This was a nightmare. It was my first day on the job. For the first time in my life, I found myself in the workforce. As a bag boy.

Sometimes people need to work because they need the money. Like me. Sometimes people love to work. They may love their jobs or just the act of working themselves. Those type of people are the weird ones.

If I were to get a job later on in life, it won’t be because of what I love to do. Rather, it would be because of what I need. Money. Sure some people would say it would take less effort to do something they love. But don’t ever think that possibility included me.

The grocery store was decent. It had twelve aisles with various types of products. On the far left end was the all the frozen goods. The far right end was an open space where the fruits and vegetables were. There were six rows of Cashiers lined up. I was stationed at number three with Raphie.

I put on my uniform getting ready for my first day on the job. Lucy just laughed at me knowing it was my first job. She was saying stuff like wishing she could see me mess up. I ignored her as I left.

For the first day, I was introduced to the manager, Rick. Rick was a nice guy who guided me on what to do. My first task was to help the customers as a bag boy. I only had to help the customers with their products after they bought them. I was to be stationed with Raphie as the cashier.

“David, hurry up with those bags,” Raphie called out to me as the cashier.

“I got it,” I said as confidently as I could.

I rushed putting groceries into the bags and then onto the shopping cart. At first, it was tiring then it became tedious. At least it was a simple job.

The hardest part was making sure the plastic bags wouldn’t tear apart. Sometimes I had to worry if the products wouldn’t break when multiple ones were put into a single bag.

“Thank you, dear.” An old woman said to me after I finished loading all the grocery bags on to the cart.

“You’re welcome ma’am.” I tried to bring the biggest smile I could as I was too tired to try.

I took a deep breath. It’s been a long afternoon shift. I probably loaded at least a hundred bags. The only positive I could think of was the free air conditioning in the grocery store. That made me think of the brand new air conditioning back in my apartment. Thinking of the money I need for food now made me work as hard as I could.

“Hey, David is that you?”

A familiar voice came from behind me. With a shopping cart, someone I knew came out of one of the aisles.

It was Evan. Colin’s brother. Just like his brother, Evan easily teased other people. Who annoys me as much as Colin does. Evan was more of an adult compared to Colin. Evan was still in school after all. He goes to the same school as me. Which was part of the reason why I already knew him other than being Colin’s brother. He lives in the dorms of the school since he could afford him unlike me. Sometimes I hang out with him whenever he visits Colin. Sometimes he plays HellsCraft Online but not as much as Colin. He’s very dedicated to his education. Plus he’s not much of a no-lifer as Colin and me.

“You’re working with Raphie too?” Evan said.

“Too?” I whispered to myself.

I assume another acquaintance of theirs works in this store.

“Hey, Evan. What brings you here?” Raphie asked.

“I’m just passing by my bro’s place. We’re gonna watch a movie.” He said as he showed what was in his shopping cart. It was a pile of chips and other snacks.

As Raphie does her job as the cashier, I put the groceries into each plastic bag and put it in the shopping cart.

“Would you like to come Raphie?” Evan said as he leaned on the cashier’s table.

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“No, I can’t. I have stuff to do.”

Feeling rejected, Evan turned to me.

“Hey David, wanna come over to Colin’s place later? We’re watching this new monster movie.”

“I’m not sure if I can-”

“Alright, I’ll see ya, David,” Evan said as he left.

I sighed. If Evan couldn’t get Raphie, might as well as settle with me. Now that was messed up. It’s not like I had a choice anyways. What else was I gonna do tonight except babysit the devil in my apartment? I’d rather watch some stupid monster movie anyways.

“So there’s someone else you know who works here?” I asked Raphie. “Evan kind of mentioned them.”

“Yeah, he was talking about Alex. Speaking of the devil. Hey Alex!” Raphie called out.

An older looking guy came over to the cashier. There weren’t many people shopping so no customers were at the cashiers.

Alex was a familiar name. I remember him from school too. He was older than Evan and I. He’s pretty active around the school. I’ve seen Alex around countless amount of people. I could assume he was pretty popular.

“What’s up? Is that David?” Alex asked Raphie.

“Hey…”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Alex.” He reached his hand out. We greeted each other with a handshake.

“If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to ask,” Alex said before we went to talk to Raphie.

So far my shut-in self was screaming all over the place but I’ve been doing well so far. I’ve talked to more people than I ever had all summer and I’m getting paid to do so. Sweet.

Since it wasn’t so busy, Alex moved me to do something else so I wouldn’t stay bored. Raphie was fine on her own with the few customers that were in the store. I was put in charge of stocking the products on the shelves. I was to figure out where each product belonged to which aisle. Not so difficult but it put me next to the customers.

I was currently in the snack aisle when an old gentleman first approached me. He was asking where he could find the soup. As I found it earlier while sorting through the goods, I was able to direct him easily.

“Well, look who finally got a job.”

Another familiar voice came from down the aisle. It was almost like a western where I was ready to face off against an old foe.

“Jasmine, come on… Don’t do this.”

Jasmine was a close friend of mine. She’s not much of an MMO player like me but she likes other video games. She also goes to the same college as me. I didn’t want to deal with another friend enjoying my misery.

“Good ol’ David finally got off his lazy ass.”

Jasmine hopped down the aisle with a big smile on her face. She had short hair and was dressed like a tomboy.

“So what could possibly push you to get a job?”

“I just needed some money okay? This is only temporary.”

“Oh, so you won’t keep this job after school starts again? What a shame. I could never stop enjoying the sight of this.” Jasmine laughed.

“What’s new Jasmine,” I said sarcastically.

“Not much. Thanks for lending me that game. I’ve only finished it last night. It was exhausting playing all summer.”

“I actually got a job myself. One I intend to keep much longer.”

“What is it?”

“As a bartender.”

“So you can drown in booze as you get paid?”

“Ha ha.” She pretended to laugh.

“Jasmine, I have a job to do, so do you mind?”

“Catch you later loser,” Jasmine said happily.

“Back at you.”

I focused on my job once again. It was tiring but I could feel my body moving itself automatically. My mind functioned minimally whenever I needed to think.

All of a sudden I could hear a faint hum. I couldn’t see where it was coming from until someone bumped from behind me. It was a child. He less than half my size and wore a jumper. The child had a toy on one hand.

“Ouchie!” The kid exclaimed. He fell back on to the floor and got back up.

“Watch where you’re going,” I said harshly.

“Sorry.” The kid paused. It was as if he was ready to cry.

Oh please don’t cry, little kid...

He stood where he was as he looked around. It took him a moment but with little tears in his eyes he spoke up.

“Do you know where the ice cream is sir?”

‘Sir.’ That made me chuckle a little on the inside. But I felt bad as I was harsh on him earlier.

“Take a left down there.” I pointed down the aisle.

“Thank you, sir.” The kid hopped away.

Soon right after, a woman came down from behind me and started looking around. She had a long dress with a cross hanging from her necklace. Right before she even said anything to me, I spoke up.

“He’s looking for ice cream.”

“Oh thank you.” The woman walked away quickly. She was almost in a panic but hearing the location of the kid calmed her down.

I noticed the time after I finished loading the products on the shelves. My shift was almost over. In one day, I already spoke to more people than I already had the whole summer. It was really tiring. But working wasn’t as bad as I thought.