Oliver once again pressed his face against the impenetrable cage of glass that was the storefront window. This time, however, standing next to him was Juan the store manager. His gray hair and spectacles complimented the crazed look in his eyes and the thousand-yard stare he always wore hinted at deeply buried past trauma, the likes of which should never see the light of day again. The two of them stood in silence as they stared out into the parking lot, waiting for opening time. The thin curtain of silence between them was finally drawn back by Juan himself.
"It's going to be a good day! I can feel it."
A long pause ensued as Juan chugged his coffee, the caffeine no doubt being the only thing currently sustaining him seeing as his will to live failed and shattered abruptly years ago. Oliver couldn't help but retort to his mentor with a jealous ejection of sass.
"Yea, for you! You get to hide in the office all day..."
Oliver's voice struck a melancholic tone at the end before dying off in a pang of sadness. The empty smile on Juan's face never left as he took another sip of his coffee.
"I never said it would be a good day for anybody else."
As if to pour salt into the open wound Juan then turned around and headed inside the manager's office before slowly closing the door. Oliver was used to watching doors close slowly, that's why he was in retail after all but this time it hurt more than normal.
"Someday I'll be store manager and get to hide out in the stupid office..."
Oliver closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the glass before snapping suddenly to attention as he caught a glimpse of his rival Jessica. His eyes narrowed instantly as his hatred boiled over and flushed into his face. How can someone who instills such rage in him walk with such grace and beauty through an ugly parking lot? He let out a defeated sigh as she made her unholy entrance into the store.
"Oliver! I was thinking about you as I left this morning... but, turns out I just had a rock in my shoe."
"Well Jessica next time buy better shoes, instead of your usual dumpster dive on the weekends."
Jessica hurried past like a wounded animal as she retreated into the break room to seethe and put away her things before the shift started. Oliver could only hope that having to walk past the Honor Wall added an extra sizzle to his no-doubt sick burn. Steeling his resolve against the encroaching onslaught of his shift Oliver decided to begin tidying up the area around his register. For the life of him, he can't seem to grasp why the damn candy bars keep coming unorganized and ending up in the wrong display boxes. Oliver promised himself that if he ever caught the culprit red-handed he would bust out the kickboxing lessons he learned from the store-wide customer service training seminar from three months ago. He had personally seen Jessica make good use of some of those moves over at the customer service counter, oddly enough the arguments usually involved complaints over the store's poor-quality balloons. People go absolutely nuts over balloons strangely enough.
"Excuse me, is this register open?"
A soft voice with heavenly undertones practically sang out from behind him as he finished organizing the candy bars. Oliver prepared a joke in response (I hope so! I've been trying to get money out of there all day!) but as he turned around and faced the source of the inquiry his words caught in his throat and his breath froze. Oliver found himself face-to-face with the mysterious food critic girl herself. His plan yesterday of leading her to the chicken place and hoping she'd wreck house there instead of his beautiful place of employment seems to have failed spectacularly. For the first time since he put on his green shirt (that was definitely a uniform) and pinned his bespoke name tag to it, he found himself at a loss for words underneath the sour gaze of a beloved customer.
"Oh uh... I... I mean... It opens when I ring people up... I mean, not like call them or anything right? That'd be weird but like a transaction! People throw dollars at me and..."
Oliver decided though perhaps a little too late to stop talking as he took his place behind his register. The strange girl flashed him a smile that seemed all too malicious when juxtaposed with the deep well of kindness and understanding in her eyes, colors so vibrant that Oliver could drown if his gaze lingered too long.
"I was actually wondering if you were hiring. I'm here for an application."
Oliver choked on his own spit but his hands reflexively reached for a stack of applications and a spare pen.
"Sure, I'll help you fill it out real quick. Name, date of birth on the top, and honestly you can just leave the rest blank..."
Oliver watched in horror as she kept filling out the piece of paper adding detail after detail. Special skills you think might be relevant to the job... Oliver looked equal parts mortified and impressed as she wrote down archery. If she actually DOES get hired Jessica might have some competition as a customer service representative. After adorning the entire paper with hearts she placed it back in front of him. She then spoke with what sounded like an almost veiled hostility.
"I look forward to working with you! I really hope you'll be... cooperative."
She practically flourished as she gracefully spun around and walked away, melting into the crowd of early shoppers before disappearing as quickly as she materialized. Oliver's emotions dissolved into raw panic and if he were to be brutally honest...
...he somehow didn't remember the rest of the shift.
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