So, where was I? That's right, not writing on a proper schedule.
Finally at work, Monday, and the place was dead. Granted, my mall typically looks like the set from Dawn of the Dead, only with less zombies. There were a few places open. The brave employees for corporate stores that brave their salary and modest wages... and me. Still I had work to do. It was a Monday, and I have a routine.
Monday is typically the day I need to get my inventory done. For two reasons, really. One is so I know what to order later in the month. The other is that I need to adjust the quantity of our order coming in a couple days if need be. Typically it means decreasing the amount of comics we are getting because of lack of sales and no return-ability option.
I deemed it classic rock day because I bought some CDs (remember those?) the day before. The likes of Kansas, Boston, Foreigner, and the Scorpions were my company for the day. Apparently, that was the nearly literal.
I had one person come into the store in the morning. One. He is a regular and I see him multiple times a week. Sure, he is odd for even comic book stereotype standards, but he usually buys something. Unfortunately, he usually only buys one quarter comic. Thant's right. One 25-cent comic book. That was the extent of my sales till about 2:30. The only people I saw until then were the Postal carrier and the UPS delivery guy.
Chick-Fil-A seemed like the only place that was doing business. They seemed to have a steady stream of people buying chicken and chicken flavored products. That was until the spontaneously closed around 2. They were one of the only places actually making money and they closed. That wasn't a good sign.
Going back to when I first got into work, my first phone call was my boss. He was asking how it was and how the roads were. I didn't sugarcoat anything. I said they were terrible and getting worse. Probably not the best idea to try and brave it for no reason. He told me to leave whenever I felt like it. This was at 10:30.
I stayed till 3:30.
See, I am way to dedicated to getting my work done. I decided to finish my inventory and input my order changes. I had one other customer who braved the weather. Thankfully, he justified his determination with a respectable $80 sale. That was about it though. As soon as finished with him, my orders and a general sweep of the store, I was going home.
Surprisingly, the worst part about going home was getting out of the mall parking lot. This didn't really surprise me. The mall isn't the most on-point when it comes to snow clean-up. They finally got around to sending plows and tiny Bobcats to clear some of the lot. My car, of course, was still surrounded by a layer of heavy snow. I had a secret weapon though. Instead of trying to rock my car through the snow and risk slipping and spinning into something I didn't want to hit, I used a shovel. Yes, I have a shovel in the back of my car. I should have been a boy scout. Some quick snow removal later, and my car could escape the snowy grasp of my parking spot. That should have been the end of it.
Little did I know that there was no clear path to actual exit the mall parking lot though. I made it to the outer-rim of road. When I tried to get to the exit, my path was blocked by more standing, un-plowed snow. Thankfully, some brazen mall escapee trail-blazed a path for me. So, best I could, I sunk into their pre-driven tire tracks and escaped the confines of the mall. The drive home was fine after that.
The only other significant thing that happened occurred when I finally parked at home. A little kid, probably around 10 or so, was shoveling the sidewalk across the street from my house. When I got out of my car, he asked if he could shovel the sidewalk in front of my house. I told him,"Sure, if you want to." I then went inside to drop all my stuff off and grab a drink.
The kid started shoveling. I felt a little bad, so I was going to help him some. Yes, I was going to pay him. I am not that stingy. I mainly allowed the kid to do it because he asked and I really didn't want to do it myself. So, I went to to clear the walkway to my house while the kid worked on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the kid was gone when I got back outside.
Begrudgingly, I had to shovel it all myself. Heavy, wet snow is the worst when it comes to clean-up. It is gross and messy. It splashes when you heave it out of the way. My shovel handle broke in true, typical fashion. My brother showed up after the initial clean-up with a better shovel.
After that, it was time to eat something, take a nap and generally try to figure out what to do with my extra time off. Mainly, it was take a nap. I like naps.
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