AMIL's ANECDOTE

AA17

A lot of Amil's new job came with staring out the freshly cleaned glass window, watching as mall shoppers walked by, journeying to different stores. Amil wasn't sure if it was because it was a weekday or not, but the store was incredibly dead. Occasionally, they'd get a few customers, but they usually never bought anything. She'd spend precious time pulling out the requested items, only for them to conjure up a random excuse and leave the store without buying a single thing.

On top of the job being extremely boring, she hadn't made any connections with her coworkers. If it wasn't for the horrible retail music that sounded through the establishment, it would be dead silent, considering that no one spoke—not to her, at least. To make matters worse, there was a strict no phone policy, so Amil couldn't even sneak and see what the outside world was doing. Normally, she'd wear her Apple Watch, but today she sadly forgot it.

Amil's hands were planted on both of her hips as she walked around the store, eyeing the jewelry displays. She recollected having a Pandora bracelet when she was in middle school, that was gifted to her by her father. Oddly, she hadn't saw it since middle school. She believed that she must've lost it at a track meet.

While looking at the displays, Amil remembered her sister's request to start her niece a bracelet. Since her employee discount was good, Amil decided she'd dedicate half of her first check to getting Lauryn a bracelet and three charms, for her to start with.

"They sell real diamonds in here?" Amil thought out loud upon coming across the case labeled Lab grown diamonds. Inside was a few bracelets, a ring, and two necklaces. Few gold and a couple silver. Despite it being diamond decorated, there wasn't anything special about it. "Yeah, they've been out for about a year and some change now." Amil's coworker replied.

"They don't sell much...we've probably only sold one, and it was returned a week later." Carla added, walking over to where Amil was with the showcase key in her hand. She unlocked the glass door and handed Amil the gold diamond ring. "Seems like they don't know their audience—the people who walk in here definitely ain't buying nodiamond rings." She replied, handing Carla back the ring.

Just off being in the store for a couple days, Amil was able to decipher their audience. When watching through the glass window, she could tell who was most likely entering the store and who wasn't. Usually, it was young teen girls, accompanied by their parent, who was the one doing the spending.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Carla announced, causing Amil to furrow her eyebrows together. "It's your clock out time." She explained after noticing the confused look on Amil's face.

"Oh." Amil laughed at her ditzy moment. It was easy to lose track of time in the store, considering that they couldn't use their phones. "See you tomorrow." Amil replied while heading to the back. She gathered her belongings before clocking out for the day. Driving on the highway still wasn't her strong suit, so she requested an Uber to take her back home.

"Shit." Amil hissed in pain as she removed her left foot from her Chanel ballet flat. Designer shoes definitely didn't mesh well with standing all day. Shortly, Amil pushed her foot back into her shoe and continued to keep her head on a swivel as she searched for her Uber. There was something about standing outside the mall that she hated, so Amil decided to call Omari to help kill time.

"Yeah." He answered the phone a couple rings in. "What you doing?" Amil questioned while adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"Trynna find me a lighter so I can roll up—I must've left that shit in Jada car." Mar spoke as if he was frustrated. "What you doing?" He questioned.

"Just got off of work." Amil replied as she walked over to the bench and sat down. Instead of resting her bag beside her, she decided to keep it on her shoulder. "How was it?" Mar asked. Amil blew out a lethargic sigh, causing him to laugh.