Tuesday, October 17, 2006

saturday at joe's

the other highlight of my week was my saturday at work. it's a funny story.
so, my shift started at noon. when i walked in there, johnathan was sweeping the floor. this was strange because normally that's what i do when there are no customers around and i'm starting to close. i continued to look around and was very surprised to see that that garbage was full, none of the counters were clean, there was rice in the cooker, and dishes were piled high in the sink. whoever had closed the night before had done it really badly. johnathan mentioned that jeremy had left a note to call him. when he did, jeremy explained that he sometimes does this to his employees to remind them of the importance of closing really well. the two of us stewed there for a while and called back to ask if we were doing anything wrong. jeremy replied that there was occasionally a thing or two that we might do better, but other than that, we were doing fine. he went on to say that we shouldn't be too stressed and to keep smiling!
johnathan and i weren't smiling. we worked to get everything presentable (luckily the store is dead on saturdays), johnathan leaving around one. i was just finishing the work jeremy left when my nose started to bleed. Perfect. i was the only one working, so i couldn't really run to the bathroom, leaving the store unguarded, so instead i tried to sop up what i could with a clean towel which i then disposed of, getting it to stop with minimal damage to my already dirty shirt. i checked my watch to see what time it was and discovered that it had stopped. we don't have a clock in the store, so i was plunged into the timeless zone. i popped my head into the gas station to see what time it was and afterwards relied on the two customers that came in. at what i thought to be about four-thirty i wrapped everything up, mopped, and locked up. the last thing that we do is take out that garbage, because we have to leave the store, so i grabbed all my stuff, jammed the plastic bag in the door so i'd be able to get the can back in, and dragged the can back to the dumpster. i tried to get the lid up, but i'm to short to get it past the tipping point and there wasn't a stick or anything around. so, i tried to lift the lid with one hand and the garbage with the other, but the bag was really heavy. i got it part way up when the bag broke, dumping hogi remains and teriyaki sauce everywhere, including on my jeans. i wanted to just sit down and be miserable until a boy came to help the pathetic damsel in distress. it didn't happen. the bag with the extra rice was still mostly intact, and i lifted that to put it in, when it broke too, steamy rice and garbage juice Pouring down my arm, shirt, and into my pants. i wasn't so happy. i guess that i got the flagrant knight in shining armour. i dragged the can back to the door and shriveled yet again when i saw that the door had closed Over the new bag, locking me and the can out of the restaurant. i lamely coaxed the plastic from under the door, and pulled the can into the gas station, a dripping mess of melted minimum wage. i explained myself to the cashier and he replied that they could only let me back into the store if they got a call from my manager. i don't even know jeremy's number. he finally consented to let me push the can through the door into the restaurant, and i went back to the car, my juices starting to dry enough to relieve some of my guilt about sitting in freud and i drove home, stopping by all-a-dollar on my way to purchase a clock and a consolation candy bar.
anyway, that's our show. i haven't really done lots of homework and i have a paper to re-write tomorrow, along with stats and fashion. end of the term is next week. :P

i love narrative

4 comments:

Mavis Fausker said...

Yeah, there's not much you can say to a day like that. Way to survive.

miss terri said...

my brother said to tell Jeremy that we were going to throw him in the BIG OVEN for a while so he appreciates salvation more.

Noelle said...

Wow...now THAT's a bad day story. I should take notes. I love your writing style, and you always have the best stories. Sorry I don't comment more *shame*

miss terri said...

not at all! thanks for commenting when you do!