Chapter 2
Just Another Day
(6:00 am – 6:30 am)
Kyle finished wrapping the pallet, and this time tossed the plastic roll into the corner. It clamored over several shelves before rattling to the floor. The double doors opened, “whatcha making all that racket for?” Kyle turned to see Brandon walking into the room. His baggy gym shorts and muscle shirt were now gone. He replaced it with the red and black uniform that Kyle had come to know more than he would ever want too. “What’s up Brandon?” Brandon gave a tired, “Ron sent me back here to help you with the chairs.” “Did he just tell you that?” He nodded, “he said you would know what to do.” “Yea,” grumbled Kyle flattening out his hair as he made his way towards the chairs. “All these chairs need to…do you ever take your eyes away from your phone?” Brandon smiled, “no my guy is texting me later about some stuff?” “Stuff,” Kyle shook his head, “It’s still early in the morning. You just got finished partying!” Brandon just shrugged as he raised his forearm and pointed to his tattoo, Live Fast. “Everyday baby, everyday,” Kyle shook his head smiling, “yeah figures man! Past six in the morning and you’re already thinking about partying.” Raising his forearm higher he tapped the tattoo again repeating, “everyday baby!”
Kyle decided to move towards the first pallet of chairs. They were the Osgood chairs, a medium weight office chair but defiantly not the worst. “Haven’t you ever heard the expression that those who rush stumble upon the way?” Brandon returned to his phone, “those stumbles are what make life great, no?” “I guess, now why don’t you help me and grab that ladder. I can hoist these up to you.” “Wait my guy is telling me something,” “like what?” “He says that he can get me blue ladies,” “that’s great you think you can hook me up?” He shrugged, “I don’t know I still gotta find a price,” “well in the meantime you gonna help me put these chairs up on top?” “Oh dude check this out man, you gotta see this new rapper my boy hooked me up with! His name is Chris Webby.” “Brandon, PLEASE can you help me with this? I’m not breaking my back for minimum wage!” “One second baby, what the hell is your rush anyway? We still got forty minutes until we open.” Running his hand over his forehead, “Brandon we have to clear this area for the truck, and you know if it doesn’t get done I’m the one that’s going to get the shaft.” “You ain’t gonna get the shaft baby!” “What are you talking about Brandon I ALWAYS get the shaft! I run this store and when something doesn’t get done somehow it's always my fault.” “Whatever, we doing this,” “Jesus Christ Brandon I’m waiting on you,” Brandon chuckled, “I know baby, I know!” “And STOP calling me baby!”
They worked for several minutes as Brandon pulled up the ladder and climbed up first. Kyle begin to carry the chairs up handing them off to him. This meant Brandon would sit comfortably on top grabbing the chairs off Kyle’s shoulder. “You do know that I do get the shaft around here all the time right?” “How do you figure,” shaking my head, “man where would I begin?” Climbing down the ladder Kyle made his way to grab another chair. “You know how Gorski likes to throw his Tic-Tac boxes all over the place?” Brandon laughed clapping his hands together, “I love that shit!” “I hate that, you know Carol came back here just yesterday and she’s like…” In a screechy voice Kyle said, “Kyle whose throwing these Tic-Tac boxes all over the place, they’re everywhere!” “I waved my hands not me and she’s like… ‘well you’re always back here working! Who else could it be?’ I didn’t rat on Gorski either man, I’m not like that!” “So what happened,” shouldering another chair Kyle huffed, “I told her that I would let her know the moment I knew. She told me to walk around the entire warehouse and pick up all that I could find. I found nine.” Brandon laughed a little taking the chair that Kyle had brought up to him.
“Also I got into trouble for wrecking some of the shipper boxers.” Brandon smiled, “you gotta be more careful baby! I’m always telling you that!” “Careful...careful, Gorski is the one throwing the giant rod for the baler at them like a javelin!” Brandon clapped his hands together again, “yeah he’s really good at that now! I guess practice makes perfect, huh?” “Well he outta be I do most of his work when he’s back here. He just keeps throwing that damn thing around the whole time!” Brandon and Kyle started to laugh, “He’s a funny guy though.” Kyle nodded, “yeah he's funny! I’m gonna miss him when he leaves.”
“Did I tell you that I am getting out of here,” shaking his head in disbelief, “no way Brandon! You can’t leave me here!” “Yeah my check is about to clear and I’m going to get a job at Carabas!” Kyle dropped the chair he was trying to carry, “So your accident is finally paying off?” He nodded, “I was celebrating last night,” “what was it for again?” Brandon returned to his phone, “whiplash man whiplash!” “Oh that’s right, so is that the reason why I am lifting these chairs?” “You’re decision Kyle, don’t hate the player hate the game baby!” “I don’t know what you’re talking about anymore just take this chair! It’s…heavy…as…shit!” Kyle had walked up the ladder and groaned with every step. The chair boxes started to get heavy after awhile.
The large double doors swung open as a large round figure entered the warehouse, it was Bethany. Hair up in a bun her jogging outfit still on as her glasses seemed to slide down her nose. She stopped when she saw them shuffling the papers in her hand, “Jesus what’s taking you guys so long back here? Kyle you been chatting Brandon’s ear off again?” Shaking his head, “I told you Brandon! I always get the shaft man!” “Speaking of Brandon, I got those planograms for you to do. I’m just getting them all together.” Bethany returned to her papers and marched to a set of file cabinets. Kyle watched her tight pants cling to her skin. The fabric seemed to stretch almost to the bursting point. “So Beth how’s the hubby?” Bethany didn’t even return a look to Brandon as she began to write furiously. “I got his stupid ass locked up last night! I won’t be seeing him for awhile!” Shaking his head in confusion, “weren’t you just like a month ago talking about how much you guys were in love?” “That was before I found out he was cheating on me Kyle!”
Several seconds passed until the silence was broken by Kyle asking the question he knew Brandon was itching to have answered. “How did you know he was cheating on you?” “First off I found condoms in his pockets, and we never use those,” “Bethany…I don’t need to know that!” “Also KYLE one time we were watching this Maury episode, and it was about this guy who was cheating on his girl. The guy is like saying how he cheats, and she would never leave him because she thought she couldn’t get anybody else. He just looked at me and smiled. It was then that I knew he felt the same way. I showed him though.”
“What does that mean,” “I was at a party a couple days ago Brandon and…” Kyle gave a, “man must be a party week or something with you both!” “Anyway,” Bethany continued, “I am going out with my ex-boyfriend. I saw him at the party. We didn’t have each others numbers, so we couldn’t get into contact. Now that he is back I moved him into my place, and I kicked my husband the hell out. I actually got him a job with me over at Portillo’s.” Brandon sat on the ledge of the ladder, “damn…you gonna treat a former boy like that sign me up!” Bethany made a mocking face, “ha, ha, ha, Brandon you ain’t my color…pasty! Besides if you wanna meet him he is coming in later.” Kyle laughed, “Yeah I already said I’d love to see this guy!” Bethany nodded, “don’t worry you will. Brandon the first planogram that needs changing is pens so hurry up the store is going to open. We’re going to be swamped as hell today.”
“Hey Beth, what’s management all doing here?” She shrugged at Kyle, “not all of management is here Will’s not. Besides everybody from management is supposed to be here when Gene and Robert are here, so I assume that’s what it is. That fool Jimmy isn’t here yet either thank god! “OH that’s right, the great Bethany doesn’t like the Easy Tech Expert!” “NO, I just don’t like Jimmy alright Brandon now drop it alright?”
“Is he coming in later,” shaking her head, “I really hope not Kyle, but Jose is though. If Jimmy doesn’t stop fighting with management Jose is going to take his position.” “Yeah Jimmy is a crazy guy. I’m not doing cashier either right?” Shaking her head again, “no, Katie is going to be cashier like always. Ashley is coming in to relieve her and then Keith is coming in to replace Brandon.” Turning up to Brandon, “you ass, I though you’d be stuck here all day too!” Brandon was too busy scrolling through his Iphone to pay any sort of attention to him. The double doors opened and once again Ron was walking back into the warehouse. “What’s going on” he asked with such smugness as his eyes traveled to Bethany, Kyle, and then up to Brandon. Kyle returned to the final chair, “Bethany how we looking?” “Good just getting everything set up for the plans.” Ron nodded as he smugly turned to Kyle, “how we looking Killa?” Moving to the last box, “good this is the last box and then I have to do those pallets for Carol and…” “Fine, fine looks like you got it all under control.”
“Brandon,” Ron turned from Kyle, “I need you to fill up those displays with the penny items that are in the ad. You know the pens, note cards, pencil sharpeners, the glue…all of it…all of it needs to be filled...filled I tell you!” “Ron I need him to start on the planogram for pens.” Waving his hand in the air, “that can wait until later. I need all those bins filled until there bursting…bursting Brandon, bursting!” He turned to Kyle, “finish up what you’re doing and then relieve Katie. She is already complaining about her cigarette break.” “She could just GO we aren’t even open yet…wish I could take a break like that.” Ron’s eyes focused on Kyle as he picked up the last chair. “Did you say something Kyle?” Shaking his head, “no Ron, let me just finish this and then I’ll be up to shoot the ink pull list.” He nodded, “mid-stock is looking pretty good. Now we have a place to keep all our Back-to-School stuff. Not have it all unorganized throughout the entire store huh? Save the trouble of everybody asking you where everything is, am I right Kyle?” Kyle nodded under the strain of the chair, “yeah…right.” He struggled up the ladder and handed Brandon the final chair.
Kyle gave a sigh of relief when the chair had left his shoulders. He also noticed that Ron had left the warehouse. Bethany was also making her way out before she stopped, “Kyle after you relieve Katie and shoot the list can you box up all that recycled toner and ink? Ron needs that done for the truck return. Bring up the numbers when you’re done. Get on aisle two too Ron’s all over my ass on that still!” “What about the pallets for Che…” Bethany was already out the double doors. His brain swore loudly as he glanced up at Brandon. He felt like he had been promoted to C.S.L. a long time ago. Although, it was not official more like a mocking joke for the entire store. He knew Bethany’s hatred for toner and knew the job would be passed along to him. It always did after all. “Well,” said Brandon hopping down the ladder. “Guess I better go do all those planograms and bins before Ron has a heart attack huh?” “Jesus Brandon today is going to be like the worst day ever! I hate this fucking job…all those new planograms to do.” “Yeah well guess I better go do them or at least start them huh…ha, ha…. just wish I had something to sniff on to keep me going you know?” Kyle stared at him unsure if Brandon really meant what he was thinking. Brandon returned to his phone and walked out the double doors. Kyle shouted, “Brandon don’t leave me planograms to do again, when we have truck to pull out!” No response as Kyle muttered, “typical.”
Walking over to the three shopping carts that were filled with toner Kyle gave another soft groan. That old bitch Katie can wait a bit for her cigarette. Examining the ink in the cart it didn’t take him long to realize the story behind them. Ron had a rule that before any cashier went home they must take all the recycled toner to the warehouse and organize it. The job couldn’t be easier, but Kyle knew the reason his fellow employees didn’t vouch for the job. Toner was messy and ink powder always got everywhere. It was a tedious job, which meant it would eat a lot of time off the clock. Katie never did it, not once and he had told her twice about it. But like he had said he always got the shaft around Clips. And the funny thing was the store couldn’t run without him, they all knew that. So why was he always the one to be picked on? His assumptions were all that he had to go on.
The first time he had told Katie about the rule of taking the toner back was several weeks ago. It had been another typical bad day, and he was getting sick of always doing Katie’s work. You see Katie lived on welfare and couldn’t work more then twenty hours. So when her shift was up, it was up. This meant she dropped everything she was doing leaving everybody with a mess to clean up. This is how the first time started. Ron had come back in the warehouse to tell Kyle that Katie needed to be relieved. So taking his sweet time he made his way up to the front and Katie “jumped ship”. As she was walking away Kyle remembered ringing out a customer saying, “Hey Katie can you please take your ink and toners back?” Scoffing at his request she gave a snide, “I don’t have to do that! I don’t have to listen to you, you’re not my boss!” Her egg like figure wobbled to the back and gathered her belongings leaving the store in a huff.
The second time was even better. Ashley and him were at the front desk. Ashley was the other cashier, and she had become a good friend of Kyle’s at Clips. They had actually gone to the same high school for a brief period. She was in his younger sister's year for awhile. She was curvy and voluptuous with long brown hair. She had lovely natural blue eyes. The only thing unnatural was her love for the rapper, Pitbull. She was the kind of person you would want to be stuck in the trenches with on those horrible days. They were chatting when Ashley made a glance at the shopping carts in the far corner containing the recycled toner. “Jesus is Katie going to take her toner back,” Kyle’s comment made Ashley smile. They had always had an immediate bond with each other. She hated the job and Katie just as much as he did. “No Kyle, I told her about it yesterday when I came in! She didn’t do it either.” Shaking his head, “man what is her problem? I’m sick of doing her work…of doing everybody’s work around here.” “You’re sick of it!”
They both laughed as Katie waddled her way up to the front. She was pushing her glasses back up onto her face. Her pepper hair barely moving as she glanced over at Ashley and Kyle, “Hey Katie can you put away your ink before you go please?” Stopping in her tracks she stared at Ashley and then at him. Her mouth seemed to curl in annoyance, “You’re not my boss Kyle!” Rolling his eyes, “I never said I was Katie. I’m just asking if you could follow the rules and take your toner back. Everyone does, I do...Ashley does, Susan does, everybody does it.” “Well I didn’t know about this rule Kyle!”
Shaking his head, “everybody knows about this rule, and you were told about this rule many times.” Coming around the corner was Will, the Sales Manager. His pepper gray hair and mustache fluttering as he made his way towards them in a hurried pace. “No I wasn’t Kyle,” Will passed between the two of them muttered loudly before continuing on to the office, “you were told Katie many times.” Will disappeared into the office without a backwards glance or another word. Ashley began to laugh loudly as Kyle even couldn’t help but smirk. His brain saying, “perfect timing,” but his words said, “There I told you!” Katie seemed to growl as she made her way to the cart and began to take it to the back of the warehouse. Her beady eyes glaring at him as she passed, “sorry Katie I'm not your boss, but rules are rules.” “I understand Kyle but you are NOT my boss, and you don’t have to be so rude about it.” He ignored her as Ashley laughed up front adding, “that was unbelievable timing!” Later that day Kyle found the cart of toner back in the warehouse, unsorted and just as messy as before.
Dragging the carts over to the ink recycling boxes he began to sort out the toners. If he did it slowly he would be guaranteed to have some time to think about his novel. It was so frustrating with everybody traveling in and out of the warehouse. His mind began to drift as he once again began to think about his book, finally peace and quiet.
The double doors opened, “damn it,” Kyle whispered to himself. However this was not somebody that he had ever expected to come back here. “Hey cutie,” came a heavenly voice through the double doors. She was dressed in tight black pants with an additional tight blue shirt. “Hey Rebecca, what're you doing back here?” “Have to grab another large roll for the printer?” “Oh well wish I could help, but I got ink all over my hands.” Rebecca gave a playful frown, “too bad you can’t help a lady.” Returning to the ink, he didn’t know what to say. Admittedly he did have a future fiancée that he loved and no girl could take her place. But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy her company. Also Joel had already been with her, which made her less appealing in his eyes.
“What’s up with you Kyle? You’re all quiet today. How’s your girlfriend?” Grabbing a large toner Kyle slammed it in the recycling box, “We’re good, and I know I’m quiet…it’s just…one of those days you know? The kind that’s going to be long, but you just can’t prepare for it.” “I know exactly what you mean. I can’t believe we’re stuck here all day!” Kyle nodded just happy the conversation was going somewhere. “So what have you been up too?” Rebecca made her way to the racks that contained the only items that Copy and Print had back in the warehouse. “Nothing much, went out and partied last night. I got really…really drunk.” “Where did you go,” hopping on a couple boxes, “went out with some girlfriends to a club downtown…Wild Aces?” Shaking his head, “never heard of it.” “Yeah well it’s really popular and there's always a line. Naturally my friends and I got in no problem. It was so crazy! I haven’t even slept yet.” “You and Brandon both…guess it’s good to be young.” “What’re you talking about Kyle you act like you’re so old! How old are you again?” Kyle laughed, “Would you believe twenty seven?” Rebecca gave a flirty little smile, “well, I’m only twenty two guess I’m a little young for you huh?”
Deciding to change the subject, “so how exactly did you get in so quick?” Batting her eyes, her voice becoming softer, “oh well we started talking with the bouncer right, and I offered to show him my rack…and I did!” Kyle dropped a large toner, which clattered nosily on the floor. “You did what?” She smiled knowing that Kyle was loving every minute of her advances. “Well he’s a guy right? And guys like boobs, and I just happen to have a great pair.” Gulping, “yeah well…somebody is a little conceded aren’t they?” Rebecca grabbed the huge roll of paper down from the rack, “god this is heavy!” Dropping it on the ground, she rested herself on the shelving racks. “I’m just telling the truth that's all! I have a great pair and every guy I’ve ever been with has told me including the guy I hooked up with last night.” Slapping her hands over her mouth, “I shouldn’t have said that!” Relief filled her face when Kyle shrugged, “Rebecca I don’t care what you do. We’ll always be cool, you and me.” Returning her hands to the roll of paper, “I was a bad girl last night. I had sex with a guy in the back of my car.” “Wow you're really crazy,” giggling she hoisted the roll of paper up. “When I go out I like to have fun…by the way. I’m sorry about what Ron and Will said the other day at the ESP meetings. Those guys are jerks especially to you. I don't know why you practically run this...” A loud BING could be heard over the loudspeakers, Akeya’s voice said, “Rebecca to CPC…Rebecca to CPC!” Smiling, “looks like I gotta go. I hope she didn’t mess up those postcards. I’ll catch ya later ok?”
She left leaving Kyle alone once again. Returning to the ink his thoughts were not drawn to his novel, which it so commonly did. His thoughts dwelled on the meeting that Rebecca had mentioned. Kyle hated this job and that was no secret. However that meeting seemed to finalize his desire for getting a new one. Which resulted in him sending out applications that night to get back into the security field. He gritted his teeth as he slammed the toner into the recycling boxes. He knew that when his novel was released things would be different. He would drop it in their face with an added, “So I fumble over words huh? Let’s see you fumble over this! This is my dream, and I live it everyday you clowns! Can you really say your dream is to die working at Clips?” He smiled wishing his novel would just finish, but writer’s block seemed to have a hold on him.
The meeting happened last Sunday, and he would remember it for the rest of his life. Ron and Will had called an early meeting to discuss the ESP or Extended Service Plans that Clips offered. Whenever they called these meetings it was always something “important”. It seemed that Clips was loosing money, now of course Ron and Will didn’t come out and say that. However, it was masked behind a long speech about moving volumes. Remembering how Will stood in front of the cash register and stared at every member of the team. Kyle threw another large toner into the box as he remembered how smugly Will stood. His pepper mustache like a fat caterpillar as he talked about selling plans to customers. “I thought we could learn a lot by role playing,” he said smugly. He paused and then continued, “I don’t mind it. I even thought about printing up some scripts for us to all rehearse. We used to do that all the time at Best Buy when I was a manager there. However, I remembered Kyle would probably get halfway through it and start to fumble with it.” Everyone in the group laughed, however Kyle remembered how enraged he became. He remembered getting up halfway out of his seat ready to say everything he ever wanted to. Everything he had dreamed about saying. He wanted to put them in their place and now words wouldn’t be enough. Will continued on and Kyle found that he had missed his chance. Will was already moving on like a long train ride/ There was no time to sit and enjoy the laugh, strictly business.
Kyle finished the cart and then started on the other one. He knew Katie was dying upfront for a cigarette. There was no reason why she couldn’t just go. Relieve her, relieve her from what? What could she possibly be relieved from…paper, water, sitting on her old ass ripping out price tags and sorting them? Returning to that eventful Sunday Kyle remembered sitting in the chair as Ron and Will continued on their plans for selling more ESP. Did they really think that their comments were impressive? He wanted to laugh to burst out laughing at them. He wanted to point an accusing finger at them and bellow “cowards,” at the top of his lungs. “You think you’re big because you make fun of somebody that can’t fight back?” Kyle just shook his head at the time, “morons” he seemed to say to himself. “Sure everyone is brave when the danger is locked up like making fun of a chained up dog. Let the dog loose then we’ll see how brave you really are.” He remembered trying to let it go, but just as his mind started to return to the conversation. He noticed that Ron and Will were already on another topic. They were now discussing sales’ pitches. “Each team member has got to have their own style or technique. We will know if your techniques aren't working too. Each Team member is required to sell one plan every four hours excluding Copy and Print of course.” Will finished standing just as smugly as Ron in his ratty blue jeans, NASCAR hat, and shirt. “If you don’t make your quota you will be required to come to meetings every Sunday at nine in the morning.” Kyle remembered just shrugging at Will’s threat. He was working every Sunday anyway so what did he care about coming in an hour earlier for his shift. “Now if your pitches aren’t working you could come to any one of us. Ron or myself can help improve your sales technique.”
This was where the conversation would become memorable for him. Will’s comment towards Kyle’s reading ability was a slap on the wrist compared to Ron’s. He remembered how arrogant Ron looked at that moment. How he leaned on the counter his lower lip resting above his upper one. Kyle wanted to smack him more than ever at that moment. Smiling at the very idea of it, he reminisced as he glanced over the recycled toner saying to himself, “not just a punch either, I’m talking a slap…bring him down a peg.” He remembered Ron’s stance and the way his eyes glared at the ceiling as if deep in thought. “Anything you wanna add boss,” Ron always nodded when Will called him boss. He seemed to like to know that other people knew their place. They knew he was in charge and he liked having that power. Kyle saw it many times, and he lapped it up like a thirsty dog on a hot day. It took Ron an age to speak. He gathered his thoughts like a president would address the nation when disaster struck. “It’s like we have been saying guys. Clips has a certain volume that needs to be sold, and we have to meet these goals. Can anybody tell me what area Clips makes the majority of their profits?” Every member of Easy Tech replied, “Tech!” Ron nodded smugly, “that’s right Tech and at Tech we need a 7 percent in sales not a 5, which is average for us. We need to sell plans and your techniques should be refined to an art. We all can’t sell plans like Kyle rambling on and on about them. Now he sells plans don’t get me wrong, but the customer only get them to get Kyle to shut up!” The laughter was clearly nervous everyone gazed at each other, but Ron chuckled hard. Will smiled widely repeating, “Just to get him to shut the hell up.” Will’s words had become lost as they garbled in his head when a voice over the loudspeaker said, “Kyle to customer service...Kyle to customer service!” It was the sound of a frustrated Katie, and he lapped it up.