Once again Teds brother joins 301 with a Guest blog
An Awfully "Shitty" Day
I am currently employed at Hy – Vee Drug Store. I wouldn’t wish having this job upon my worst enemy, there is simply no upside to having it. The chump change they pay you makes it borderline slavery.
Yesterday, as I was bagging groceries (aka bitch work), my direct superior, Jared (who is one of only two people I work with that aren’t complete freaks), approached me saying, “Derek, I got a job for ya. The toilets are backed up in the men’s bath room and we’re gonna need you to clean it up.” Those are the words he used, but what he was really saying was, “Go clean up other people’s shit and piss for two hours.”
I considered these words carefully in my head, their meaning not yet fully setting in. I considered my options: 1. be a good employee and do what my boss tells me to do. 2. pretend I didn’t hear him. 3. respond by saying, “No hablo English.” 4. tell him to go fuck himself, and throw my name tag in his face. or 5. run.
Being the coward that I am, I chose the first option. I grabbed a mop and some water, and slowly crept to the men’s bath room. So many things happened at once as I opened the door: my knees buckled, my nostrils seared with pain, my eyes watered, babies were crying, women were screaming. It’s at moments like this when a man of strongest religion begins to question his faith – if God does exist, how could he allow a smell this bad to exist?
I saw nothing but rolling hills of shit. The once cream colored tile floor was now completely brown and baby spinach green. Ironic phrases popped into my head (“Clean up your shit,” “get your shit together,” etc.) as I mopped the floor and scrubbed the toilets. Two men came in as I was cleaning. The first opened the door, muttered “Jesus”, and slammed it. The second one came in, covered his nose in disgust, looked at me, laughed, and left.
It truly was one of the shittiest days I’ve ever had, literally. To top it all off, after I was done Jared came up to me, took a whiff, then said to me – and I quote, “Go to the back and clean yourself up. You fucking stink.”
Yesterday, as I was bagging groceries (aka bitch work), my direct superior, Jared (who is one of only two people I work with that aren’t complete freaks), approached me saying, “Derek, I got a job for ya. The toilets are backed up in the men’s bath room and we’re gonna need you to clean it up.” Those are the words he used, but what he was really saying was, “Go clean up other people’s shit and piss for two hours.”
I considered these words carefully in my head, their meaning not yet fully setting in. I considered my options: 1. be a good employee and do what my boss tells me to do. 2. pretend I didn’t hear him. 3. respond by saying, “No hablo English.” 4. tell him to go fuck himself, and throw my name tag in his face. or 5. run.
Being the coward that I am, I chose the first option. I grabbed a mop and some water, and slowly crept to the men’s bath room. So many things happened at once as I opened the door: my knees buckled, my nostrils seared with pain, my eyes watered, babies were crying, women were screaming. It’s at moments like this when a man of strongest religion begins to question his faith – if God does exist, how could he allow a smell this bad to exist?
I saw nothing but rolling hills of shit. The once cream colored tile floor was now completely brown and baby spinach green. Ironic phrases popped into my head (“Clean up your shit,” “get your shit together,” etc.) as I mopped the floor and scrubbed the toilets. Two men came in as I was cleaning. The first opened the door, muttered “Jesus”, and slammed it. The second one came in, covered his nose in disgust, looked at me, laughed, and left.
It truly was one of the shittiest days I’ve ever had, literally. To top it all off, after I was done Jared came up to me, took a whiff, then said to me – and I quote, “Go to the back and clean yourself up. You fucking stink.”
~ Derek W.
Derek, this happens to everyone who works a minimum wage job. Its experiences like this that will keep you in school.
ReplyDeleteAs "anonymous" just said, it's true... Everyone who works a minimum job learns to appreciate the value of getting a college degree so they don't HAVE to deal with "SHIT" like this everyday at work... if it means anything, while I was home working over spring break, I had a kid throw up on my nice black pants and ruin them, and then my manager wanted me to clean it up.... however, I took step 4. of your options, told her to fuck herself and im going home to clean MYSELF up, and then took a step 5 and left. However, I've been with my company longer than she has, so she can go fuck herself. I didn't get fired luckily....
ReplyDeleteAt least you didnt have to dress up like the Easter Buddy to have hundreds of little kids kicking you in the shins all day...
ReplyDelete-Nick
And at least you never had to wake up at 5 in the morning to go work @ a bakery on a sunday morning when you were 14, all the while having to wear an old lady white pant set
ReplyDelete