Work

The bright lights of ceiling LED shun all over the store with a murky Brown yellow close to the colour of oil, Like the light covers havent been changed in 25 years, and it shows, as parts of the store is a clear white and other parts have dead bugs lying there trying to get a suntan. As we walk, the floor clings on to your shoes as if the sugar water to clean the floors wants it's friendly dirt and dust back. Or it might be just the fact that some kid dropped his flavoured drink on the floor and nobody was bothered to clean it or report it, dried up and sat there over the 25 years. Oh and the scent, the scent is the most important here cause we have the best scent in all of the super centres we work in; it's literally nothing with a hint of detergents and dust with a sprinkle of dead aircons and no ventilation. ahhh, what a store I work in, many faults here and there but it's the best store i can think of. I can guarantee you that another store in the super centre would have had a rat the size of a football, with many other problems...hahaha, Okay I'm joking we have those problems including the rat. It's all true. Our store is the oldest and only store to not have an overhaul renovation. but what can i say, I'm not in charge and It's not like our words wouldn't reach the managers to the head office and be handed a renovation without having any issues. We just work here, day in, day out. But not everything is negative here, i have to say the only positive thing i can think of working here other than the colleagues i work with is the first hour of work 7am-8am. no noise, no customers, free to listen to our own music, and talk to other co-workers as they walk past minding their own job.

What do i do you may ask, how rude, you should ask how old and my gender and who i am before asking that

"I am a 21 Year old male named Jim, short for Jimothy. Jimothy Smith is my full name, and I know what you are going to say, but just leave it i weigh around 56KG and i am slim weight. Hobbies are sleeping and reading and sometimes sleep reading.

Now I am a shopfill staff or the proper term used in this workplace is called sequence.

basically means whatever stock comes on the truck the day before and unboxed is then placed onto cages and given to us today; to fill into the correct location under the price tag on the shop for customers to browse through and find what they are looking for with ease. and with that back to work.

Shuffling back and forth, up and down side to side and around filling stock to correct allocation in the homeware and shed, pets and outdoor furniture area. from candles to scented candles to other candles to chairs to sit the candles on and chairs to put decoration on, people call them tables and trays but I remember kids sitting on tables like it was the mainstream thing to do now. Lifting heavy bulk to the tiniest lightbulb on the shop floor, I have to say this is my gym right here. This is all I need for my daily exercise. All I need to do is just eat, then I can gain some muscle.

Zipping from cage to cage, from one side of homeware to the next area outdoor furniture, completing my task at hand and sorting as I go. Sorting overstock to new products to rubbish and broken products from the travel of the truck and stock that does not even belong in homeware that the young gentlemen in the back mixed up with. Before I knew it i was 7:55, 5 minutes before the flood gates open and a river of customers flow in to make our day for better or worse depending on the forecast. Today is a Wednesday so I know the local high school students will be walking in to buy some candy for their day of sport, and/or buy other stuff that they need since they are already here. Having those students makes things harder for the person working in Confectionery and stationery because those kids tend to go there to buy their stuff, but also there are one or two of those types of shady customers; that everyone knows he's up to no good. I quickly up my beat and start moving at a faster pace, I know for a fact that the customers will slow me down asking where the product they are looking for is in fact right beside, infront or behind them or even asking where toys are when it is at the opposite side of the store. I put my head down, close my eyes and took a deep breath, held it then exhaled violently, "time to ruin my day"

8:10am, the flood gates were open for around 10 minutes now. I quickly moved around the Home department area to only stop around the bathroom area when a customer looked lost in front of me. A lady maybe in her mid 30's, Hair still damp/wet and in pyjamas.

"Hello, is there anything I can help with?" I asked as it is a part of my job.

"ah, Yes you can, I'm looking for a Cushion with the red zig-zag line pattern," she replied with a slight anger.

I'm not too sure why she was in such a mood this early in the morning then again, I don't wake up this early usually.

"Yes, all the cushions would be this way towards the centre of Indoor furniture, I can show you the way if you would like to follow me" I replied.

"Okay" She said

as we walked towards the cushions i can clearly see the product that she is looking for is currently missing from it's usual spot, more of it's out of stock.

"oh, they're usually here, if you could give me a second I can check on my Scanner to see if we have any in the back." I said to keep the situation a bit more in-check.

"Beep" the personal scanner goes as I scanned the barcode on the ticket.

"I'm terribly sorry ma'am but we are currently out of stock. I said with disappointment as this product is quite popular and for it to be out of stock is quite hmm..

"No, on the website it says you are in stock" she said with a boiling point of anger.

"The website is 24 hours behind on what the stock we have, I can show you nearby stores that does have it in stock"

"No, I travelled here because the website said you have it in stock, all other stores that I called yesterday said that this store has it in stock." She said with anger like the final boss in a fantasy game.

There is seriously nothing I can do at this point but I have to try to stand my ground and reason with her that we don't have any in our store.

"Don't you know that the customer is always right, why are you lying, If the internet says you have it in stock it means you have it, bring your manager, I will have a word with your manager about this cushion and about your attitude with me; A CUSTOMER" she started to yell with the rage I believe that she's been holding in for quite a while.

Stay calm Jimothy, Stay calm, you can do this.

I took a few steps back and turned 60 degrees away and called my manager on my earpiece to see if he could handle this situation better than me.

"Hey umm..Mike, Can you come over to home decor to help with a customer, she wants to talk with you. I asked.

"Yeah, I can hear the situation from my office, I'm already on my way. Can you tell her just to wait till I get there" He replied calmly.

I turned back to the customer who was staring at me and listening to my side of the conversation.

"My manager is on his way, if you could just wait here for him to come." I said cautiously

"Good" She replied with no hesitation and with the look that she wanted to insult me right then but saw the manager walk around the corner.

"Go have a cup of water okay" He said before I could say anything.

"okay sir" I replied quietly and walked off. I should let him handle this before I apply more flammables to this mess.

I headed for the tea room and took a small break.

The day was only beginning and I wanted to crawl up into a ball and cry.

I sat down on the chair with a cup of water in my hand. Closed my eyes and Remembered a quote from my past.

"Don't fear the darkness. It will help you fight for the light"

It was the last quote my uncle told me when I was young and before he disappeared. I was very close to him so the quote stuck to me like a bandaid.

I didn't really understand what he meant as I was still around 8.

I kinda get what it means now, it's similar to the story about Icarus, flying too high with his wax wings and getting himself burnt.

But the quote my uncle gave is more of don't believe in too much hope, because it can lead you to getting hurt more than you should. Don't be over positive as it will hurt more when you fall. The quote is hard to understand and it really makes no sense but I kinda understand. Usually despair/darkness contrasts the hope/light in people's lives, despair brings people together as it is human nature to help each other and rely on each other. Having too much hope or believing nothing but hope is inhuman for our race. Nobody in this world can be positive or believe in hope forever, there is always darkness.

The darkness also exists to help you fight for what you want, fighting for the light, fighting for a tomorrow, fighting for a brighter future. Without the darkness there will be nothing to help us understand what is wrong and what isn't working.

Knowing our despair or darkness makes us stronger, wiser and understand more about the world we individuals live and progress through. It was depressing when my uncle disappeared and 2 years later announced dead. With his disappearance it made me stronger as well as weaker.

I learnt so much and had a lot of fun. Thanks to my uncle I managed to learn and try to fill his shoes. To his honor and my experience through this I rewrote his quote and made my own for future generations. Hopefully it will make it easier for people to understand.

"Don't fear despair, it will help you fight for hope"

And

"Look ahead to see our hope bloom, or look back to be swallowed by despair"

I hear my manager on my ear-piece,

"you okay Jimothy, Can you come back for work please" He asked politely

I got back up and stretched my back, twist and turn then bend.

"Yeah,sure," I said excitedly as I regained my mentality and was ready for work once again.

off I go, back to the shop floor, back to the never ending one sided battle where we always lose.