The Diary Game: How I Spent My Last Weekend at my Aunty's Shop in Agbeni Market, Ibadan.

The day was Saturday, 24th of January, 2026, I am still smiling as I remember how the day went. To be honest, I didn't plan any big outing or hangout the last weekend, instead, I spent the whole day helping at my aunt's shop in Agbeni Market, Ibadan. She sells all kinds of sweets, biscuits, chocolates, chewing gums, and other kids' confectionery, basically the spot every child drags their parents to. Let me tell you how the day went.

That Saturday morning, around 8 AM, my phone rang. It was my Aunty calling me. She said she was heading to Lagos to restock goods and needed someone to stay at the shop all day to oversee things. "Ayobami, please come and help me hold the shop,” she said. I paused for about 15 minutes thinking about my life, “Ah, this will be stressful.” The last time I helped there, it was chaos: we were writing sales manually on paper, adding totals with calculator, counting cash repeatedly, and dealing with impatient customers. I almost said no… but family is family, so I agreed.

Departure from home

I got to Agbeni Market around 10 AM. When I entered the shop, I was both shocked and excited because things had changed a lot. Aunty had bought a brand new Redmi Pad Pro 5G just for sales, which means no more paper and calculator stress. She quickly showed me the sales app (it's just a simple POS-style app), and after one demonstration, I caught it perfectly.

From then on, my main job and the whole process became easy: customer will pick their items, I enter the products on the tablet, it shows the total, the customer pays cash or makes a transfer, I count the money, give change if needed and then dispense the goods. I felt so much peace the entire day. There's no headache from manual calculations, no fear of making mistakes in total. Technology has really made a huge difference, it literally makes life easier to live.

Making sales on the sales app

My next concern was the sales girls. There are three of them helping Aunty at the shop. I already knew one very well, but the other two just started this month according to what Aunty told me. I didn't want to come across as bossy, but I also didn't want them to feel they could play too much.

So, I make sure I balanced it carefully: when customers were few, we gisted, played music from my phone, laughed, and just chilled. When customers came, everyone switched to work mode, I made sure they work politely, fast, and diligently, and it worked. They respected me without feeling oppressed, and I enjoyed relating with them like friends.

One of the new sales girls, performing her duties

The best part was interacting with the market crowd, different customers from all ethnic groups: Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, even some foreigners buying in bulk. I learned real customer service ethics: smile, greet properly, be patient, know your products, and thank them even if they buy just one sweet.

The Shop Shelf

We started packing up by 5 PM since the closing time for the girls is 6 PM. I helped them carry goods inside, arrange shelves, and sweep. By 5:45 PM, everything was tidy. I tipped each of the three girls ₦1,000 as a small token for their hard work and released them early. Then I waited for Aunty. She arrived back around 6:30 PM from Lagos, she told me the transporters will bring the goods she bought by Monday of the following week.

While waiting, I cross-checked everything: counted the cash in the box and matched it with the sales records on the app, and it's a perfect balance. I handed over the money and keys to her. We locked up together by 7:12 PM.

Before we parted ways, she gave me ₦10,000 for helping her and she also gave me an airpod, she told me she bought it for me when coming from Lagos just to surprise me. Apart from the gifts, I felt the joy and happiness of being useful, learning new things.

One day boss

I learnt the value of stepping out of one's comfort zone, even if it's just by helping in a family's shop.