"I can't believe they keep increasing the prices back in my day-" I get one of these conversations every day. A customer tells me Wannabees should lower their prices, as I can personally ask them to lower the prices for them.
"Uh huh." I kept repeating myself because telling them I couldn't talk to the higher-ups is considered horrible customer service, so I just said. "You're so right, it's a shame how everything is all about money now.-a-days," They huff, sigh, shake their heads, or whatever before swiping their card. "Excuse me, can you get that for me on the top shelf there, please?" Peeked around the register to see an elderly woman pointing to the cereal boxes on the high shelf. She's already crouched over; she needs help. The person helping her is Damien.
A stocker, as far as I know, he's a good worker, but never really gotten to know the guy, and he's been here as long as me. There weren't any customers in my line at the moment, so I watched him help the elder. He didn't say anything; he just grabbed the box and handed it to the lady. She said, "Thank you," and he nodded his head and went back to work. He's the co-worker I know but don't know.
It's odd because I've seen him on campus and leaving the dorms as well. I know I'm not great with talking to my peers, but he probably hasn't even noticed how many times I've glanced at him, trying to figure him out.
"So Jaci," my co-worker Jess spun around to chat with me while I was trying to get my line of people out of the way, and out of the store. "Yes?" I asked while scanning, practically throwing groceries in the bag.
"Do you think my mom would like these?" She showed me a bouquet of rose pink, light yellow, and lavender flowers. I raised my eyebrow before going back to speed running our lovely customers.
"I mean, like these are all her favorite colors, and with Thanksgiving around the corner, I wanna do better than I did last year." I slowed down for a second, "I'm sure mommy-dear will love them regardless". She rolled her eyes but kept rambling until her break was over, while my responses were on autopilot.
My shift is almost over. Everyone just wants to know if you're doing well, even if you're not doing well. Which I'm certainly not, but if these last thirty minutes go by just a bit faster, that would be wonderful!
"You boys make sure you get your mothers something special for the holidays."
I snapped out of my daze and saw that this elderly man was talking to me and…Damien, who was heading out. "You only get one mother, you know." The man continued.
"In that moment, I hesitate. 'Oh… yeah, I'm gonna do something special this year…' Lying through my teeth.
What was weird was that Damien hesitated too — like he wanted to say something, but didn't."Leaving afterwards.
It just felt off. The guy, on the other hand, just smiled like he changed our young, pathetic lives with that. While I don't know…
"Bye, Jaci, I'll see you on Monday!" My boss yelled from the desk as I passed by. "See you Monday." I waved. I mean, don't get me wrong, the people at Wannabees are very nice. I love working with them partly because I'm lonely, and they're the most human interaction I'm getting right now, but it's something.
What I hate most about this job is the customers, because you're always going to get someone with a complaint. Someone will get mad at you for something you did not do. Someone will ask you repeated questions on where things are while you are already dealing with a customer before them, and they get upset because they have to wait, and it's exhausting.
I mean, Damien is sorta lucky he's so non-social that he rarely even has to deal with customers.
Sucks to suck.