better than most 。dominic fike (ongoing)

01

god i fucking hate saturdays.

i know it's the weekend and all, and everyone looks forward to it, but working on a saturday just feels like the biggest type of fomo ever. everyone is out parting or enjoying the sun, leaving me to sulk as their happiness fills me with misery.

i watched the clock like a hawk but it felt as if doing so just made time pass by slower. there was thirty-four minutes til my shift was over. just thirty-four minutes. but the closer that time approached, the more agonizing it felt waiting to clock out.

usually when i'm this close to being off, i take an unnecessary amount of bathroom breaks. not because i actually have to pee or anything. but just to have a reason to shut my lane light off and waste time hitting my vape in the privacy of the beige walled stalls.

but to be completely honest, my manager hunter had already scolded me for going missing during a rush three times today alone. not to mention, the smell of our bathrooms mixed with the bathroom cleaner our custodians used had started to make me nauseous.

so i decided to actually do my job and stand behind the counter staring aimlessly at the faces of customers i'd probably never see again, or struggle to recognize outside of my uniform.

my daze was interrupted by a girl and who i'd assume to be her boyfriend in my line. i greeted them like normal and began to scan their items, none of which i paid attention to or cared to make small talk about.

they talked aimlessly among each other about a conversation they must've started before being in my line. only pausing from their shared laughter to tell me about the case of water under their cart that i had already punched in with my lookup button. the girl who was blonde and conventionally pretty, took her card out her louis vuitton cardholder and paid contactless before i could finish saying their total.

it always feels so dehumanizing to be in front of teenagers my age who spent money as if they never feared there'd be a day where they wouldn't have it.

granted it's probably their daddy's money, but nonetheless i tried to mask my jealousy with annoyance.

i hated working for people.

i hated working period, but when you're a college dropout with no ambition who lives at home with her parents, it's a compromise that had to be made. plus my job took very little skill or effort, besides my early work shifts and having to fake a smile constantly.

i tried handing the girl her receipt that was way too long for what she bought before her boyfriend mumbled something about not needing it and telling me have a good day. i threw it into the trashcan beside me that was overflowing with other receipts left behind. i followed them out the store with my eyes and watched them unload their groceries into a white benz truck badly parked in a handicapped parking spot.

"dicks," i mumbled out-loud.

i never understood why so many girls paid for the groceries here instead of their boyfriends but this was the city of boca raton we're talking about. chivalry is truly dead.

i finally focused my eyes back after watching them drive away out of distance and nearly shit myself.

"FUCK" i yelped "you scared the shit outta me".