Finding Claire

Meeting the Myers Part 1

(Reading, Pennsylvania)

If anything came close to Kate's hatred of the holidays, it was stupid people asking stupid questions when the answer was right in front of them.

"This coupon says, buy one, get 25% off any laundry detergent."

Kate took a deep breath, trying to hold back her annoyance at explaining this for the third time.

"Yes, but only on certain brands. If you look at the bottom, it specifically says excluding any Tide or Gain products."

She even pointed to the bottom print to show her the fine print, but it seemed to have made her even madder than anything else.

"Then why do you people make the print so small, where people with vision problems cannot possibly see? With how much my time has been wasted, I should get my order at half the cost."

Kate observed the line growing longer, with many other impatient people behind the woman. Her heart rate increased, and her muscles tightened as the lady continued to throw a temper tantrum over laundry detergent. All she could think about was how she desperately needed a cigarette before she said something she would regret. Kate could not afford to lose her job over something so trivial.

"Kate"

Kate looked up and saw her lord and savior himself making his way over to her lane. Tom Grady was the manager of the local Super Mart, and while the two of them butted heads from time to time, she had nothing but respect for him.

While he was dedicated to keeping the customer happy, he also refused to tolerate verbal abuse towards his employees, especially when situations escalated.

Before she even had the chance to respond, the customer interrupted before she could get a word out.

"Excuse me, are you the manager in charge?"

"Yes, my name is Tom Grady. What seems to be the issue, Ma'am."

The lady huffed. "The issue here is your employee is refusing to honor my coupon over a small print that I have trouble seeing because you people print them so small to try and scam those with vision impairments."

Kate had to bite her cheek to keep from telling this entitled Karen that the world does not revolve around her and maybe focus some of her anger on things that mattered.

"Kate, why don't you go ahead on break. I can cover your lane."

She didn't need to be told twice. She quickly glared at the unruly customer, making it clear how annoyed she was. As much as she wanted to see how Tom would handle the situation, she wanted her cigarette more.

Kate sat on the ground at the back of the building, taking a long hit of her cigarette as she looked up at the gray sky, lost in her thoughts.

"Room for one more?"

She looked over and saw her friend Carol walking her way and sitting next to her on the ground.

"Did Tom give her what she wanted?" she said, exhaling a puff of smoke as she offered a cigarette to Carol.

Carol laughed as she lit hers up. "She argued with him for another minute before Tom told her she needed to leave the premises and not return. Then she went on the usual rant about calling corporate and getting him fired. It turned out that our supervisor was in line, listening to the whole conversation."

"Are you serious?" Kate asked, sitting straight up as she put her cigarette out, feeling better that the obnoxious woman was caught in the act.

"Yeah, her face was priceless; you should have seen it. She pushed her buggy as hard as possible and sent it flying," she said, wiping tears from her eyes as she recounted the story.