It can’t really get much worse than this, right?
Ethan Morris stared at his reflection in the smudged bathroom mirror, running a hand through his disheveled brown hair. Dark circles shadowed his hazel eyes, a testament to another sleepless night, made all the more evident by the harsh, fluorescent light which blinked mercilessly. Another unbearably long shift was just beginning, he wasn’t able to finish his college assignment in time, and to top it all off, he almost got run over by not one, but two different trucks on the way to work. His heart has not yet realized the 14-wheel danger has passed, beating against the walls of his chest as if trying to escape.
With a sigh, he straightened his name tag—"Ethan: Happy to Help!"—and stepped out into the fluorescent glare of O’Mega Mart, picking up a package of ground beef someone abandoned in the toy aisle along the way. The store was quiet this early, only a few bleary-eyed customers shuffling through the aisles. Ethan made his way to the customer service desk, nodding a greeting to his coworker, Sarah.
"Another thrilling day in retail paradise," Sarah quipped, stifling a yawn.
Ethan managed a weak smile. "Living the dream, right?"
The dream, and the sleepy silence of the store, got abruptly interrupted by a customer - a middle aged woman with the hair so red it put your average tomato to shame - loudly demanding help with a coupon that was not working. Ethan shuffled forth, feigning urgency the best he could, and tried not to recoil too much when the woman yelled in his face, spreading droplets of her own spit and demanding loudly that her expired coupon be accepted.
“Ma’am,” said Ethan, silently wiping the woman’s spit from the collar of this shirt. “I am afraid that the coupon expired… two months ago. There simply isn’t anything that I can-”
“Oh but of course you can. I have this coupon and I should be able to use it. Why can’t I use it?
“...Well, you see, ma’am, the expiration here clearly states August 31, and it is the end of October-”
“So why can’t you just make it work now? It was valid then, so I should be able to use it.”
Ethan paused, flabbergasted. He looked at the customer for a few seconds, and blinked.
“What you starin’ at?” she barked.
“It’s just, ma’am, this coupon is expired, and I’m afraid I simply can’t do anything to help you.”
Without missing a beat, the woman pulled out her phone. She pointed the camera at her face, and like a faucet turning on, she started crying.
“Um, so here I am at the O’Mega Mart, trying to get food for my poor baby, and this very rude employee-” the camera pointed now at Ethan’s face.
“Ma’am, I don’t think you can record here.”
“Telling me my coupon I just got from my gram-gram is expired, and bein’ in my space, and makin’ me feel judged, and now telling me what I can and can’t do with my own coupon while by baby is going hungry at home,”
Despite himself, Ethan glanced at the woman’s cart. “Are you feeding the baby five pounds of candy corn and two bottles of tequila?”, he blurted out.
The woman glared, her eyes lightning up with vicious fire.
“And now judging me as a person and a mother--”
“Ma’am!” Ethan could not help but snap back, his patience wearing thinner than ever. “Your coupon is two months expired. You can’t be recording here. And if you are feeding your baby candy corn and tequila, then me judging you is the last thing you should be worried about!”
The commotion summoned Josh, the O’Mega Mart’s security officer. He shuffled forth lazily, not even trying to pretend he was not enjoying the show.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Got any problems here?”, he grinned.
“This man is being so rude to me-” started the customer.
“This customer is recording and getting hostile-” Ethan attempted to defend himself.
“Alright, alright. I get it. Ma’am, would you like to speak to the manager? He just came in,” said Josh, the biggest smile on his face.
“About time!”, huffed the customer. “We’ll see what he’ll have to say about this kind of behavior!”
Ethan forced himself to not roll his eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief as Josh escorted the customer towards the back of the store, and decided to focus on his job. The customer was being ridiculous and unreasonable, he had nothing to worry about.
A gentle buzz in his back pocket alarmed him of a new message. He glimpsed at his phone curiously, and couldn’t help but smile when he saw a text message from Melissa, his classmate from Cyber Defenses - a class that sounded far more exciting and futuristic than it deserved.
Hey! Having a study sesh at 6, wanna come? 🤓📚
Ofc. Knope Library, 4th floor?
Yup!! See you then! 😊
Ethan smiled. Maybe it won’t be such a rough day after all.
"Morris!" The sharp voice of his manager, Mr. Grayson, snapped Ethan back to reality. "My office. Now."
Ethan's stomach dropped as he followed Mr. Grayson, a portly man with a permanent scowl, into the cramped office behind the customer service desk.
"Sit down, Ethan," barked Mr. Grayson. “I have just had a conversation with a very dissatisfied customer and I’m afraid I’m forced to reevaluate your recent performance.”
“Her coupons were expired,” mumbled Ethan sheepishly, avoiding Mr. Grayson’s eyes like a medusa’s.
“Expired coupons? And does that give you the right to criticize the customer?” said Mr. Grayson, his voice increasingly irritated. “We are here to serve our customers, Morris. Not get into arguments with them. A customer tells you she has a coupon that has expired, you call me over, or let Sarah handle it. Not argue with a customer until she feels the need to record you. Do you want us to go viral on TikTok because you can’t keep your mouth shut, Morris?”
“Well of course not, but-”
“No buts! You’ve been getting an attitude recently, Morris, a very bad attitude. And I don’t think we can afford to keep that kind of attitude at O’Mega Mart.”
Ethan sighed. “Of course, boss. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Of course it won’t. You’re fired.”
Ethan blinked. “What?”
Mr. Grayson sighed. “You’re fired, Morris. Give me that badge. And the uniform, too. Grab your stuff out of the locker and if you’re not out in 15 minutes, Josh will show you out.”
Ethan stood up, shaking with rage.
“Got anything to say, Morris?”, asked Mr. Grayson.
You’re the reason this store has been going to hell, Ethan wanted to say. People have been quitting left and right because you’re an inconsiderate ass who only got this job because your dad’s been working corporate since the 80’s. The store is dirty and understaffed and everyone but your wife knows you’ve been trying to sleep with Sarah but she keeps rejecting you. You’re a pathetic and sad little man and-
“No,” is all he said.
“Fifteen minutes,” Mr. Grayson reminded him. Ethan said nothing as he left the little office, his name tag and uniform left behind on Mr. Grayson’s desk.
Ethan quietly left the O’Mega Mart, taking extra care to avoid his former coworkers. He did not feel like talking about his newfound unemployment just yet.
The weather outside was dark and gloomy, to make Ethan’s day even more perfect. He mindlessly killed the hours until his study session with Melissa, unable to focus on anything. He did not feel like going back to his apartment and looking at the strange growth in the bathroom the landlord has been refusing to do anything about. He grabbed a slice at Pepe Roni, a local pizza shop, and thought gloomily. Maybe he should go back to working fast food, for a while. The Dairy Prince across the street was hiring…
He sighed, and opened up his social media to mindlessly scroll. His mom arguing about essential oils with some online group, a natural disaster somewhere in California, his old friend from high school posting about his upcoming trip to Mexico, a picture of Melissa with a caption-
LOOK AT THIS UNICORN PLUSH MY BF GAVE ME!! UWU 🩷 💜 🎀 🥰 👁️ 👄 👁️ 🦄 🦄 🦄 🦄
Ah, a boyfriend. He should’ve known, Melissa was far too attractive to be single. He sighed, considering skipping on the study session. No, I shouldn’t, that’d be immature, he berated himself in the safety of his own head. I knew I had no chances with Melissa anyway.
He crossed the street to go to Dairy Prince’s.
He did not see the truck that appeared from the mists and headed straight for him.
“Oh, shi-”