know they could be Dumi and Thabang! I freaked out! I jumped from my sitting position and knocked on the door that the big guy went to. He opened for me and I nervously told him that I really needed that phone and I was worried that I might not get it back. I even made out a story on the spot about how my mother died and I was actually in Pretoria fixing her documents. So my family got me that phone. Without that phone I could be stranded. The guy called me inside “have a sit, calm down, you want water?” I said “no , I don’t want water”. I just sat there and started crying. I told them I was worried about my family and I was missing my mother.
Within a few minutes there was a knock. The guy opened the door and it was Dumi with my phone. I just grabbed it forcefully from him and he left. I got calm then reality started getting me to me. I just signed some stupid insurance and these people are doing scams for sure. They were obviously going to steal my phone, Sunnyside was far to walk from for them to just get back within 10 minutes. “Can I cancel my application?” I said to the big guy. “You see now you want a lot of things” oh let me not forget that when I was crying and they were trying to comfort me they were asking me where I was living and I said I just moved to Mamelodi but do not know the place very well so I could not direct them exactly where I live.
After the guy said I could not cancel my thingy I realised that I could not argue with them. And should they be caught by police for what they were doing I could be their first suspect if I talked too much. Then they would find me and probably kill me. I might have lied to them about where I lived but the form was not lying. I gave up and told myself I was going to sort the issue out with my bank.
But I got my phone anyway.
The end