Dissociate

    He entered through the back bay, business as usual, and made his way down the employee hall to the breakroom. As he passed the manager’s he peaked in and saw the regional and general manager having what seemed to be a heated discussion with a man in a black suit and a heavy N95 mask. They stopped talking and stared at him as he passed, but didn’t try to call him in, so that was that. When Stan made it to the breakroom the small tv on the counter was playing the same news bit that had been playing for days. Wash your hands, stay indoors, wear a mask, quarantine if you are sick. A pale, skinny girl was sitting at the breakroom table on her phone. 

    “It is imperative that if you are sick, that you stay in your house and call the emergency pandemic hotline below.” Frank, the news man said. “Death rates are rising exponentially and the contagion rate is high. If members of your household are ill, isolate them and do not leave your house…” Stan threw his backpack into his locker and slammed it shut with his foot. At that moment, the managers and the man in the suit came into the breakroom.

    “Hey guys, thanks for coming in!” The general manager said in his usual cheery voice, through a thick paper mask. “Before you get clocked in, we need you guys to fill out these contracts which will cover us in case anyone gets sick.” He leaned in, while obviously trying to keep an amount of space between himself and his employees, and slid two paper contracts onto the table. The girl signed her’s without reading it and Stan glanced over it. The contents of the contract read that Grocery Mart would not take any responsibility if its employees contracted the virus, but they agreed to show up to work and take precautions. Stan sighed and signed it, then collected the papers and handed them back to the GM, who’d put on rubber gloves. “Thanks guys, and have a great shift!” With that, they left briskly.

    Stan’s shift had started so he made his way onto the floor. He walked passed the aisles, which had been mostly picked clean. On the speaker, 70’s disco muzak played and the more than usual amount of people bustled around. Most people were wearing masks, others led packs of small children. One woman was clad head to toe in plastic sheeting. He made it to his check out line where Marla, an older woman with a smokers cough and wandering fingers, was mindlessly checking items.

“Hello gorgeous.” He said. “Miss me?”

She grinned without missing a beat. “All my life spent waiting on a man.” Masterfully, she switched their tills and pressed Stan into her spot. Her hands dangerously close around his hips. “Now, you hold the fort down and I’ll see you at lunch.” Without warning, she sneezed loudly and sprayed the back of Stan’s arm.

“Trying to lube me up?” He said jokingly, wiping the spray on his apron. “Better buy me a drink first.”

Marla laughed and gathered her things, the customer was indifferent to their flirting. On several occasions, Stan had considered making a move on the dusty old cougar and embarrassingly had relieved himself on the thought of her thick lipstick around his cock. After a few drinks, he figured it wouldn’t matter too much and since she was older, she’d probably know her way around his man parts. 

He cashed out the customer, who left without saying a word, and turned to the next in line. It was the same woman who wore a clear plastic rain slicker over her clothes, with gloves taped and seeled to the arms of the jacket. She wore a mask, and a face shield, and looked distastefully at Stan as he scanned her items.

“You should be wearing a mask. I ought to talk to your manager.” She said through the muffled mask

Stan smiled, soulessly, and pulled a paper mask from his workstation drawer. “Thank you for choosing Grocery Mart, did you find everything you were looking for?”