Oops

My job is easy.  REALLY easy.  By my calculations, I've been paid something like $200 just to play Hexyz Force so far.  That's not even counting all the time I've spent reading, or my playthrough of Monster Tale. 

This doesn't mean that I don't do my job; far from it. When we have shipments, or moves to be completed, or...you know, people actually in the store... I'm all over it.  But particularly at this time of year, things are slow, and there's only so many times you can walk around looking for out-of-place action figures.

And so it was that, yesterday afternoon, I was behind my counter in an empty store playing Hexyz Force (pretty sure I'm over-leveled, but that's beside the point at the moment) with one earbud in (I leave one out so I can hear what's going on, obviously), listening to a podcast.

And then the company president walked in.  I must have looked like a deer in headlights.

Now, at certain OTHER companies I've worked for, the mere fact that I wasn't... I don't know, hand-cleaning the carpet or something... would have resulted in me being chucked out the door so fast my head would have spun.  Luckily, rather than immediately freaking out, the gentleman in question actually LOOKED at my store, saw that I was the only one there, and asked me if it had been like this all day.  I truthfully replied that it had, and then he checked out the rest of the store to find that not only was it empty, it was also clean and well-merchandised.  Yes, I was sitting on my ass, but at least I did my job first.

Higher-ups like to nitpick, in my experience, particularly when they think you don't have enough to do, so the fact that I only got one note (to hang a ceiling banner lower "when one of the guys comes in".... Sir, I hung that banner myself because everyone else is scared of the ladder, including the ONE "guy" on staff. It does take two people to carry the giga-ladder, though.) was pretty good, I thought.

Gotta admit that I was on a twitch reflex for the rest of the night, though.  Excessive charm and good looks can only get you out of so many situations per day. 

Space

I had kind of an odd experience as I was leaving work yesterday; it's something I've experienced before, but this time, for some reason, it really struck me.

I left the mall, as I usually do when I'm closing, somewhere around nine-thirty.  The mall actually closes half an hour before that, so by the time I finish fighting with the Blood-Hungry Gate of Doom (which gets progressively more threatening every time I name it) and faxing my paperwork (yes, we still have a fax machine instead of an actual functioning computer), the parking lot is largely empty.  The cars that are still there generally cluster closer to the door, waiting for their last-minute shoppers to hustle out, but I tend to park farther out, so I don't have to fight for a space when I get there.

The end result of this was that when I got to my vehicle, other than me and it, there was nothing around.  No people, or buildings, or things of any kind, just open space.  Even though it wasn't exactly emptiness as far as the eye could see (I mean, the mall was right there), the sensation of actually having space around me was unusual, given how much time I spend surrounded by various.... well, stuff.

I don't even live in a big city, although I do live near one, but even if you live in the country, there are almost always some type of things around, aren't there?  Even if it's nothing more than trees and... I don't know, cows or something... you don't get the experience of there just being air in all directions very often.  Or I don't, anyway.  It was kind of cool.

So, I just stood there for a moment, and closed my eyes briefly to really drink in that sensation (only a moment, though... my mall isn't in the greatest area, really).  And then a lightning storm started.  No rain, but the sky lit up.  Did I summon it?  Maybe.  Who can say?