Chapter 1 A New Hope
“I’m heading out! Love you!”
Swinging through the front door of his home with the practiced grace of a long time veteran of chronic lateness, David almost missed the reply from his mother as he quickly spun and began locking both doors behind him, clattering the screen loudly as he did so.
“Love you too sweetie, have a great day at work! I can’t wait to hear about your first day!” Came the faint reply of his mother, located somewhere far enough away that the clicking of locks almost drowned it out.
Finished, David turned and began speed walking down the street and taking stock.
“Badge? Check. Work shirt? Check. Winning personality? Check.” The last made a smile crack onto his face, the excitement of his first real job overpowering the usual self deprecating jokes that often sprung up in his mind. Twenty minutes and a light sweat later he managed to find himself in front of MalFair fifteen minutes earlier than needed, which meant it was also the same amount of time before the store opened and he began his exciting job as a clerk and cart pusher. The smile this time was far more sardonic than was had before.
Staring at the store and trying to look past the reflective glass to see if anyone was there, David nearly jumped out of his skin when the voice behind him began its vocal emittance.
“You ready there? You might think about spraying something to cover up the sweat.”
Turning, David spotted one of the two managers who had held his interview. She was a woman of about mid forties or fifties, on the curvier side of life but wore it quite well in addition to some light makeup that made her face seem just a touch more angled than it was.
“I uh sorry, ma’am. I don’t actually have anything like that right now but…”
He trailed off as she swiftly and with zero struggle managed to reach into her bag stuffed with many things and remove a bottle of what looked like moderately priced perfume.
“Here, use this for today. And it isn’t ma’am to you, it is Ms. Adams or Sherry. This isn’t a schoolroom and I’m not feeling old enough yet to make up for how sad it is be called ma’am.”
Smiling, she handed the bottle over and with the same easy manner fished the keys out of her bag.
“Thank you ma…” the sharp look on the previously smiling face caused him to falter for a moment before carrying on “Ms. Adams. I appreciate this very much. And for the opportunity to work and learn, this means so very much.”
Snorting slightly with a sudden laugh, Sherry shook her head and looked at him.
“Well aren’t you just sweet and charming? Really did do well picking you up. Kissing ass and sucking up won’t buy you much without hard work but if you keep it up with both…..” trailing off with the click of the door, which sprang open once the mechanisms holding the automatic hydraulics powering the thing could move. David quickly spritzed himself with the perfume, a sweet smelling mix of floral and citrus, and walked inside behind her as she motioned him forward.
“Okay! So, fifteen minutes early? Absolutely perfect. Do you have your work badge and shirt?”
With a grin David took his shiny blue plastic name tag and under his name in black was the sentence “New but part of the crew” set in a bright red font. Following this he stripped his jacket off and took off his top shirt, under which his new shorter sleeve button up was in mint condition.
“Yes and yes!” A look David didn’t recognize passed by on his manager’s face but before he could say anything more he was interrupted by the sounds of the door opening again.
“HOWDY HOWDY PARTY PEOPLE!” Walking like some reigning champion of the people, a shorter young man within a few years of David’s age walked in. From his shirt, tag, demeanor, and timing, it felt safe to assume for David that this was one of his senior crew members.
“Damnit Aldo, you know you’re not supposed to shout when you come in even if there aren’t customers. You might scare the new guy!” Aldo, though his name tag said Al, seemed like he couldn’t keep the widening grin off his face at all.
“Oh come on Sherry, you know we’re gonna put him through some paces anyways so I gotta soften him up early.”
Rolling her eyes, she said nothing more as Aldo walked up and gave David a once over.
“Well now, new guy came prepared for work! How exciting. Nice to meet you new guy.” At this, he offered a grin and a hand. Taking it in his own, David felt an odd moment of awareness crawl over him.
“Aldo, this is David. Not new guy. And you’re not funny. Don’t make me tell your father, you know how he is about your humor and the new people. At least wa-”
“Wait until they aren’t greener than our produce before you start producing turn overs!” he said along with her, smile less charged than it was moments before as her own grew with his absence of it. With a shrug he began walking towards the back and called out.
“Sorry new guy David, I mean you no harm. I’m gonna go wait to punch and get started on the load.”
“Don’t start with the heavy stuff again or I’m going to have to write you up! It’s a safety violation if corporate catches it and my ass iif I caught it and didn’t.”
His response was a wave and a parting “okay” before he slipped through the swinging doors to the back.
Taking a moment to watch after, Sherry took a short but deep breath before releasing it.
“Sorry about that David. You do go by David and not something else right?” At the nod of his head she continued, “Good, Aldo still hasn’t shut up about putting his full name on his tag and that was three years ago. Aldo is one of our longer associates, not quite on the management staff but his father is someone on corporate so he tends to do and act as he likes. Usually he’s nice but he likes to joke too much and if he bothers you with it, I’ll need you to tell me. Got all that?”
“Yes Ms. Adams. It doesn’t really bother me much as it is but David or new guy is fine and he seemed like a nice enough person to me,” at her wiry grin, he continued, “this is my first real job so I’m not sure what is or isn’t appropriate here.”
“Well go clock in and we’ll get started on training and fixing that, yeah? And put your stuff in the back.”
Collecting his discarded jacket and shirt, he began walking towards the back of the store as she led him. The smell of her perfume had settled on it and David found himself enjoying it perhaps a little too much as he almost ran into Sherry as she stopped in front of a machine. Seeming to catch this, she smiled mildly again and started talking.
“So this is our punch machine. Every shift before work, you need to come in dressed for success within our company standards just the same as you are today and punch in the code on the back of your card. The machine here will snap a pic of you in full uniform and only after will you officially be on the clock. With me so far?”
Nodding his head, David almost felt the need to say that the concept of a time punch had in fact been introduced to him a time or two in media but kept it to himself.
“Great, so go toss your things in a locker in that room over there,” she pointed to a room with its door ajar and the faint sounds of music pouring out of it, “Aldo is probably still in there so he can show you how to set the lock if you want to lock that up. Make sure that in the future you secure your things prior to clocking in, obviously today that doesn’t happen but if you abuse it too often I’ll have to call you out for it. I’ll meet you in the front when you finish, right by the office. Okay?”
“Sounds great!” David supplied back, already feeling a tinge of his enthusiasm waning as the reality of a whole job struck him again. Before turning to leave, Sherry fitted him with a difficult to read look and opened her mouth twice before simply shrugging and walking towards the front.
“And David? Much as some people might enjoy the sight, maybe stripping off layers of clothes should be kept outside the store or in the break room alone, if you catch my drift? Good money but not that kind of establishment and I’d hate to hear a complaint about it.”
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Face suddenly turning red, David prepared to launch into a series of apologies but was waved off as she stepped through towards the front with a slightly cackled laugh. Realizing the comment for the advice it was, David nodded to himself and set about clocking in. After two minutes he finished and walked towards the break room only to find himself suddenly and nearly colliding with a man shaped force of mass and speed.
“Woahhhh sorry about that man, almost knocked you there. I heard Sherry, give me a minute to clock in and I’ll show you how to toss that stuff behind a lock.” Aldo said in a slight rush, seeming to radiate a manic-ness that belied the sleepy look set on his face.
“Oh than-“ cut off by Aldo suddenly walking past him and the sounds of what seemed to be other morning crew employees getting in through the doors, David shrugged while looking over the room and saw the lockers. Set into the wall itself, each one had a pin pad in a variety of states of wear.
Footsteps behind him signaled that he wasn’t alone again, but turning revealed a young woman with long brown hair and green eyes. They looked at one another for a moment, both taking in the new presence in front of them.
“Hi, I’m –“ both started but stopped before she smiled prettily, with little creases in the corners, and eyes sparking in general amusement.
“Selena, but I go by Lena.”
“David, but apparently I go by new guy.”
Eliciting an even prettier giggle, her smile deepened.
“Oh okay cool, new guy has a sense of humor.”
Coming in from behind, Aldo spoke with a smile that didn’t match the earlier ones in intensity. Brushing past Lena, who’s demeanor likewise changed from the contact, looked at both of them as two more people filed in and took in the sight.
“Oohhhhhh this the new guy? Hey Aldo, bet you new guy here lasts… six months?” the first person, a man much the same apparent age as Aldo but far in contrast to the latter’s appearance with height, weight, and the almost unhealthy level of paleness.
“No bet, last time you went out of your way to bug them so you could make that bet your win. I’m not stupid, you got the one win and you should be satisfied with it. Now go on and get with yourselves so I can show new guy this and you can all get started on the load.”
“Oh, don’t talk like you’re the boss…”
The bickering dragged on for several minutes, in which the friendly ease between at least these few became readily apparent to David. Not wasting time, David got started fiddling with one of the lockers whose pad read ‘open’. After staring, he felt someone walk beside him and found himself suddenly very close to Lena and the final person who had entered, a seemingly quite man in his thirties with a composed air about him.
“You have to click this one twice to open it, then when you close it you have to put in a code. After, just put in the code again and click twice and it’ll open back up. That simple.” Lena said, showcasing just that by taking her own jacket and a purse and placing them within a locker.
“Seems easy enough,” David replied before glancing at the other man doing the same and then back as the ruckus from the two grew, “is it always this… energetic back here?”
“No,” but the smile she gave was sly, “today is only those two. Wait till you have to deal with all five of them.”
Before David could ask for more, she turned and called back.
“I’ll see you in the front, David. Good luck.”
As she left, David caught Aldo’s eyes briefly and felt himself shrink back a little as a shiver flowed through him before the feeling passed and the man smiled at him.
“Oh ho ho, new guy is an achiever already. Got your stuff away I see? See you in the back eventually man, enjoy training days while you can.”
As all three left, David began his walk up to the front and to the rest of his first day. He felt excited and sick all at the same time. It was time to begin the first stages of his life away from everything before. To grow and earn and provide. It was the only way he knew he could get out and away. Now he just needed to prove he could and he would. He had to.
____________________
“So, how was day one?”
David peeled his eyes off the monitor in front of him, taking a second to rub his eyes from the exhaustion of intensely focusing on a screen for six or so hours. The lunch break, short as it had been at a half hour, had been all that has kept him going since he had hit the sixth hour entirely. Sleep hadn’t been friend to David for an age but he had been used to it in school. Now that he’d taken a gap to handle matters, his body just wasn’t there and able to handle the lack as well as it had before.
The voice belonged to Mr. Douglas, the other manager who had showed up only an hour prior to finish out mid and closing shifts. Ms. Adams was still there but had already deposited the rest of training on her fellow manager, instead focusing on her other work in the system correcting scan codes and adjusting them to match priced tags. Mr. Douglas was a portly gentleman, looking to take on tanks with his hefty six foot five inches covered in a moderately thick layer of fat that mixed with his age and greying hair made him look like a mix of a linebacker and an accountant who was secretly also a mall Santa.
“Very well sir! I’m basically done with the day one papers, though I had to leave some of them blank because I had no idea how to answer or if I had one. But I also got started on the second day paperwork too and finished all of the questions and answers on the online training section.”
“Very good! Very good indeed, you’re doing wonderful. Now I’m actually going to have you stop and wait for tomorrow to finish that. Instead, I need you to read this and then go clock out for the day. You’re almost at your full hours for the day and you came in a little early so to avoid either of us getting in trouble you’ll be heading out a little early. Good job today.”
With that Mr. Douglas left David and returned to the other half of the office that had been occupied by on manager or the other the entire day, fielding what little issues seemed to have cropped up in the day and otherwise remaining behind them.
Stretching, and wincing at the pops, reminded David it had been quite some hours since he had done more than type or think. Or use the restroom, as his unforgiving bladder suddenly reminded him and the mental image of a water balloon right at the verge of popping from over filling it entered into his mind.
After asking where and zooming over, the relief that surged through him was nearly euphoric and he couldn’t help the sigh from escaping him and the little shudder that spiked through. These were followed by the sounds of the stall next to him opening to reveal Aldo’s friend, the coworker who he hadn’t introduced himself, looking straight at him. Feeling awkward and finished, David rushed to flush and almost avoided the eye contact. Almost.
The man’s eyes were a little wide and dilated, with little bloodshot veins and wetter than normally seen, and his nose seemed red, like he’d been crying or was having an allergy attack.
“You… okay there man?” David asked, finished with his tasks at hand and washing those aforementioned things in the sink. The man hadn’t said anything yet, seemingly transfixed on the matter of David’s mere being as if wishing away the moment he’d stepped out.
“Yeah I’m good. You good man? Got a problem?” Came a sudden rapid firing of questions, going from the stunned man of before and becoming more self aware of the moment to remember exactly who was the long time employee and who this new person was.
“Not at all man, just using the restroom. Just finis-“ moving out of the way of the sink as the other man stalked forward, David simply carried on as he watched him and grabbed a paper towel, “-hed with the shift. Have a good day.”
Intending to leave it at that, he saw the hesitation on the other man’s face as he turned and David hurried his stride towards his escape and home. The door closed behind him and shut out the mix of emotions that had flitted across the man’s face as he did so. Grabbing his things from the back, and almost forgetting to clock out, in a semi rush seemed to escape everyone’s notice besides Aldo as he passed by him.
“Ha new guy can’t wait to leave. See ya new guy.”
Stopping, David turned to him.
“Your friend, the guy you talked to this morning.”
“Yeah?” Aldo’s reply was much more reserved than he had been before.
Taking a moment, David thought about the encounter.
“What’s his name? And the other guy too. I don’t want to have to just call then hey you or something.”
Aldo stared at him for a long moment, sleepy eyes giving way to a sharp and shrewd look before returning to the jovially sleepy one’s once again.
“Tall guy is Jesse, but he prefers Jez. The other guy if Frido, like the chips. Have a good one new guy.”
Returning to work and dismissing David, Aldo went back to the last pieces of the truckload that looked to be left. Having nothing else to say or do, David turned and left. It had been an interesting day for very sure. As he walked home in the midday sunlight, he hoped that interesting was and would continue to be the only thing it had been.