Babysitting

part 2

So....after I got my body acclimated to living the life between the hours of 9p and 6a, it was time for me to be trained to in fact, work during the hours of 9p and 6a. It wasn't so much running a cash register, the gas console and the lottery machine, it was all the schtuff that needed to be done on a nightly basis.

Thus it came to pass that I found myself being trained by a jerk who was about a decade younger than me. I shouldn't say trained, because to me, training denotes learning an entire job from scratch. Instead, I would call it "babysitting" (hence the title of this post), because really, this is what this little pea brain did, he babysat.

Note: If it sounds like I'm being harsh on this individual, I am. This "adult" was/is the type of person that after talking to him for ten seconds, you just want beat the absolute snot out of him.

I should explain about where I worked and the person who babysat me at the time, because having a basic overview of my working world back then will give you a better understanding of this and subsequent posts.

The c-store I worked in was one (and still is) of the busiest 24 hour stores in the Hartford area, simply because it was directly off the interstate and centrally located for that area. what surrounded the area was a UPS hub, a regional farmer's market (where most of the major Connecticut produce companies have operations and where you can buy locally grown produce too), a few restaurants (including a dinner theater), a couple of motels, a small airport and a large industrial park. It was also surrounded by the poorer and eclectic part of the city, thus the store had more than its fair share of pimps, hookers, drug dealers and other assorted zanies. So it was always, repeat, always busy there (which really surprised me). As for the jerk who was training me, he had a tendency to shoot his mouth off at the wrong people and get into all kinds of trouble.

Example: On one of the nights he was training me, he happened to say something to an obviously upset and greatly agitated man. The man responded in a way that left no doubt in my mind that if this jerk didn't keep his mouth shut, that this man would shut it for him. Fortunately, he didn't say anything else and the customer eventually left the store.

Anyways, this is what I was suppose to do every night:

1} Get all the various credit slips separated and organized.
2} stock the cigarettes.
3}Spray and clean the counters.
4} Dust the front candy rack and all of the aisles.
5} Empty all 10 outside trash cans (prior to starting my shift).
6} Sweep and mop the floor.
7} Stay on top of the coffee, especially during the morning rush hour.
8} Stay awake.
9} Stay out of trouble.
10} Make up the cash drawer for the morning.
11} Stay awake.
12} Play nice.
13} Close up the car wash.
14} Did I mention that I was supposed to play nice?
15} Did I mention that I was supposed to pay attention?

And I did all of this for a big fat whopping $280 a week.

Up next: what I really did on a typical night.