I’ve been working at my local grocery store for about 2 weeks now, and I feel insane for staying this long. I think it’s mainly out of worry for my best friend, wherever he is. My best friend Jack is the store manager. He was the one who called me about the job in the first place.
Phone ring
Jack: “Hey dylan, how’s it going? Have you found a job yet?”
It’s been a month since I’ve unemployed after the incident at my last job. I’ve had 0 callbacks after applying to 4 jobs.
Me: “Yeah, turns out no one wants to hire someone who knocked their boss out cold.”
Jack: “That dude was a piece of shit, he layed his hands on you first anyways.”
Me: “What’s up, man? I am not really able to chat right now, I’m still waiting for a few callbacks.”
Jack: “Right what I called you about, listen, we just lost one of our assistant store managers after…. complications. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted the job.”
I haven’t been a manager for about 2 years, plus I would assume Jack would have other people applying for that job. Why me?
Me: “ Don’t you have other people going for that position? Why me?”
Jack: “You know how small our town is, man, plus no one wants to do the night shift, considering it’s from 10pm to 7am.”
Of course, it would be the graveyard shift. No wonder noone wants the job. But… I did need the money, I got bills after all. How bad could it really be?
Jack: “Hey dylan, you there?”
Me: “Yea, sorry, sure, I’ll give it a whirl.”
Jack: “ Awesome, can you start tomorrow and come in an hour early to get some paperwork done, etc?”
Me: “Yeah, sure.”
Jack: “Perfect, I’ll see you then.” Phone call end
Well, that was an interesting call. Not to say I wasn’t happy I got a job, quite the opposite. Something felt a bit off, though. It’s probably just because im still a bit shocked. It’s not every day someone seeks you out for a job. The next night, I got in my car and headed toward the grocery store.
The grocery store was built 10 years ago, the old store manager retired 2 years ago, and Jack got promoted to store manager. My nerves were at a all time high. I did not want to mess up this job. As I walked in, I met with Jack, who greeted me by the entrance.
Jack: “Hey man, you ready to get the boring stuff out of the way.” He smirked, and my nerves went away. He always could make the best out of everything.
Me: “As ready as I ever will be.”
He motioned for me to follow him. We went to the back where his office was located and got started with the paperwork. I won’t bore you with the details.. After 15 minutes of mind-numbing signing and writing, we were done. Jack grabbed all the paperwork, straightened it all out, and put the papers in a binder.
Jack: “Now that is all done, I’ll explain your main jobs as Assistant manager. Because of the hours, you will have 4 other employees working with you. Your main job is to make sure people are doing their jobs, floors are clean, shelves are stocked, etc. You shouldn’t have too many customers. Frankly, I wish corporate would quit with making each store 24/7. Oh, I forgot to mention, at night every hour on the dot, the power resets. After every reset, just make a round around the store if nothing is out of the ordinary, great. But, there’s a few things you need to look out for on your rounds. If you see a dark black substance dripping from the wall anywhere, go grab a mop and clean it up before anything else. That is the easiest “issue” to deal with. If you see a light on, from behind the door to the back of the deli, do not panic. Keep going on your rounds, but do not look behind you. You will hear someone following you, and once it stops, you may turn around. Final one, I know it’s a lot. If you see any shelves empty, get it restocked immediately. Corporate doesn’t like the store looking bare. I know I sound a bit insane, but please just follow everything I told you. Anyways, do you have any questions?”
I told him no. He went into his locker, then grabbed and handed me my uniform, with my nametag. He then gave me a tour of the building. The back room with all the overstock, the break room, the deli counter, and the deli storage room. We then went up to the front, I looked at my watch, and it was 5 minutes till 10. I saw 4 associates waiting up there, and Jack introduced me to them. After that, he gave me a set of keys, wished me luck on my first night, and left. I didn’t believe in all that nonsense about the light turning on by itself, and the footsteps, etc. I just went with it because I needed the job, and it would be bad to argue with my boss on my first day.
The first few hours went well. Like he said, the power reset every hour. The first 3 hours were simple, I cleaned up the black substance in the second hour, and after I went back to work. I think it was some issue with the plumbing or something. The next hour, I noticed a few of the shelves in the cereal aisle were missing a lot of products. I called one of the employees over and asked him to restock those shelves. He looked confused.
Mikey: “I just walked by this aisle before the power reset. Those shelves were fully stocked.”
He sighed and went to the back to grab one of the overstock boxes full of different cereals. I was a bit stunned and really creeped out. How is that physically possible, we haven’t got many customers, and cereal just doesn’t disappear. I remembered what Jack told me, but that’s crazy, isn’t it? I decided to leave that thought alone and go up to the front. 3am rolled around, and the same thing happened, I went on my rounds and noticed more empty shelves. I decided to stock them myself, and after that, I went towards the managers office or Jack’s office. I kinda hung out there till I had to make my next rounds.
The next hour on my rounds, the light in the deli storage room was on. My heart dropped, and I felt a cold chill surrounding me. Terrified, I kept on walking and heard the steps following me. It went on for what felt like hours until silence. It stopped, I turned around, expecting to see an employee playing a prank. There was no one there.
In the next 2 hours, we’re thankfully boring. Suddenly, at about 6:15, Mellisa, one of the other employees, ran into my office.
Mellisa: “Hey, a customer just walked into the back room.”
I shot right up and instantly ran towards the backroom and entered.
I saw a lady crouched in the far left corner facing the wall. I called to her and asked if she needed help and that she couldn’t be back here. She stood up, turned around, eyes bleeding, and ran towards me. I screamed and ran out, mellissa, and Jonah, another employee, ran over. They looked inside the back room, and the lady was gone. I went back to the office, and before I knew it, it was 7am. I left and made my way home. The next two weeks went about the same, except I never saw that lady again.
Last night, we got visited by someone from corporate. That was one day when the store was closed. Only Jack was allowed to be there. Today, I tried to call him. He wasn’t answering. I got a letter in the mail, it was from corporate. It stated that Jack was let go for “deserting post during shift.” I was promoted to store manager, effective immediately.