Between Boyfriends (Book 1 in the Between Boyfriends Series)

Chapter 17

Although Jan got the job, she had not escaped dealing with bitchy owners as she had hoped. Her new employer was Wireless World, an independent wireless store which sold a variety of wireless phones and services. Jan soon came to realize that people valued cell phones more than their pets, or so it seemed by how much more vehemently they complained when things did not go as they wanted with their phones. Some days Jan was reduced to tears by a single evil look. Often, she was simply overcome with frustration. The potential for making decent money was all that had kept her from storming out her first day after a woman whose phone didn't work in her new neighborhood screamed at her for sixty straight minutes. She treated Jan as if she were single-handedly responsible for the poor reception in her house. Jan had reasonably pointed out that she could have avoided the problem by testing the signal strength in the new residence before moving there, which had resulted in a loud demand to see the manager. Since it was a Saturday, the busiest and most important day for a manager to be in, Jan's manager was at home.

Brent, the manager, had apologized over the phone for not being able to be there on Jan's first day. He assured her that her co-workers, Tyler and Isabelle, would be there to open and close with her. All she should worry about was observing them and trying to get a feel for the store. Tyler, the opener, had other plans. He left Jan alone after only two hours. He claimed that he had forgotten to do something extremely important. He assured Jan over his shoulder that Isabelle would be there soon as he made his escape. It was noon. Isabelle was not scheduled until three.

Tyler's desertion had left Jan without any support. For three hours, she'd had to deal with "escalations", such as the woman freaking out about her poor reception in her house. Jan had gone through a three-day crash-course training program on how to use the computer system and the cellphones. Her training did not prepare her for adult temper tantrums.

She had apologized to the irate woman and informed her that a manager was not available. The woman had instead demanded to speak with an assistant manager. As far as Jan knew, there wasn't one. So, she pretended to look around the store as if she might spot someone else working with her. She then calmly informed the woman that apparently she was alone and therefore there wasn't anyone else the woman could speak with.

The woman's face had turned red at once. She had thrown her AT&T phone onto the ground and screamed that she was defecting to Verizon. Jan pointed out that the store sold phones for all the major carriers and would be happy to switch her service to another provider for her. The woman threw her a final death-glare from the doorway and slammed the door behind her.

Jan wrote the woman off as mentally unstable and tried to laugh the memory of her shrieks away. But on her third day of work — a Monday that gave new meaning to the word "manic" —

Jan realized that cell phones turned otherwise reasonable and intelligent individuals into berserkers. She had been yelled at for being unable to fix a phone that had gone for a swim with its owner, for thirteen separate instances of billing errors, and for several more complaints about reception. She wondered why customers assumed their cell phones would work everywhere. No cell phone worked everywhere.

Being on the receiving end of negativity and aggression was humbling for the former princess of the Crown Isle. If one more person spoke to her like she was a retarded peasant with no feelings, she was likely to shove a stack of brochures into their mouth to silence their screams and then beat them over the head with a display.

"Miss? Miss!"

Jan's head jerked up. She had been reading a copy of Cosmopolitan magazine that she kept hidden under the counter for when business was slow.

"Can I help you?" Jan's voice dripped with sarcasm. The last thing she wanted to do anymore was try to help customers. That wasn't her job. She was a saleswoman, not a customer service representative.