96. An Unexpected Surprise - Erik

Looking at the clock on the wall, Erik agonized over the minutes that were creeping by slower and slower. His shift at the grocery store ended in five minutes and there was a sale on fruits that were about to go bad he wanted to grab before heading home. However, his manager was standing nearby with a scowl on his face as dark and unpleasant as a walk home with no moonlight to guide his way.

The last customer that had used his line had been a sweet old woman who needed help with her bags, so he had volunteered to help her take them out to her car. That was an hour ago, right before he went on his only ten-minute break of the evening. When he got back to his register, he had gotten an earful from his manager for doing something unnecessary. He didn't understand why it bothered him when it was his break he was using to help, but the man had been standing watch over him like a hawk eyeing its prey ever since.

Finally, the clock read ten o'clock, so he began to close out his till as the glowering got darker and scarier while he practically felt the breath on the back of neck.

"Just what do you think you're doing?!" the sound of clenched teeth and the sense of anger filled Erick with trepidation.

"I'm closing my till for the evening, sir." Erik carefully made sure all the calculations for payment matched his hand-written notes he kept just in case.

"Now, why do you think you can just close up and leave? You wasted ten minutes of company time earlier. You don't get to leave until you've paid it back in full…" The looming shadow and hot breath sent a chill down Erik's spine, and not a good one either.

"Sir, I don't know what you mean. I took my mandated break but did not otherwise waste company time." Erik knew he was courting danger by questioning his manager, but he really wanted to get what little good fruit was left before he left for the day. Tyler was teething and frozen fruit; being introduced at this time would help him immensely, just like it had with each of his sisters.

"No, you did not take a break. You left company property while misappropriating store goods. That's theft of not only time, but company property."

Erik clenched his teeth while taking a quiet, steadying breath. If he argued further, even to explain that what he did was in no way; shape or form; against any kind of store policy. Even the goods he supposedly stole were already paid for by the sweet old woman. So, therefore, they weren't the store's products anymore.

Hanging his head so that his manager could not see his expression, Erik just replied, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. It won't happen again, sir."

Once his manager left after threatening to dock his pay, he dared to look at the clock again. It was already two minutes past his usual clock-out time. Sighing In frustration, he ran his shift's sales figures in his head. By his estimated calculations, he was actually making more sales than the self checkout machines did on an hourly basis. He saw more foot traffic through his line and each person was spending, on average, five percent more than they did with any other method of checking their items out. 

Erik just chalked it up to the old people being lonely and wanting someone to talk to, even if he was limited in his responses while his manager hovered. When he wasn't there or even nearby, he chatted up each customer happily. They often spoke about their grandkids or even great grandkids. They almost always claimed that he reminded them of their family. That made him happy, but sad at the same time. 

He didn't know any of his grandparents, and what little he knew of them was that they had disowned his mom when she had been pregnant with him. His father's parents were even more of a mystery, besides the inkling he got from his father that they too weren't exactly happy about his mating with his mother and ending up pregnant before their marriage was confirmed.

Finally, after ten minutes, Erik rushed through his close-out and handed his register's content to his manager and took off for the fresh produce aisle. Turning the corner, all he saw left over in the displays were bruised and overripe produce that would be thrown out before it could attract fruit flies. Even his mother wouldn't buy produce in this state because they often were worse than they appeared on the outside. Some had worms or other unwanted byproducts hiding within at this stage of their shelf life.

"Hey! Psst! Over here! Quickly, before you-know-who sees!" A voice called out in a loud whisper to him.

Turning, Erik saw it was the overnight stocker, beckoning him over to the loading bay doors. He fast-walked over; then was promptly handed a bag of what looked to be fresh apples, an odd bunch of bananas, and one perfectly ripe peach. Before he could react, he was handed a second bag. This time it had a variety of fresh vegetables that glimmered in the harsh store light. They looked to be freshly washed.

"I adjusted the stock order for you. Don't let you-know-who find out I put these aside for you. Even if I paid for them out of my pocket, he would have something to say about it! Oh! and before you go, talk to Janet. She has some for you from her own department." With that, Erik was shooed away just as the sound of heavy footsteps rounded the corner.

Erik scurried over to see his co-worker, Janet. She ran the dairy and deli sections of the store, unlike Abe, her mate, who worked graveyard stocking shelves.

"I see Abe got to you in time! Here, take these as well!" Janet thrust a carton of eighteen eggs and what looked to be a half stump of deli meat into his already full hands.

"Wha-?" Erik barely asked what was going on before he was yanked behind the deli counter and pushed down out of direct sight of anyone walking by.

"Janet, I see fingerprints on the display case. I thought I told you to take care of it! I won't warn you again!" The angry voice of their general manager rumbled out before stomping off again.

"That was close! I almost got yelled at for setting aside store goods for you." Janet helped him up from where she had pushed him down, out of sight.

"Janet! I can't accept these! The eggs alone are $20! Not to mention the $50 worth of deli meat!" Erik hissed as he set about putting the vegetables away in his backpack.

"You can, and you will. Both Abe and I pitched in to help you out. Joe has been harassing you at the drop of a hat lately and it's pissing us off seeing you suffer with your pay docked and hours increased! You never even got reimbursed for the hours you put in during Abe and I's heat and rut leave! You easily took on the task of three people, worked double time, stayed all evening and took on a back-to-back shift for graveyard and day without a proper break between! We owe you this much for all your help; even if it's not money, it's the least we can do for you!"

Erik was stunned. He never expected that his coworkers were aware of just how much overtime he had taken on, trying to save up to take Liona to prom. He had purchased the tickets just today with the money he had gotten from the extra coffee shop hours he had put in. Unlike this gig, his coffee shop and fast food jobs actually paid a proper wage, along with any bonuses he earned for extra work outside his normal duties. 

He still needed to find a suit of some kind to wear to the dance, but he planned on scoping out all the second-hand shops on his way to and from his shifts tomorrow. He was bound to find a somewhat fitting suit in one of the many stores around town.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Erik carefully packed the cold goods away in his thermal shopping bag before placing it on top of everything else in his backpack. He didn't want to risk damaging the eggs. Even one broken egg meant just that much less for his growing little sisters. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth after Janet explained this was hers and Abe's thanks.

After bidding Janet goodbye, Erik hurried out of the store, avoiding Joe's patrol as he scurried out. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he noted that the air had gotten chilly. Seeing his breath, and judging by the moisture in the air, he suspected it might just try to snow overnight. If it did, it would spell bad news for his plans tomorrow. 

He didn't know how much snow this area got, but if it was anything like other places he had lived in the North, it would snow a lot and block roads, bringing most places to a grinding halt until the roads could be plowed and salted. If they did that, that meant that the road shoulder would be blocked and make it unsafe to walk to and from work unless he wanted to risk getting hit by a car, even if they were mostly self aware of pedestrian traffic.