September 24, 2023 (names have been changed)
Coming into work for six days in a row is going to be the death of me. Not that this job is difficult in any way, not at all. Just growing more and more… mundane. As anyone else who has worked in retail could tell you, besides the endless amount of rude customers that come in and make it their life mission to ruin your day. You also have to deal with hearing the same songs. Every. Single. Day. I even hear the same song twice. If I have to hear “this kiss, this kiss” song once more today, I will probably throw my apron away, and leave this place.
A typical work day for me begins around 4:30 am. Of course I do the usual stuff; brush my teeth, wash my face, rub aloe vera on my face, and eat a spoonful of my local honey for my allergies. I prep my clothes for the next day and have them ready in my backpack. I put my work out clothes on and get on my bike. Then I begin my mile long journey when I have just enough time to chug down a protein shake while I change into my uniform in time to clock in for my 5 am shift. Once I put on my hairnet and face mask, I go to the production list and compare it to the wall.
I work in the deli department. That means I am responsible for rotisserie chicken, meals, sides, snack packs, salads, cup salads, grab and go sandwiches, customer ordered sandwiches, sliced meats and cheeses, making tuna, seafood, chicken salad. I am sure I’m missing something, but you get the idea. We are supposed to have four workers in the morning and for the afternoon, and three for closing. However, people don’t last here. Just the other day we had two new hires who didn’t even make it to their second day of training. I say all of this to vent about how we only have one or two workers until night shift. Then it is only one person who closes. Needless to point out, production is never fully done for the day. But the $3 above minimum wage makes it worth my while. Do I know I’m getting over paid? Indeed I do. Do I give a shit? No.
I’ve been with this company for longer than I care to share. For the longest time, we have been wild, untamed. No manager for quite some time to tell us how ugly our wraps look. I didn’t know that you’re supposed to cut it diagonally. Thank god for Mary and her skills to help us out. Since she came into our deli lives, we now have direction, stability, and motivation. I would guess with her experience of being the manager of ten years, it would come as no surprise. She has told us she isn’t from this country. In fact, she’s only been in the USA for 13 years. Mary has been with us for four months now, and I’ve been noticing some… peculiar and abnormal things.
The meat, sushi, deli, and bakery all work together and have all developed relationships with each other. We share the walk-in, and walk past each other on a constant basis. Claire is the bakery’s assistant manager. She is probably my third favorite person in the whole store. Besides her hilarious, spicy attitude, she’s actually very well trained in the management world. She also knows everything about everyone, in a good way. I would like to believe that most everyone has a soft spot for Claire.
The other day I was gathering all the produce and dressings I needed from the walk in to make all 60 salads for the day. It’s not a large fridge, but it’s bigger than what I’m used to seeing at my other job, and big enough to where a fellow coworker could startle you because you can’t see them behind any of the multitude moveable racks. Typically, even though we all have signed the store’s policy to not “graze”, I’ll do a quick search before I sneak a few grapes. However, on this day, I was too focused on finishing my stupidly long production list. They keep telling us that audit is going to show up any day now, since another store nearby gave the manager a heads up. So I have a lot on my mind to be flirting with no grapes. “Gabrielle” I heard someone whisper my name. It had to be Claire, she loved to sneak eat the strawberries. Giggling, I said, “What do you want!” As I continued my gathering, I heard nothing. I began investigating in confusion, but there was nothing there. Perhaps I was hearing things as I thought to myself and went on with my work without giving it a second thought. Until it happened again.
My usual day starts before the sun wakes up. Most of the people in my department don’t come in until the store is actually open. For the most part, it’s just myself and Suzy. She’s a zesty, older lady who clocks in two hours before I come in. She often “forgets” her hearing aids. I, too, would forget my hearing aids if it meant drowning out the customers’ annoyances. In order to have a conversion with her Suzy, the volume is almost at a shouting level. So we limit our conversations unless we need to speak to one another. Most of the time I’m trying my best to tune out these repetitive, shitty songs that are on this everlasting loop while searching for my produce; again. “Gabrielle, Gabbi.” I stood straight up, no one has called me Gabbi since I was in middle school. Gabbi the fatty is what they would call me. Not only did this disembodied voice scare the shit out of me, but it brought back some ptsd flashbacks that brought its own horror feeling. I honestly couldn’t tell you if it’s a male or female voice. I tried my best to laugh it off and act as if it didn’t bother me, but it did. It does. I talked myself down after hitting my inhaler. “It’s nothing, right? I mean, it’s not like a ghost haunting a grocery store.” I told myself as I was able to take a deep breath.
Mary has been extra… pushy as of late. She expects me to do a full page worth of production and gets emotional if I’m not able to complete her high expectations. I know if I didn’t have customers every two minutes needing me for sandwiches or slicing something for them,I could possibly do it. I overheard her the other day ask Ash if she wanted to be the deli lead. Ash can’t stand the woman or the responsibility, so she told her no. Since then, Mary has been aggressively slamming products on the table, and giving us the cold shoulder. Now I’m not saying there is a connection, but it seems strange that when Mary is mad, there seems to be friction between all us deli people. For instance, a senior deli went off on a new hire over dishes. The senior deli lady has never displayed this type of behavior. I can’t speak for the new hire. All I know is when I looked over at Mary, she had this disturbing smile with her head tilted downward, and her eyes looking up as the store manager had to pry off the two deli clerks. It was disturbing to watch her in that hypnotic state while mixing the tuna she just made. I’m going to keep my eye on this one and tell you guys if anything new happens.