Life in Retail

First Day

I feel so lucky to have a job.

Well, I used to feel that way... but today was horrible! People were mean, I did everything wrong, and no one helped me. I know this is supposed to be a sign of independence, but I honestly don't know if I want to come back next Saturday. I know, it's only my first day, but you don't understand! Let me tell you what happened...

-----

I walk into the store with black pants, a light gray shirt, and sneakers, as requested. My trainer, or the person that's supposed to be my trainer, throws a black apron at me.

"You're Nagisa, right?" He asks, a finger pointed in my direction.

"Um, yeah." What if I wasn't though? It doesn't seem right to assume I'm the new guy just because I asked for the manager.

"Alright. Take over the register. I'm taking a break." He barks at me, untying his apron.

"Wait, what??" I shout in surprise.

"It's easy, just, take over." He dismisses me with a wave.

"B-But it's my first day!" I call after him.

"Just figure it out!" He yells back.

"But I've never worked—" he disappears into the employee lounge, cutting me off, "—a register before..." I groan.

"Excuse me, could you help me find something?" A customer asks.

I sigh and take one look at the register, all the buttons strange and foreign to me. I swallow the dryness in my throat and put on my apron. "Sure! What can I help you find?" With any luck, he'll be back when I'm done.

"Do you have notebooks here?"

"Um, let me check." I glance at all the aisles for something that might have notebooks in it. It's a relatively small store, but every time I came here before, they always seemed to have what I needed. Guess it's not called a convenience store for nothing.

I find an aisle that says "Stationary" and decide to try that one. I look all around for some notebooks.

"I already checked this aisle. I've gotten notebooks here before though, so is it a seasonal item?" She rapid fires at me.

I offer her my best smile, which isn't all that great right now, and head for the seasonal section. The school year does start up soon, so maybe it is? As we saunter down the seasonal aisle, the customer pipes up again.

"I could've checked the seasonal aisle myself, you know. Can't you just tell me if you have them?" She crosses her arms in frustration.

"Oh, um, I'm not actually sure though." I scratch the side of my face. "I'm sorry. This is my first day."

"Then why are you helping me?" Her head shakes in disappointment. "Get me someone who knows what they're doing, please." She taps her foot at me.

My shoulders slouch down. "Yes'm." I hurry back towards the register, hoping my trainer is back from break. Naturally, he's not, but there's a small line waiting for me.

"Oh, so someone does work here." A man glares at me.

The blood drains from my face and I feel ready to panic. I don't know how to help these people yet! But I take a deep breath and calmly walk over towards the register, putting on the best smile I can muster up. I'm an assassin. I can handle retail.

The computer monitor has some sort of screen saver on it. There isn't a mouse anywhere so I tap it, hoping it does something. A keypad shows up on the display. I blink at it a few times, a nervous sweat forming at my hairline.