Retail

Retail

    James was standing behind the register, staring at the pos screen and sighed. He had just clocked in and walked up to his register. The little, time-clock thing where he swiped his badge had told him where he’d be spending the next 8 hours of his life. Where he would be wearing this stupid ass, blue vest he wore. He was zoned out staring at his screen still trying to comprehend the turn of events in the last year. 

    A little more than a year ago, he was a sous chef at one of the trendiest restaurants in the city, no, in the fucking world. He was working under one of the most famous chefs in the world. Chef Theodore was even on those shows where others would judge you, the kind you would see on the cooking cable networks. Of course, you didn’t see the real Chef in those shows while he was in the kitchen. It didn’t matter though, that was behind him. He had turned his back on that to be with his wife and new daughter. 

    “James, you forgot to turn your light on,” his manager, Darrell, called to him from the front of the registers. He was an alright guy, he just took this job way too seriously. He was tall and bald with glasses; a pretty forgettable person, if James was being honest with himself. He was also extremely religious and conservative, which always rubbed James the wrong way. 

    James leaned his head back and sighed, closing his eyes, “fuck.” Still though, he reached to his left and clicked the small light switch which lit the number 3up. Darrell gave James a thumbs up and an assured grin, before he rushed away to do whatever other tasks he gave himself. Darrell had this kind of self-important air about him, like he wasn’t just a glorified babysitter of some cashiers who hated their lives while working a big box store. 

    Thankfully James had gotten an early shift, so the store was pretty empty. It was an old store, in an out of the way part of the city, but it  was one of the few remaining stores that didn’t have a grocery section, which meant it was very slow, especially in the mornings. James could zone  out and stare at nothing, while barely making above-minimum wage;not that he really made that much working in kitchens, but he worked long hours which kept the paychecks sufficient. 

    “We’re going to hang up garland and put stuff on the registers, wanna help?” The question brought James out of his daze. This time the voice came from an older lady, who was wearing a turkey hat on her head. James looked to the hat, then to the woman’s face, and then her name tag, which read Kathy. 

    James stared at her and started to sigh but stopped himself; he wasn’t trying to be a dick to his coworkers. He had been here long enough that most of them knew his whole story. Besides, Kathy was nice and kind of ditzy, but she would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. He smiled, “yeah, alright.” 

    “Thanks! Darrell said it’s okay to turn off your light if you’re helping, because it’s slow and register 13 is still open. Plus,the self-checks are working too. Come on.”, when he flicked his light off and logged out, Kathy led him over to the first register where  a box of Christmas decorations sat and a small ladder laid against it. 

    They worked for a bit, with Kathy mostly directing James what to do. So far, they had just hung  garland around each sign that had the register numbers. She handed him sticker decals of various Christmas things: trees, presents, wreaths, etc.. Kathy seemed delighted with their progress, “we’ll have it looking better than last year,” she told him. 

    James looked down from the ladder, “how long have you worked here?” He cocked his eyebrow at her and paused    for a moment. 

    “I’ve been here since the store opened, almost thirty years ago,” she smiled up at him, handing him another decal. 

    “Jesus,” was all he could respond with, as he took the decal and slapped it under the number 2. 

    He noticed someone walking up to the pair of them, a man named Kevin. James knew him from back in his kitchen days. Kevin was a dishwasher, a true degenerate. He had been locked up a few times for various things, but there were reasons why Kevin was a good man to keep around. On top of being a rat, he was a man who could find almost anything someone might need drugs, stolen tv’s, anything at all, this man could find it. Unfortunately, he looked the part of  a rat, squished face, big ears, and messed up teeth. 

    “Hey, uh, give me a minute will you Kathy?” James climbed down the ladder and handed her the bit of garland that remained in his hands. He didn’t  wait for a response before turning and heading towards Kevin.. Kathy shrugged it off and went about hanging up more ornaments within her reach.

    “Hey, man. I found the thing you were looking for, it wasn’t easy; that shit is hard to come by this close to Christmas,” Kevin’s voice was low, as he patted James on the chest. He was dressed in a flannel jacket with black kitchen pants, and kitchen clogs that were known for their slip resistance. “Come on, I got it in the trunk of my car. I  parked next to you.” 

    James looked at the time on his phone, he knew that he hadn’t been here long enough to get his Good-Mark mandated break. It was likely that Darrell would have a fit if he tried to go early. He looked back at the woman hanging decorations, “Kathy? Can you let Darrell know I had to go outside for a minute if you see him will you? It’s important!” He again didn’t really give her a chance to respond, just steamed forward heading for the exit leaving Kevin to take a minute to realize what happened and catch up. 

    “Don’t you want your coat, it’s pretty fucking cold out man,” Kevin asked him as they approached the front door. 

    “No time, I gotta see what you got buddy.” James answered walking outside through the automatic door, and yep. Fuck it was cold outside. James was wearing a pair of jeans and some canvas shoes as well as a long sleeved black shirt, the flimsy work vest he wore did not protect him from the chill in the air. “Holy shit.” 

    “Yeah man, I told ya, it’s fucking cold out here.” 

    They hustled along through the parking lot to their cars. James drove a newer coupe that was a dark blue. It was a good thing Sarah had a good job, she made the whole switching jobs easy for their little family since she could be the breadwinner. James had to work, but as long as he was making something, they would be fine. 

    Kevin drove probably the last remaining shit box Honda Civic hatchback on the road. A little two door yellow thing. He went to the trunk and opened it. “I have in here a bonafide Playstation 5 my friend, the disc version like you wanted I even got a copy of Spider-Man for ya.” 

    “Oh man, you’re the best. This shit hole has been sold out since forever, Jessica wants one so fucking bad and we can’t find it anywhere. She likes to game on her days off from the hospital.” James told Kevin who just nodded. This whole thing was going to be a surprise for her, he wasn’t even using money from their bank account to buy it. He had been moonlighting when he could, doing shit cooking jobs at trendy pop up joints when he was able to swing it to make some extra money. 

    “That’s right, I’m not the hero you want, I’m the fucking hero you need buddy.” Kevin laughed and finally popped open his trunk. “Ta-fucking-da!” 

    James was standing over the trunk looking down into it. All that was in said trunk was an empty box of condoms, an old Gatorade bottle and a quilt that had laid haphazardly. “Uh, Kevin, there’s nothing in there?” James looked up and stared at Kevin. 

    Kevin made a choking sound when he looked in the trunk as well and started to yell “What the fuck bro?! I had it in here under the blanket. I got it last night after service and threw it in here. I was fucking robbed bro!” Kevin slammed the trunk shut and kicked the bumper of his beater. “Fuck!” 

    James sighed, and frowned. He knew it was too good to be true. Without saying a word he headed back inside the store, the parking lot was starting to fill up a little and he was sure the registers would be getting busier, which means Darrel would be in a tizzy and was probably already paging James on the overhead speaker to get back to his register. 

    “I’m sorry man! If I find another one I’ll call you!” Kevin called after him and James just gave him a wave not turning around.

Kevin yelled fuck a few more times as well as other obscenities but James didn’t hear him, he was back inside just as he heard the page “Cashier James, please return to your register.” It was Darrell just like he expected. James just sighed and shook his head and headed back to register number 3 turning on the light. 

As soon as he turned on the light he had a line of people buying their groceries and random things. James didn’t talk much too much to the customers, just the simple “Hi” and “thanks have a good day.” They didn’t have any more time to decorate the registers and James was able to zone out enough while he worked until his lunch time. 

Sitting in the breakroom he wore his earbuds and just listened to music while he ate his sandwich. It was the same routine. Coming from kitchens, he was a creature of habit and routine. Turkey sandwich, a pickle, and a bag of that white cheesy popcorn that came in a black bag. 

    Sure enough before he even finished his lunch someone next to him looked at him expectantly. James closed his eyes a moment before pulling one of the buds from ears. It was John, he was a good enough guy, just one of those power nerds who spent all his time playing video games and not doing much else. Not that James didn’t play some video games to relax, but these guys were on a whole other level. “What’s up?” James asked him. 

    “Hey man, I know you’ve been looking for a ps5 to get for your wife or whatever. Just wanted to tell you we just got one. It’s not on the shelf yet, it was in our afternoon secure….” James didn’t give John the time to finish. He left his lunch sitting on the table and ran out to the floor, the punk music flowing into his ear pushing his movement. He almost ran into Kathy face first who was walking back into the breakroom for her break. 

    “I’m sorry!” he yelled to her, but ran past her. He did notice the surprised and shocked face and knew he would have to give a better apology later and tell her what was going on. 

    Getting to the floor he went to the counter in electronics, and he saw it. The white box that said Playstation 5 on it. Jesus fuck was he actually going to get it? He was too concentrated on the box sitting on the counter. He didn’t notice the person that he just ran into until it was too late the man yelled, James gave a loud “oof, fuck man?!” Then it dawned on James what was going on. The man glared at James, picked up the box and walked away from him heading towards the entrance of the store with his brand new Playstation. 

    James watched him go and John walked up to him. “Ah man, I’m sorry. I told you as soon as I found out. He must have just randomly asked if we had one in.” 

    “Fuck man,” James sighed and shook his head. “Thanks John. I appreciate the heads up, let me know if we get another one will you?” Then he walked back to the breakroom taking out his other earbud and turning off the music on his phone. Twice in the same damn day he had been fucked, thought he finally had the prize his wife wanted so much only to have it slip through his fingers. 

    Kathy had decided to sit next to his spot and James sat down. He finished his lunch explaining the situation to Kathy who nodded and along and then brightened up when she realized she knew what he was talking about. 

    “Oh I have one!” Kathy told James who then looked at her. 

    “Oh yeah, you a big gamer Kathy? James asked her while laughing a little, while taking a drink of his water. 

    “No, I don’t play that dumb thing. Frank got it for our nephew but apparently his brother already bought one for him. I have it sitting in the personnel office, Troy is looking after it for me so I can return it after work,” Kathy explained to him. “You can give me the money for it if you want since you can’t find one.” 

    James went wide eyed leaning up in his seat “Really?! There’s a ps5 just sitting in the personnel office, and I can buy it?” He couldn’t believe it. He was already leaning over to reach into his back pocket so he could pull out his wallet and get the cash for it. 

    Kathy nodded “Come on, I’ll show you. Make sure it’s the thing you, I could be completely wrong, I don’t know that stuff.” She laughed like it was no big deal. 

    So the two of them got up and went into the personnel office. Kathy exchanged a few words with Troy, who was the human resources person for the store. James didn’t talk to him much since he had his orientation and did his little computer classes. Troy just nodded and reached under his desk and pulled out the large bag that held that beautiful white box containing the Playstation 5. 

    James stared at it before, overcome with emotion wrapped his arms around Kathy in a big hug. “Thank you so much! Here I have the money right here!” He unwrapped Kathy from his arms and pulled out his wallet. The whole time Kathy just laughed at him and shrugged giving him a big goofy grin. 

    “It’s no big deal.” She told him, taking the money from him. 

    James looked at Troy then said “I get off in a couple of hours. Is it okay if I leave it here until I get off work?” 

    Troy just nodded and then looked back at his computer screen returning to work. “If I’m not here it’ll be under the desk.” 

    James thanked Troy and then realized what time it was “Ah shit, I have to go back up front. Thank you so much Kathy!” 

James ran back up front and got back to his register. He was happier the rest of the day and even spoke to the customers a little more than he normally did. The rest of the day went smoothly and quickly and after he clocked out he walked out proudly to his car knowing he had found the gift his wife wanted the most for Christmas this year.