Wal-Mart. Its a very interesting place to say the least. I'm supposed to be working in the online department, but in my first two weeks I have already unloaded a couple trucks, worked as a door greeter, logged endless hours on a register, and even helped stock groceries. Its good work and decent hours so I can't complain, but I must say working there is interesting.
Lets use last night for example. I was helping the people in the grocery department "downstack" freight. What is "downstacking" you ask? Picture this. Its the worlds largest game of Jenga, except in reverse, and if the Jenga tower collapses, you will die. No pressure right? Apparently not. If I were in charge I would be hiring a contractor to determine the load-bearing boxes and such before I touched anything, yet the people who work in the back will grab boxes off the bottom all the time without a thought or care. Perhaps they've all made their peace with the prospect of death, whether by a case of mayonnaise or a giant can of yams. It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case, the back room has a very gloomy and even morbid look about it. No windows, no air circulation, and there are hundreds of full outfits hanging from the ceiling awaiting transport to the apparel section , reminding me of the unfortunate ending to countless Nazi Resistance movies. Morbid I know. Perhaps everyone else is OK with the irony of being crushed by the world's largest case of throw pillows, but if the last thing I see in life is the back room of the Bastrop Wal-Mart, I will consider my life a major FAIL.
There are always strange characters showing up to our friendly neighborhood Wally World at all hours, but there is an incredible disparity between those that show up at night and those that show up during the day. Think of the kind of fish you will find in the shallow warm waters of a coral reef, then think about the kind of fish you would find living in the bottom of the Mariana's Trench. That's the difference between daytime customers and night-time. You have the sick, the afflicted, the insane, the just plain unfortunate looking, the heavily intoxicated (I would venture to say that after midnight, 25% of customers fall into this category), and the soon-to-be-heavily-intoxicated (buying three cases of beer at 1am). Please understand I'm not necessarily judging the character of these people. I do not consider myself a looker by any means, and most everyone who comes in at night are very friendly (by natural or synthetic means) and I do not have any disdain for these people, if anything I'm grateful for something to write about.
I also had the opportunity to push carts last night with perhaps the most interesting character I've met so far. "Shopping-cart Dundee". He takes his job VERY seriously. Decked out in a hunting hat and full camo gear (I realize that camo does not blend into concrete, but still, when working in a place full of moving cars and questionable drivers, I would exclude camo on principle.) and hunting boots, he looks much like the love-able reptile wrastler we all know and love, just add patchy facial hair and subtract the Aussie charm. I worked with Dundee for an hour that I will never forget. He kept commenting on my natural ability to line carts up, and complemented my obvious instinct on the cart pusher. Apparently, I did excellent for a first-timer. So if anyone needs things lined up or pushed call me, I'm like the Chosen One dude. I'll definitely be putting "knack for cart-pushing" on my resume.
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