10.02.05 How William’s Lack of Accountability Strained His Relationship with Dorothy A Fictitious Story

How William’s Lack of Accountability Strained His Relationship with Dorothy 

A Fictitious Story

Dorothy and William first met in the worship team at church, where she served faithfully as a vocalist. William, on the other hand, was a gifted drummer who also volunteered with the media team, helping with sound, livestreams and technical support. Interestingly, the two were also employed by the same company, where Dorothy was a production planning officer while William worked in the IT department.

One day after choir practice, as the worship team packed up equipment, William approached Dorothy with unusual seriousness. “I have been praying,” he said softly. “I admire your heart and your devotion and would like to pursue courtship with you; if you will allow me.” Dorothy smiled. “Give me some time to pray about it,” she responded. William nodded, confident that things would move in his favour.

One Sunday morning, the church had a guest preacher and the event was expected to be broadcast live on YouTube. William was scheduled to play drums and oversee part of the livestream setup. But ten minutes before the service began, the man started racing up and down. “Has anyone seen my drumsticks?” he asked, frustrated. “I had them last week!” The team searched everywhere. Nothing. When Martin, the worship leader, asked William why he hadn’t carried the backup pair as was usually the case, the drummer quickly retorted, “I thought Timothy had packed them after rehearsal. He was still arranging equipment when I left.” Timothy the storekeeper turned sharply. “But you literally told me that you were going to keep the sticks…”, to which William shrugged with a confused frown. “Man..! Maybe we misunderstood each other.”

With time running out, the worship leader had no other alternative but to make a quick decision that William should use the drum pad. However, the music was horrible that day, since without the drums, the sound went ‘thin’. That was not the only thing that went wrong that Sunday. Later, Dorothy was to learn that William had misplaced a memory card for one of the cameras and that the livestream nearly failed.

William’s ‘negative drama’ did not end there. Apparently, William and his team had been assigned to check that all equipment, including the generator, were ready for use A few months down the track, the electricity went off during the service and the generator could not be used because there was no fuel.; so the administrator was disappointed that the generator could not be used. But when William was asked, he shifted the blame to someone else for the mistake rather than owning it as the team lead. That was what jolted Dorothy to secretly wonder whether the man would be able to handle family responsibilities if he could not handle small responsibilities at church.

William’s lack of responsibility and accountability manifested in the workplace as well. Being in charge of the IT department and his competence with systems had made him popular around the plant. But there was a time when top management needed an urgent systems-integrated report which he had been tasked to compile and present but could not trace the file on his laptop. Unfortunately, he did not have backup copies either. To Dorothy, William’s lack of responsibility and accountability was becoming more vivid as days went by.

What ‘broke the camel’s back’ was when, months later, PrimeWorks received an invitation for a regional ICT skills exchange program in Singapore. Four officers were selected; William included as team lead and Dorothy was also part of the group. It was a prestigious opportunity; the company covered everything; accommodation, flights, insurance and the only requirement was that all team members ensure that their passports were valid for at least six months beyond the travel dates. HR reminded William repeatedly, “Please check your passport.” Therefore, they were surprised when HR called the entire delegation to the boardroom three days before the departure date. The HR manager looked grave as she announced, “Team; we have a problem. William’s passport expires in less than two months. Singapore will not allow him into the country. And because he is the team lead; the entire group cannot travel without him.” Dorothy was alarmed because, yet again, William had failed to take responsibility for his actions. He did not even apologise for the anomaly.

That evening, William hurried after her as she walked to the car park,. “Dorothy… about what I asked months ago; have you prayed about us?” She turned slowly, her voice gentle but firm. “William… I have been observing you and quite honestly, you are not ready for the responsibility and accountability that marriage requires.” She stepped into her car, leaving him standing beside the fading sunlight; shocked, defensive and silent.