Day Nine

Update: Cute Guy, Maybe

This guy is pretty interesting. He tries to take really long breaks. Instead of clocking out for lunch like everyone else does, he'll take five or six minutes to order a sandwich, clock out, take 30 minutes, clock in and then use the restroom for as long as it takes. His 30 minute lunches stretch out to 40 minutes if he can get away with it. Lately our managers have been busting him, paging him at the end of his lunch or watching him to make sure he clocks out first. He is still non-social and doesn't look at anyone he speaks to, but he gets plenty of attention from the other girls. Once the customer flow died down there would be an average of 3 girls at the end of his register, trying to talk to him. Today it was a girl from vitamins, Crazy Red Head Vegan, Banshee and Sally Spec. Oh man, what I would give to hear what they are saying (really, what Vegan is saying) to see how uncomfortable it makes him.

But I Do Love My Husband

A woman walked up and started to load  groceries on the belt when her husband appeared out of nowhere and placed some chocolate covered pretzels on the belt. The wife said, "What are those?" She knows what they are. She just wants to make her husband feel like a fat lard for wanting to buy some sweets. The husband walks away to turn on the car and this woman sounds off about her husband to me.

WOMAN: Oh my god, we come here for only a few things and he knows what we are here for, but as soon as we walk in he stops everywhere and is like, "Ooh, what is this?" Then we end up being here for an hour. I tell ya, he's good at certain things but can't focus when it comes to a task. [she laughs out of frustration] He's great when it comes to fixing stuff but he not the smartest, you know....signs are not for the illiterate.
ME: Yeah...

Observation:

Teenagers, especially girls, cross their arms a lot. Our air conditioner is broken, so I know they are not cold. Just an observation.


Village Person

Village Person will be "in the Navy" in a couple weeks. He has never told me about it but I would hear him talk about it to other girls. He would never say, "I'm joining the Navy," in a humble and honored way, but in a bragging fashion like,"Yeah, I'm gonna be in the Navy soon." I have never met any guy who has made the decision to join any branch of our military with the expectations that he would graduate from BMT with the body of Van Damme, all of a sudden having the swagger of the Dos Equis guy. He does angled pushups against the registers. It's okay, he will not be this way for long. In a few weeks a drill sergeant is going to make a bitch out of him.

Can't Turn Everyone Around

A seemingly older woman came through my line. I greeted her, she didn't greet me back. She wore sunglasses and had her hair wrapped in a bandana. I tried to ask her how she was doing and she didn't really respond, she kept her head down. She clearly wanted out of the store. I noticed she barely had eyebrows and her hair near the bandana was incredibly thin. Her skin was pale and unhealthy. This woman was battling cancer. I didn't try talking to her after that. This was not someone I was going to make smile in a matter of minutes. I wondered how she was feeling. Sad? Angry at the card she was dealt? Clearly she was in a physical and emotional pain I couldn't imagine.

The "life is short" message carried on a few hours later when a customer told me she was not having a good day. I asked why, I always ask why. She said she just found out a friend of hers found out she had breast cancer. She told me that this woman had two kids. I asked her how old this woman was. The woman was 32.

I am almost 32. That knocked the air out of my lungs. I took a moment to think about that in silence as I rang in groceries. I thought of a few people I know who are currently battling cancer who are my age. It is not uncommon, but it is so unfair. I eventually told this woman that I was sorry that this happened to her friend. I didn't know if she knew, I was sure she would be informed to be this way, but I told her to be really positive, that when someone has cancer it is important for them to have as much light and optimism around as possible. This customer thanked me for the advice and she said she will try her hardest to be that way.

I spent a long time after that thinking of how I take care of myself and how people I know take care of themselves. I pondered about the things that set diseases like this in motion: foods, inactivity, harmful exposure, genes, etc. All I can do is take care of myself and live the best life possible. I spent the rest of my shift ruminating on a truth I once heard a pastor say at a funeral:

"The one and only silver lining to experiencing a tragedy is that it brings all of us back to what is truly important in our lives."