“So yeah. That’s about all you need to know. But, obviously, if you need a hand with anything just come and find me. Ready to get started?” Lee asked.
It was Monday morning, my first day at work, and Lee was trying to go over everything I would need to know for the job. He had given me a full run down of pretty much everything I needed to know, what I needed to do, and what hours I would be working and have off, etc.
“I think I got all that.”
“Awesome. We’ll start you stacking shelves and working out back just for today. Just see how you get on ok?”
“Yep. Thanks a lot.”
I walked out to the store room which Lee had shown me when I first arrived, I saw a stack of boxes that needed to be sorted and stacked out in the main shop. Another guy was already sorting one out.
“Umm, hey. I’m Frankie. I just started and I was told to help out here.” I said to the guy. He looked up and gave me a small smile.
“Oh yeah. Lee mentioned someone would be starting today. I’m Brian.” He out his hand out for me to shake.
“So… What exactly do I have to do?”
“Basically. Just stack all the CD’s in these boxes, on the shelves out the front. But they’re not sent out in the best thought out way to be honest, they’re in alphabetical order, but we stack them according to genres and then in alphabetical order. So it’s easier to sort them into genres first, else you’ll be walking all over the shop.”
“Right ok. That’s all I’ve got to do?”
“Pretty much. Yep.”
I grabbed a box and started taking out a couple of CD’s at a time, sorting them into various genres that were on a list in front of me.
“Shall I start taking these out into the store then?” I asked Brian after about an hour and a half of sorting.
“Sure. I’ll just finish with these last few and then come help.” He nodded. I picked up a box which was now filled with one genre, taking it out to the main shop floor and walking over to the right section.
After we had finished sorting and I started stacking the shelves, that was pretty much all my day consisted of, and not much else, except my lunch break. I ended up having a pretty good laugh with Brian while we were sorting the CD’s, we were left to do it by ourselves, so no one was around to tell us to stop messing about so much. That’s not to say we didn’t get the work done, we just tried to make it more enjoyable.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow then Frankie yeah?” Brian said as we were grabbing our jackets and getting ready to go.
“I guess so yeah.” I nodded. “See you later.”
I walked through the doors to the shop floor and tried to locate Lee to say goodbye to him. I gave up after a few minutes and decided to text him to say I was leaving, and just go.
I walked back to Ben and Joe’s house slowly, listening to my iPod as I went, trying to think about everything that was going on. I couldn’t work out why I didn’t miss home much anymore. I mean, sure I missed James and Joey, and I guess my dad, Mike and Tre, but… I didn’t want to go back. When I left the west coast, I was expecting to want to go straight back and have to force myself to stay put in London for a while, but now I barely even think about home. I guess I can see why Hannah decided to stick around after they moved. It’s not all bad when you’re actually here.
“Hello?” I called when I opened the front door. I heard Ben’s muffled voice coming from the kitchen, just as I walked in I saw him setting down the add-on for the phone that I had used to call James the other day. “Err hey…” I said, wondering why he was using that phone.
