|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 3:32 am
The young cashier sighed a bit to himself as the last customer, whose name in his mind had already been replaced by 'Captain Obvious', stepped away from the bagging area. It had been yet another day of helping the least intelligent-seeming, most annoying people Daniel had ever met. Why did I ever settle on this job? the young man wondered as he looked down the conveyer belt to see no other ustomers coming just yet, meaning he had a breather. Some would take the opportunity to socialize, but he didn't really blend in too well with the lot of them.
Unbeknownst to our subject of interest, the one he had designated 'Captain Obvious' had become offended by Daniel's lack of bootlicking and thinly veiled annoyance, making his way to the Customer Service desk to ask to speak with management. Danny's day was about to get a lot worse... Or, perhaps, a lot better, depending on your point of view.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:34 pm
If the day hadn't been so full of hunger and scrapping to find almost anything that could be considered edible, Nikki surely wouldn't have ventured away from her trusty pencil and paper. Ack, then again the worst thing in the world was having that white, blank sheet of paper just starring at you, mocking you in the way paper did. Sure you could have an idea in your head and think you know how you want to draw it, but in the end that paper grabs you by the throat and shakes the living daylights out of your idea. For figuring out where to the place the danged thing, and trying to size up exactly where you'd have enough room to draw it all, was just absolutely crazy.
"Whoa! Okay, back to reality." Nikki thought with an inward sigh, for her shopping cart nearly ran into the backside of some poor old woman trying to grab at an item, she couldn't exactly see what, near the bottom of the shelf. With her heart beating in her throat like it seemed, Nikki skirted out of the narrow pathway and back onto the main 'street' so to say. She never really knew what to call them anyway. Hmm, was this all she needed? Best to make one more round just to make sure... and to hopeful get farther away from the elderly lady who was now giving her an odd look.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:51 pm
Barely observing the near-collision from the corner of his eye, Danny watched with some small amusement as the young lady, seemingly nervous, skirted out into the main aisle (yep, that's what they're called! Usually. I think.). He stifled a chuckle, looking around for a brief moment before his eyes settled on the girl once more. Yet, Danny didn't speak up, since if she needed help finding something, she'd ask, or so he thought.
Only moments away, the on-duty manager was not quite enjoying angry words from Danny's last customer. Oh, he didn't smile right when handing over my change. He ripped the receipt. He stared at me and I'm sure he mumbled something. I'm never shopping here again!
Yeah, one of those kinds of people.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:32 pm
Oh man, this wasn't her day was it? Sure, she had that wonderful idea for a new character, but darn it all she hadn't thought of exactly where to put it yet. For instance, every time she tried the arm always ran off the sheet, or there wasn't enough space on the bottom to draw the calves and the rest of the character's body. And now there was a lady somewhere, loose in the store, that was probably going to give her nasty looks any time they happened upon her again.
With a sigh she looked over the items in her cart once more. Hmm, food, toothpaste, diet cherry Dr.Pepper... something had to be missing. But what? Oh well, she'd think about it later, for now it was time to do what she did best; kill time! Kill time and get inspiration from the people around her. With a flick to get her ponytail out of the back of her sweatshirt, Nikki took a glance around. There had to be something of interest here. Something she could use as perhaps a persona for a character... or you know a persona for someone her main character killed off or messed with. That was always fun.
As she walked down the main aisle of the the store she did happen to see a bit commotion up at the front desk. Yipes, best not to stray to close- darnit. Mechanical pencils. That's what she was looking for. But, uh, she hadn't quite spotted those just yet, and she was sure she had gone through most of the shop. Meep, she hated asking for help, despite the wary look that crossed her face just now. What if she said something weird? What if she got an odd look? Least to say, she didn't even know who to approach for such a question.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 6:51 pm
Dan twiddled his thumbs behind the counter. After a moment of observing, he finally asked, "Can I help you find something, miss?" Meanwhile, the one referred to as Captain Obvious was finally leaving. However, it wasn't on particularly good terms; the managed, outside Dan's field of vision, was writing up some paperwork.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:06 pm
"What?" the question had come so suddenly, it nearly surprised her. Plus, it didn't help that she often times didn't catch what people had to say, as evidence of several people a week telling her they had said hi, but she didn't even turn around. Yipes, that wasn't good either. Feeling a bit out of place she took her forefinger and pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose, for they had slipped off while she had freed her hair from the back of her sweatshirt. "Um, yeah. Where are the mechanical pencils?" Most of the time she was told to speak up, or say again. Unfortunatly, Nikki's quietness only deepened her embarrisment when told to do so.
Wait, what if they didn't even carry mechanical pencils? If that was the case, she'd likely suffer through not drawing anything, for driving to another shop was just unlikely, not to mention weird. For her anyways, or at least what she thought others would see as weird. Glancing back to the cashier who had spoken up, Nikki took to placing her hands, which had previously been on the handle bar of the cart, into her front pocket of her sweat shirt.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:16 pm
Danny barely resisted chuckling - she was on edge about something. "Oh, those? Hmm...If we have any, they'd probably be at one of the point-of-sale racks by the registers, with gum, candy, razors, those things."
Leaning over the conveyer to look more closely at the racks by his own register, Dan hmmed to himself, "None right here, though, sorry. May check the other checkouts, though."
It was then that the manager, an older man with a bit of extra girth and a small moustache, walked up behind Dan. "Daniel, if I can have a word with you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:40 pm
Now that he mentioned it, candy, or rather chocolate, didn't sound half bad at the moment. She had always had an obession with chocolate, though probably not a healthy one. Some have even mention it to be the culprit of her not so fit physique, but she considered that rubish. Even when she had cut it out once before in middle school, it had done nothing to help her. And as such, she had took the habit back up again as a sort of relaxion, or rather inspiration for her drawing mood.
Once again, Nikki had spaced out, her mind getting away from her with sudden thoughts and musings. "Alright, thanks anyway", she spoke up once more, a quick smile as thanks, as she realized too that he had been correct about the pencils. Though as she was about to turn towards another checkout, she did happen to catch the older man, who she assumed to be one of the cashier's managers, walking over. This didn't sound good. Feeling out of place once more, Nikki took herself and her cart to another checkout, gaze going directly towards the 'point-to-sale rack' so he had called it. She didn't much want to look at the other cashier, for fear of being asked a question. Oddly though, she hadn't strayed to far from the first cashier, for she was curious to see what was going on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:55 pm
Dan suffered a sinking feeling, and he knew what it was about. "Listen, Bob, that guy was an a... He was a jerk. You taked to him too," he explained while casting his eyes downward, not looking his boss in the face.
The other, who was not only much heavier but slightly taller than the cashier, crossed his arms, "It's corporate policy. That's three complaints in the past week, is something wrong that you need to talk about?"
Dan continued to look down at the conveyer, "Look, it isn't me. It's the customers! Some are real jerks, okay? You deal with them all the time, don't give me this 'corporate policy' garbage."
"I have to. It's my job. And if you're going to be like this, I'm going to have to send you home." Truth be told, it was not a busy day anyway, so Bob needed an excuse to send people home to cut the payroll for the day.
However, Daniel took it an entirely different way. Putting up with 'Captain Obvious' and his ilk day after day had worn on the young man's nerves, and this was the last straw. "Fine. Fine, I'll leave." Flicking the switch to tun off the light over his register and then keying out of it, he continued, "And I won't be back tomorrow. Or the next day. Take this job, and shove it." Pulling off his vest, he threw it in Bob's face and stormed off. "Just mail me my check, I'm not coming back here again."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 8:23 pm
Perhaps sticking close might not have been the best thing in the world to do, she always felt relatively bad about witnessing something like this. Darn, hopefully none of that was her fault in anyway- hold on now, why would it be her fault? Ack, its thoughts like this that bothered her the most. Quickly getting a mechanical pencil from the wrack, perferably the one with the purple grip, Nikki placed her things on the conveyer belt, but kept her gaze to her items rather then the lady at the checkout.
A simple how are you, an answer, and then the same old same old. It was fairly routine, and Nikki didn't bother to help pick up the conversation. She had to get home, she had to start drawing, she had too- eat something. Her stomach wasn't exactly making any of this easy on her, and she might as well pick something up on the way home. With a sigh of relief when her items were bagged and placed in the cart, Nikki made her way to the front of the shop; trying to avoid the gaze of the manager as she did so. He might be angry, and she didn't want to be a bother.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
