Another day at work, shelving boxes of off brand cereal. “Happy Charms” was written on the box I had just picked up. That’s new, I thought to myself. I worked at the small, locally owned grocery store down the street from my house, Stella’s, which was practically falling apart. The only customers we had were truck drivers who just wanted more cigarettes and young kids who wanted to buy as much candy as they could with the two dollars they kept from their lunch money. After shelving cereal, I moved on to putting candy bars into perfectly parallel rows in front of the cash register. I heard the heels of my manager Kelly’s feet hitting the linoleum floor. My heart stopped as she approached me.
“Asher?”
“Yes Miss Stella?”
“You’re working the cash register tonight. Alice quit on us. You’re on. Don’t screw up kid,” she said, filing her nails with a cheetah print file.
“Okay..thank you..,” I said, trying to remain cool, while actually freaking out inside.
After about five customers, people trying to argue with me over using expired coupons, and multiple headaches, I finally was able to relax. It was about 9:50, and we usually closed around 10:00. I figured that the customers would come to a stop at this point. While I was preparing to close up, shutting off all of the lights, starting with the back, a girl came running in through the door.
“Hi, welcome..can I help you?” I asked the girl, who appeared to be around my age.
“I just need milk. And..no, just milk. That’s all. Fast, please,” she said, while twisting her hair around her finger.
I grabbed her a carton of milk and ran up to the cash register..
Another day at work
By Alaina Goldberg
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