Job speck

Another hot summer with glorious blue skies and lemon zesty clouds was drawing to a close, but for David the shelving of the new bestsellers in the book store was as it always had been, in need of refilling. As the sun shone , the temperature inside the store increased , which made David sweat like a coffee machine filtering , leaving all the sediment behind. Indeed, the days were getting darker earlier and all David wanted to do was do something exciting. However, he was stuck here like a book end , always covering up his frustration within in his mind and heart.

´David´, his Supervisor called. 

´Morning´, replied David. 

Can you do me a favour , and give the computer consoles, in our new gaming department a wipe, every morning, from now on, when you arrive? , asked the Supervisor. 

 ´Yeah sure´, be happy to, it´ll make a change´, David replied.

´The bucket of computer screen wipes is in the basement, underneath the Caretakers table, remember to put it back when you have finished with them, oh! and throw the dirty ones away, we have plenty. 

´Okay, no problem´, replied David.

The next morning when David arrived for work at the book store, he would go down to the basement and fetch the bucket of computer screen wipes from underneath the Caretakers table. David would then carry the bucket all the way to the top floor where the new gaming department was. David had to do it that way because every time he wanted to get in the elevator, there was a long que, and every time he wanted to use the escalator , it was crammed with shoppers, swaying with bulky shopping bags. 

The wiping of the computer consoles was enjoyable at first because of the wonderful strobe lighting. The lighting flickered and dazzled in its neon glow, bouncing of robotic like visors and arms with buttons and three dimensional electric data that zig zagged in all directions. It shot at David like a chameleons tongue. However, there was hardly any dust to wipe up, maybe because Davids eyes had to get used to the contrasting vibrations and colours and he was uncertain as to whether it was day or night. 

Although David being the conscientious type of guy that he was, always endeavoured to give the unoccupied computer consoles a check. Even the wires or the infra red signal detectors, sometimes may have been obstructed with particles of low flying dust. 

However, there was always a computer console that David forgot to check for dust and he often had to be reminded by his Supervisor. The ´´store catalogue computer console´´, was separated from the other computer consoles. It was specifically, only to be used by customers looking up items that they wanted to purchase or try before they purchased. However, when this morning, when David went over to check it, he noticed a customer using it. The customer was wearing headphones, and had a joystick that he was twisting tightly in both hands. David looked at the distance in between the customer and the consoles shuttle box. Indeed, with his naked eye, and the flickering , intermittent, illumination emitting from the console, David noticed two gigantic specks of dust. David , at first, didn´t know what to do. However, thinking on his feet, as if he were configurating data at the speed of light, he made his way towards the specks of dust. David then tugged at a nice and fresh screen wipe from the bucket he was carrying. 

´Do you mind´? the Customer said . 

´ERR! well, erm! David replied, knowing only too well, that the customer shouldn´t be using that particular console. 

´Do you mind´? the customer repeated. 

´David face turned almost as red as some of the illumination that continued to flash and blink at him , making him almost want to wipe doubt from his own spectrum of instinctive pressures. 

´No , Sir,´ David replied eventually. 

David gradually moved away from the customer. However, those specks of dust were so inconspicuous. 

There were like space invaders attacking the homebase. David had scored enough points with this task already. The big bonus mother ship seemed to always scuttle of the screen, just before David had dive for Cover behind those heavy bookends again. 

The customers game began to speed up and the echo in his headphones was beginning to thump, increasing the urge for David to do something about this situation. 

Suddenly, a customer , who was interweaving through the games area, dropped a tissue. David decided to approach her and helpfully pick the tissue up and then put into a bin, somewhere. 

´Can´t you do that later? ´, the headphone wearing customer asked. 

David could just about see the pellet he was obliged to chomp upon and swallow ,before allowing the bouncing orbs of light to eat him up. 

´Okay!´; David replied

But you know what , Sir?

The headphones customer , merely shook his head sideways.

´Well!´, David continued, gradually, finding the conviction to preach his sermon. 

´I know you are paying to play it and time is indeed your money, sir. But that game is not particularly rocket science, now is it? I guess that you can also guess what is clean enough and what is not clean enough. 

The headphone wearing customer merely looked at David, as if he were put into a hypnotic trance. 

David continued, ´But I have been delegated responsibility to check and clean these gaming consoles. 

And if you are implying , sir, that the one that you are on , could be cleaned by you, but you can´t be bothered. Then by no means, does it fall under your judgement that they should be left to become even dustier. I just reckon you might believe that you are much better than a speck of dust. 

However, all that I am going to do , if you at least concede to the fact , that on your console. lie two rather inconspicuous specks , of wormy, looking dust, is with the palm of my right hand, simply flick them off the top of that shuttle box, where they most likely will have to settle for the floor because I am running out of time , myself , now, you see , Sir. Of course, whoever has to sweep the floor, cannot be held responsible for the specks of dust on the console. However, we have had complaints about the general cleanliness of the place. If another customer were to use the very same console that you are using, he or she may also decide not wipe those specks of dust away. However, I am merely responding to customer complaints. So whether you like it or not , I am the decision maker and I will wipe away all the specks of dust that I can find. That goes for all consoles and all the customers who use them. 

By this time, a small crowd had gathered around David and the headphone wearing customer. Some of the crowd began to raise their fists in solidarity. Some of the crowd went as far as calling out to David, commenting on his stance toward the headphones wearing customer, saying things like;

´Yeah! Let him do his job´

or ´Somebody has to do it, even if you don´t want to´

Ah hum! Its the customers who usually take too much time,not the cleaners, its not his fault. 

´Well ! What is to be , then, sir, do you agree, that because there are two specks of dust on your console, that they are not clean enough. Therefore they should be at least wiped with a hand´? asked David, wiping an index finger under his nostrils. 

The headphones wearing customer , merely sighed as if he was hopping over

the last top escalator step , before it slipped in between the gap.

´ Just do it then´, the headphone wearing customer , eventually said. 

From then on David hardly ever had any complaints from the customers about dusty computer consoles and the job was becoming as casual as it ever was. 

David would go down to the basement as usual and fetch the bucket of computer screen wipes and check for cues in front of the elevator or bulky shopping bags upon the escalator, before carrying the bucket of screen wipes to the gaming department. 

After David had checked for dust, he decided to re check if the elevator was busy, so at least he could put the bucket of screen wipes in any vacant place inside the elevator. David could then make his own way back down to to the basement and wait for his bucket from there. 

In the basement , David stood stoically in front of the elevator doors. 

When the elevator doors slid open

his bucket of screen wipes had vanished. 

David blinked as if he were a moth caught in an electric fly catcher. The crackle of his senses

made David bump into his reflection from the elevators metallic frame. 

He ran as quickly as he could to the floor where he had last seen his bucket. Dazzling strobe lighting was blinding his eyes. When he reached the floor, A lady was tugging at a half caught screen wipe from the bucket. 

Startled, the lady turned around and suddenly noticed David. 

´ I hope you don´t mind, but my phone screen gets a little bit dusty occasionally , these are just perfect´ she said. 

It was the same lady who had sneezed and dropped a tissue that David wanted to pick up. 

´Its okay, I hope they´re fresh ,sometimes they get a bit dry, especially in this heat´, David replied, searching for something to wipe the sweat from his brow. 

´ Yes! they´re clean enough´, replied the lady, smiling, as she wiped a shiny tear from her eye, with an index finger.