As I slowly started making a dent in the number of boxes that needed to be stocked, I heard a pair of footsteps approaching the French section. I naturally ignored it, assuming somebody was walking by. As I placed the last bottle of a case onto the shelf, I caught a quick glimpse of who was waiting for me at the end of the aisle. I shook my head and tried my best not to acknowledge them. But then, he got closer.
I moved further into the aisle to start stocking the next box of wine and he approached, arms up in the air, hips swaying from side to side. It was like watching a male bird trying to court a female bird who clearly had no interest in them.
I swear to God, if you don’t get the fuck away from me, I’m going to do something you’re gonna regret.
I tried my best not to pay any mind to Carl dancing at the end of the aisle. Taking my time restocking the shelves with more wine bottles, each bottle clinking as the glass hits one another, I made it my mission not to give this man any of my time or attention when I was actually trying to work.
“I’m not looking, Carl,” I said with a stern tone.
Carl laughed as if it was a joke, “That’s dedication to work. You’re not easily distracted.”
“More like she doesn’t want to see a dick swinging in her face, you fucking moron,” my demon echoed in my mind.
“Nice one,” I mentally replied.
Carl leaned against one of the shelves and began talking, going on and on about topics I genuinely didn’t care or ask about. In one ear was a laughing audience from the video I was listening to, and the other had to endure the insistent rambling of Carl; at certain times, the laughing timed up perfectly with his talking, making it seem like the crowd was laughing at his problems that nobody cared about. I did my usual routine of nodding and mindlessly saying words of affirmation just so that he finished his stories faster.
“So my wife was having problems with the internet the other day.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And she decides to call me while I’m out with the boys.”
“Okay.”
“So now, I’m out at the bar having to do tech support for a problem she can solve herself.”
“Right, right.”
“And all she had to do was unplug the power cable and plug it back on.”
“Oh shit.”
I finished up stocking the box I was currently on, and moved down onto the next box in the aisle, and repeated the whole process. Thankfully Carl was done complaining about how incompetent his wife was about internet issues, so his story finally came to an end. Immediately after, he came closer and showed me something on his phone. I glanced over and shook my head, acting as if whatever on the screen was actually funny. Carl laughed too and walked off into the back office again.
I rolled my eyes and sighed, mentally talking to myself, “He’s finally gone.”
“But he’ll be back any moment now,” my demon replied. “And when he comes back, you know what to do.”
“I’m not going to kill him. Stop trying to push it. As annoying as he is, I’m not going to just off him.”
“You’re lying to yourself.”
Finished with stocking and wanting to move onto another task for the day, I walked over to the employee computer, looking at the list of tasks needed to to be done for the day. The majority of the time the list never changes. Sometimes a special order would be processed and added to the list, but that was every once in a while. I scrolled along the list and stopped on the first thing that caught my eye.
Luka's Notebooks 