Post by Leanne Cooper on Apr 19, 2009 11:22:46 GMT
My shift ended twenty minutes ago. 4.30 came and went and twenty minutes later I am still standing at the counter and tracing patterns on it with my finger and not really thinking of anything.
It's spring and time's not exactly ticking on, but it's winding down and stuck fast in 'lazy afternoon' so there aren't too many people in here right now. There's still enough though, that I can't go and find my boss who's probably in the back room and remind him that my shift ended twenty minutes ago and no one's come to take over yet.
So until the store empties out a bit, or he remembers of his own accord, or whoever's working the next shift turns up to take over...I'm stuck standing here, reluctantly working.
Or not, because there's nothing to do unless one of the handful of milling customers decides they're actually going to buy something and comes to the till to purchase it.
I could go and be helpful, go and be a good employee and trawl the aisles, asking if I can help anyone find something or make an informed decision...but my shift ended twenty minutes ago and with that so did my perogative to be a good saleswoman.
I wish it was summer, I decide as I idly turn to look out the window and watch people walk by on the street outside. In summer all sorts of people come in, all sorts of parents I should say with their Hogwarts aged kids looking for new books for the new year. That's my favourite time.
Except maybe not this summer, because this summer I'm going to have to be buying books for my Hogwarts aged kid who will be going off to school and leaving me on my own. My God, I'm pathetic if that seems like it's the end of the world.
At least I'll get a discount on the books.
But now I'm looking sort of glum and probably scaring away any potential customers so I try and look cheery and end up with a sort of macabre, vaguely disturbing grin.
Okay, fuck that then.
I just go back to looking sort of glum, taking my eyes off the window to look back at the counter and tracing my finger over the little nicks and scratches.
It's spring and time's not exactly ticking on, but it's winding down and stuck fast in 'lazy afternoon' so there aren't too many people in here right now. There's still enough though, that I can't go and find my boss who's probably in the back room and remind him that my shift ended twenty minutes ago and no one's come to take over yet.
So until the store empties out a bit, or he remembers of his own accord, or whoever's working the next shift turns up to take over...I'm stuck standing here, reluctantly working.
Or not, because there's nothing to do unless one of the handful of milling customers decides they're actually going to buy something and comes to the till to purchase it.
I could go and be helpful, go and be a good employee and trawl the aisles, asking if I can help anyone find something or make an informed decision...but my shift ended twenty minutes ago and with that so did my perogative to be a good saleswoman.
I wish it was summer, I decide as I idly turn to look out the window and watch people walk by on the street outside. In summer all sorts of people come in, all sorts of parents I should say with their Hogwarts aged kids looking for new books for the new year. That's my favourite time.
Except maybe not this summer, because this summer I'm going to have to be buying books for my Hogwarts aged kid who will be going off to school and leaving me on my own. My God, I'm pathetic if that seems like it's the end of the world.
At least I'll get a discount on the books.
But now I'm looking sort of glum and probably scaring away any potential customers so I try and look cheery and end up with a sort of macabre, vaguely disturbing grin.
Okay, fuck that then.
I just go back to looking sort of glum, taking my eyes off the window to look back at the counter and tracing my finger over the little nicks and scratches.
