the duke

there's a barely 18 kid that comes in to buy cigarettes. he looks about 15. so i end up asking for his ID every time.

his name is john wayne. john something wayne. first time i saw it i had to do a double take.

i don't think he's old enough to know why i call him the duke.

Convenient Groceries

a late twenties early thirties mother came in.

went straight for the candy aisle.

she stared at it as a whole for a full three seconds before shooting her hand down to grab two ring pops.

she laid them on the counter without a word and cracked open her billfold.

i began to laugh a little.

she snapped her head up.

" hm? "

" nothing. i was just imagining you in your living room watching tv and suddenly going 'SHEEIT! i gotta run tuh th'store 'n get ringpops!' "

she wasn't amused.

some people don't think i'm funny.

for a moment it felt like it

a young dark haired scrawny dude came in, he had stubble and wide eyes. bringing his coffee to the counter he looked at me.

"what's going on?" he asked, in not the way that could be considered a greeting.

"nothing's going on." i answered him uncertainly, "unless there's some zombie outbreak i don't know about."

"i haven't seen one." he admitted.

Former Employee's

Dwan

light black. glasses. bad teeth. you'd assume he was gay from his flamboyant outgoing attitude. if you didn't know any better.

he was an assistant manager that stood up for me in the beginning. told the boss i wasn't stupid. told the boss i was improving when i was still training.

we would spend the shift talking about pop culture.

he transferred to another store closer to home.



David

more than white. fourty something. gray hair. thin. anti-social. put on a friendly face, but it'd wear down easy by stupid, frustrating customers.

his temper made everyone wary. and eventually he got fired for sliding his newfound girlfriend some cigarettes and $1,300 or so came up missing at the same time.

it was never proven. but he got canned anyway.

Kayla

white. blond. was around for a minute. left to pursue an illustrious career at Wal*Mart.



Kim

white. so very short. in her fourties somewhere. looked a lot like she was a Cindy Lauper loving teenager.. blue eyeliner. red hair.

she was supposed to be the savior to my picking up so many hours.

but she fell in her kitchen.

knocked her knee cap around to the side of her leg and nearly tore out her own hair.


Greg

tall. black. heavy set. gay as fuck.

he's still showing up to get his checks. he quit for a job at a hospital upstate. he likes the spanish dudes. and the goths.

Hustla

when my newly hired good friend, Doug, got to work tonight he had nine 7.5 tabs on him in a zip lock way too big for them.

he let me have them all for $30.

i paid him in cash and stuffed the pills in my pocket. i usually wait for half of my shift to be over before I take any. i get too run down too quick, if taken too soon.

somewhere in the first part of my shift a forty to maybe fifty year old black dude with a backwards tan flat cap and brown leather jacket came in offering real gold chain necklaces for cheap.

i was about to tell him he wasn't allowed to peddle his stuff here.

but Doug piped up.

"how much you sellin' em for?" he had a new girlfriend he was talking to, in that goofy into her part of the relationship.

"i'll sell you one for thirty dollas."

"i ain't got thirty on me." Doug lied.

"twenny then, i'll gi'you one for twenny." the dude offered.

"all i got on me is a ten and a five." Doug pushed.

"gimmie the ten."

my friend turned co-worker went int he back to rustle around in his jacket a moment. then came back with such honesty on his face.

"i was wrong. i just got a ten, an' i still gotta buy cigarettes."

his girl got that chain.

Time Change

yesterday i found there to be changes to my work schedule.

my half day for today had been changed to a full day, doubling the hours i'd have to work today.

mentally i had prepared myself for the relief of a half day. and though i can handle it without complaint i decided to seek out a little help.

from amphetamines.

my friend got hired this week, i know he has some connections. so i asked him.

i work with him today. training. hopefully he'll have them for me.

i think i'll just swallow them this time.

Of Age

a young regular came in the day before yesterday and looked me dead in the face.

i don't even think he was there for anything other than to do so.

i suppose at one point i'd carded him for buying rillos. since he looks the 17 range.

"do i look 21?" he asked seriously.

i stared at him for a beat.

before i could answer he cut me off.

"no i don't. my birthday's tomorrow." there was a growing excitement in his voice.

"well happy birthday." i replied.

Short Change

yesterday my female co-worker was ringing a guy out.

"would you like to donate your .33 cents to the kids charity?" she had asked perkily.

"yeah." he replied.

she tossed in the remnants of the sale with that metallic jingle.

"no wait. could you get that back out of there?"

i guess he really needed it.

Tweed

a plain bespectacled man came in to just use my ATM. he had on glasses, had to be near thirty. brown natural colored hair.

brown button up shirt.

brown jacket.

long brown pants all the way down to clean rich green chucks.

"you have rather spontaneous shoes." i commented.

he chuckled.

"i bet you fend off pinches in march with them."