What’s In Store
Rayne’s face always looked a little sour in the morning her brother thought. Well, it actually always looked that way, but especially before the opening employees met in the break room for their usual briefing. Until she had a cup of coffee she was the most frightening person in the room. Shane rested his legs on a blue fold-able chair adjacent to him while she gave her status report; his disinterest was not helping with his sister’s foul temper, though this was a game he would play with her often. Would he do his substandard job? Sure. Would he find any way to make his day more interesting, even if it meant getting right on people’s nerves? You bet.
He was the Deli counter manager on shift this morning, much to the horror of the other employees. It turned out that whenever something like this happened, there were more complaints than usual about the deli counter’s eccentric lead. Most of the time it was soccer moms and elderly people who deemed his behavior unprofessional enough to speak up, but it always ended up with the store manager (Rayne) getting a headache. No one in the store really knew how Shane had been promoted to manager of his department in the first place, but most guessed that it was just because he’d been there the longest.
Today Rayne was introducing a new employee to the exhausted morning crowd. She was a short girl with dark brown hair who seemed to be pretty anxious on her first day. This is my time to shine, Shane thought. If she’s nervous, meeting the store goofball might help her feel more at ease here right? Or at least I’ll probably get a kick out of it. She said her name was Ruth, and that she’d be working in the gardening center. Shane caught up with her after the meeting adjourned and waved her down.
“Hey there newbie!” Shane beamed. “I’m uh… oh,” he looked down at today’s nametag, apparently unaware that he had even chosen it while getting ready this morning. “Corned Beefcake.”
Ruth couldn’t remember the last time she’d been introduced to so many people at once. Her pulse raced and she was sure she looked flushed, and she absently picked at the hem of her work shirt. Rayne, at least, seemed gentler with her than some of the other employees she’d run out of patience with. Ruth hoped she had enough left for her.
The other employees yawned, and Ruth tried not to be self-conscious; it was just before opening hours, after all. Lucky she was a morning person.
They were dismissed and Ruth started towards the garden center, but was interrupted--
The weirdness of it startled a laugh out of her, in spite of Ruth’s anxiety. “It’s nice to meet you, Corned Beefcake. Ah... I guess I’m Newbie?”
Smooth!
