I once fired a staff member who had been coming late to work. I didn't care to know why he was acting the way he did. I had earlier warned him about his late coming that week, and the following week when I discovered he had come late 3 times, I issued a sack letter to him. He picked the letter from my office that day and left my office. Then he returned and knocked. I knew he had read it and had probably come to apologize or to ask why I had sacked him. When he entered he knelt down. "Ma, please. I beg you. My wife is pregnant and currently in the hospital about to give birth. Please, that is why I have been late. But even if I am late it doesn't get up to 10 minutes. I have never crossed 8:10 am since. I ensure I arrive very early." I told him the company had made the decision already and there was nothing I could do. He begged and begged and eventually left. Now I am not a wicked woman. That staff member is a workaholic. I got his wife's number one certain time to greet her and she told me that her husband has refused to stay with her despite knowing how heavy she was with the pregnancy. Instead, he always gives excuses for work. I laughed and I told the wife that we would find a way for Oga to spend two weeks with her. The day she was in Labour, he rushed her to the hospital, kept her in the hands of his mother, and rushed down to work. I was aware of it through a staff who was close to the wife that his wife had given birth. That was the day I issued the sack letter to him. I got the staff to get her and told them we were all going to the hospital before him. I left the hospital with three representatives and we went to the hospital to greet his wife. That day from work, after complaining about how wicked I was, he came to the hospital to find all of us there. I was holding his baby. When he saw me he was shocked. I laughed. "Oga Kola rest. In situations like this apply for a day or two off. You will be battling family problems and won't tell anyone. See your head. If I weren't in communication with your family, this is how you would have been at work when you should have been with your wife." He began to shed tears. Tears of Joy. I handed him his baby and asked him to take two weeks off and resume later. When I was about to go, he said to me. "Ma, so it was a prank?" I laughed We all laughed. Family comes first and should be prioritized above all.