Chapter Thirteen: Retail Hell Day II

            The two entered Ropers ten minutes later and Glen asked, “Did you go out and pull carts yet?”

“From ten to noon, yeah. I think I might ask Martha if I could do more carts. I’m tired and since she hates men, it would do better for me to move and for her not to see me.”

“Yep, I might join. I need to get my coat, did you do that without your coat?”

“No, I just…”

Patrick was interrupted by a dog barking.

The two stopped, Patrick thought it was a loud toy in the wrong place in Ropers, due to which that the Toy department was way in the back at the east corner. But Glen noticed a large woman holding a chihuahua.

“Can people read signs?” Glen said what he was thinking.

He made his approach and Patrick noticed that a woman was carrying a barking dog, this was a day filled with harsh work and chuckles, and he began to laugh.

“Ma’am?” Glen started, two other salaried employees also approached, “you can’t have animals in the building, unless it’s a leader dog.”

“But I can’t have him in my car, he shits all over the place.” She said.

Patrick and also a couple of customers walking past laughed at that, Glen and the two other salaried employees tried not to laugh at that.

Glen couldn’t help with a chuckle, “sorry ma’am. No animals in the building, unless it Leader Dogs of the Blind.”

“But…” said the woman, but a feeling of something moist and icky had hit her arms.

“What the fuck?” Patrick said while laughing as the dog began its call of nature with the brown coming out of the other end. And a lot of it came out.

“Oh my gawd!” said a passing woman.

The dog owner’s right arm had wads of stuck dry dog dookie on her arms, as a majority got onto the floor. It will be a smelly entrance for those who walked in from the east.

“Call a custodian.” said one of the employees.

“Call security…” Glen muttered.

The dog’s hot dookies continued to the point where the slight burn had disfigured her hold on the dog and she released it on submission. The Chihuahua ran away into the women’s section.

“Call animal patrol.” Patrick said.

A security guard approached, before she could take away the dog lady, Glen stopped her and said with sarcasm, “can you catch a dog?”

The woman said ruthlessly, “I ain’t paid enough for that.”

Obviously, she didn’t know that Glen was joking, he said, “Just kidding.”

The woman stood there still calling for her dog, oblivious of the dog poo on her arm still. The guests around the area laughed, including Patrick. He pulled out his cell phone and made a video, along with a couple of customers making tape as well.

 

            Patrick continued to bag while being at the aisle nearby the dog poo incident. He saw a mentally-off man who also played a Front End Assistant wearing the Ropers vest and a white collared shirt with a mop bucket and cleaning up the discards of crap. The dog was caught a few minutes before by a guest who happened to be a veterinarian. Patrick saw him clean up with a few shoppers walking past and looking with him with disdain.

‘These people are assholes here.’ Patrick thought.

Glen looked at the clock to see that it was 12:30, he had around three hours to go. The Black Friday sale was ending in a half-hour, but Ropers had a sale going on after that for a few extra hours. Not as good as the Black Friday sale, but the prices will still be slashed at a descent margin. He continued his job as a runner, but his determination had dwindled down to a walk. He assisted another Front End Assistant with noticeable mental issues, but Glen liked him a lot.

“Hey, Glen.” He said,  with a voice reminiscent to Arnie in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.

“Hello, Jackson, when did you get here?” Glen asked while assisting him.

“Um, six in the morning, I was outside a lot. Glad to be in though, it’s cold outside.” Jackson said.

“Yes it is, how long were you outside?” Glen asked.

“Um, from when I got here until, around noon.” Jackson said.

Glen shook his head at this and he noticed.

“What?” he asked.

“Oh nothing. Um, I’m just surprised that they made you work outside for six hours.” Glen replied.

They continued to bag, nearly finishing up. Martha’s harsh steps could be heard, and before they knew it, Martha pushed Jackson to Glen and said, “Please Jackson, you’re not doing this fast enough.”

Jackson voluntary took a step back while Martha grabbed a vase in a box, then next grabbed the Xbox 360 and threw it in the bag, next to hear a crack.

“Hey, what are you doing?” the male guest said.

“Shit.” Martha whispered, she corrected herself and said, “I’m sorry sir, we will send someone to get you another Green Vase.” she said, next to Jackson, “you know where they are, get one for this gentleman here.”

Jackson sighed a little and made his walk.

“Jackson, no, stop right there.” Glen said.

He did.

To Martha, “You get it.”

She looked at with discontent, “I… I don’t know where they are.”

“I seen you buy one of those, why don’t you get it.” Glen putting his foot down.

She peered closer to him with a whisper, “I don’t have to get shit. Let the retard handle it.”

With a normal voice, “You are going to get that vase for this gentleman here. And I like to see you in my office at 3pm.”

She shook her head and muttered, “Fucking asshole.”

And on she went.

            The countdown to the end was being viewed by Glen, seeing that the clock was at 2:55pm.

“Five minutes left.” He said to himself.

Jackson who happened to be nearby, said, “me too.”

However, he saw Barb coming through the aisle ways and talking to employees individually. Glen knew Barb was working today, she had a split duty as Human Resources but played a role in the woman’s department since 7am. Lucky her, she didn’t have to step in so early, unlike Glen and many other salaried and hourly employees. She saw her walk to Patrick and mentioned a few words to him. He stopped what he was doing and headed to the back. Glen also noticed some employees coming in, walking to the front employees lounge down a hall. They walked in and out, so one could guess that they were punching in.

            His thoughts would be interrupted by a female yelling. Glen, with most employees and the long line of guests stared at the commotion. A bulky white female talking more like a black woman was cussing furiously at what Glen and others would imagine is his boyfriend, a lanky white male with a backwards cap on and wearing a white hoodie saying ‘Shady,’ which would denote that the man was a fan of Eminem. Not to mention, the couple had two young boys with him.

“Would you just shut the fuck up and not be doin’ this drama shit?” said the male.

A female cashier called for security. Glen noticed Barb approaching him, but the melee interested him more.

“You’re a fucking bitch, Don! What da fuck are ya thinking? You buyin’ shit for you, not for the kids. We ain’t made of money, yo!” said the female.

“We got the money.” said the male with his hands up, then while tossing his hands down, “Why the fuck ya gotta be a bitch? All ya do is bitch, bitch and muthfuckin’ bitch!”

Glen saw four security guards making their rushing approach.

“Fuck you Donnie! I’ll get my ex to kick ya ass, he’s black and beat your ass, nigga.” said the woman.

“Hey!” yelled a black man nearby, perhaps not liking the idea that a white person had used the N-word.

Security walked into the melee as two guards each restrained the two.     

Glen didn’t bag, he just watched and Barb also did the same.

“It’s just a shame, why do people like this have kids?” Barbara asked Glen.

He didn’t reply, he saw the woman trying to take a swing at the man, prompting all four guards to restrain the woman. Thomas Floyd volunteered to keep the space between the man and woman.

Later, the woman was forced to leave while a guard stood by to allow the man to buy items. Glen would bag with Barb reminding him about the 3pm meeting.

“Sorry guys, looks like your mom is crazy.” He said to his two kids, one was white with a blond mushroom haircut and wore a Super Mario t-shirt, the other happened to be a half-black/half-white boy wearing a Rodney Stuckey Pistons Jersey for his size.

“You mom is crazy too, Don.” said the jersey wearing kid.

“Not as much as your mom, and call me dad.” Don said as he began to roll items onto the conveyor.

“You’re not our dad, and your mom’s in jail for trying to kill someone that is on TV all the time.” said the kid wearing the Super Mario shirt.

            Glen was about to bag, but Barb tapped him in the shoulder.

“Glen, it’s time for that 3pm meeting.” She said.

Alongside of her was a young and short oriental kid wearing the Ropers vest, ready to bag.

“Have fun, Jay.” Glen said.

Then the two continued to the back offices. Glen was hoping he would be out by 3:30.

“You okay?” Barb said.

Glen was noticeably hunched down and said, “The song Third Eye by Tool is playing in my head, especially when he sings ‘So glad it’s over.’”

Barb did not smile at that.

‘Jesus, I’m glad you’re leaving soon.’ Glen thought.

 

“I don’t see why I have to be in this office and be lined up for disciplinary action. I don’t need someone who hasn’t been a Front End Assistant for eons to tell me how to do my job. Glen made numerous errors.” Martha said to Glen and Barb who stood by Barb’s desk while Martha stood in anger.

“Martha, Glen worked a long day and he himself volunteered for you for twelve hours. We all make mistakes.”

“I mean, what’s going on with that promotion to the women’s department? I’ve been trying for two years to get it. I’m willing to take a demotion for it.” Martha said.

“That’s up to Jenny who runs the woman’s department. I asked her personally about your issue, but she says she full.” Glen said.

“And when was this?” Martha said while putting her hand on her hip, Glen could tell by her body language that she felt she was lied to.

“I talked to her Tuesday morning about this, you can ask her yourself.” Glen assured.

“Listen, we think you could do very well in the women’s department and I’m sure Jenny would easily let you in. However, as of now and pending on an employee over there, we can’t exactly let you in just yet. Now with that aforementioned employee, today, we had a little incident at the woman’s department. That escaped dog ran in there and an employee over there did not handle the situation very well."

Glen heard of that incident earlier, the women chased the dog with a baseball bat at the nearby sporting goods and chased it until the vet captured it. Afterwards, she cussed hysterically at the dog. A serious dog hater she was, and on-line to get a talking too by Glen and Barb.

“Okay, that sounds good.” Martha said.

“Yes, we can let you in full-time, you are okay with the demotion?” Barb asked.

“Yes, I’ll take it.” Said Martha.

“Okay, you’ll start Monday at 40 hours a week.”

She teared up with joy and walked to barb with open arms. Barb allowed her to hug her and Martha laid her head on her shoulder.

“You have no idea how much life at home sucks.” She added.

Barb ran her fingers through Martha’s long hair in a sign of compassion.

Glen looked away with disgust on how emotional she was reaching during work, even when he had to deal with worse.

 “My husband is a fucking asshole who sits on the computer all day, eating fried food all the time, even during the morning. And all he does is edit Wikipedia articles and gets angry when some articles are written horribly. I awake in the middle of the night with him screaming at the computer.”

Barb didn’t know what else to say but, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

Glen thought, ‘Help! It’s the Wikipedia police.’