Low-Wage Silliness

[Multi]

J

ackoline Graves awoke with a start, her alarm was blaring in her ear some song from one of her favorite artists Hollywood Undead, but she couldn't make out the lyrics or any other sound as she was busy falling out of her bed. As she clumsily got up off the floor, her t-shirt hanging loosely on her shoulder, as all she was wearing at the moment was an oversized T-Shirt and undergarments. She looked around and could make only one conclusion about her room, it was as messy as she had left it when she fell asleep. Though hurriedly she panicked and looked across the room to the TV that was up against her wall, every manner of game system and game littered under it, and noticed that she had indeed paused her game of Grand Theft Auto 5 before she fell asleep from exhaustion. Jacky looked at the clock, and nearly had a heart attack! It was 8:30! Work started at 9:30! Jacky quickly threw on her work clothes, put in her colored contacts (today her eyes were blue) and rushed out of her room and to the door across from hers and started banging on it to get the person insides attention. "Sammy wake up! We're gonna be late for work!" Once Jacky heard a thud from inside the room, she herself rushed out and darted towards the door, waiting for her companion to get ready so they could go.

Over the last week that she had been employed as a regular worker at the Multi-Department Story Boulders Basics, and she could honestly say that she had not made any progress in becoming friends with any of the other people who worked there. Jacky was still much to shy to talk to anyone except Sammy, and couldn't handle meeting these new people, so Jacky would usually end up ninjaing from place to place in the store un-noticed by all except Sammy, who somehow could always find her, while continuing to do the duties that any of the floor overseers or Sammy gave her.

 

[TravisBM]

In a small apartment not far from his current workplace laid self-proclaimed superstar, Jason Barnes, who was busy fixing his hair and giving himself his usual morning pep talk to face another day at the department store. Taking one last look in the mirror and saying something along the lines of, "I'm one sexy beast," before heading out his door at around 8:00 giving him the perfect amount of time to jog to work since he didn't really own a vehicle at the moment which made him even happier to be so close. After a good 30 minutes he arrived at the store and let himself in before going to set up his work station for the day. He made sure to take notes of everything they had in stock and worked on his greetings just in case he had to deal with a customer. When he was finished he sat back in his chair and turned on a recording of WWE since he missed out on Wrestlemaina and wanted to catch up with current events.

 

[נָג]

Deep behind enemy lines! Enemies everywhere! Those dirty turds. Queen Slaughterer of the Teddyreich, Lady Amaranth heard gunfire closing in. "Cover me!" she yelled at the teddy-bear soldiers in the trench with her, as she grabbed the closest grenade and hurled it in the appropriate direction. The resulting thud, of her alarm-clock hitting the wall, woke her up to the real world.

"Coffee?!"

Oh. Right. Work happened on days.

Samantha Amaranth sat straight up in bed. Her lavender quilt sorta just flopped down from her form. Her eyes thinned almost to the point of being shut, and she looked around in some irked confusion. The sun's rays managed to pierce through the shades and light her room up. It would pay accordingly for its transgressions in due time. Going to bed normally didn't require much more than throwing off her pants, so getting dressed required even less. She grabbed a pair of shorts, pulled 'em on, threw her work shirt over the sleeveless hoodie she wore to bed, and then ambled out of her room.

A second later, she dragged her feet back into it to get her stompin' boots and stockings on. Not in that order, of course.

Successfully resembling something human, Sammy somehow managed to join Jacky at the door. "It's too early for the sun to be up," she mumbled, her voice a low and slightly-scratchy one. Her arm came up and her fingers cracked into a trembling fist, "The sun will bleed for waking me this early." She turned to Jacky. "Let's go. I'll get coffee there." Her eyes thinned again, "Unless there is no coffee. Then there will be suffering instead."

 

[Wicked Hex]

Bryan willows was getting ready for work. He slipped on his glasses, smothened out the little wrinkles in his clothes and was out the door. Waking up early was no problem to him. Because it always gave him the opportunity to watch the sun rise and a new day. He absentmindedly nibbled on the sleeve of his hoodie as he made his way to work. Work. The reason he decided to work here was one, it gave him pocket money he could use on himself. Two, it did not require to much work. Three, it was close to his cozy little apartment. Four, he got to meet new people. He didn't notice. How his shoes were untied. Gis right foot stepped down on his shoelace and he stumbled forward. He managed to catch himself before blushing and looking around to make sure no one saw. He sighed in relief and walked into the store.

Good. It seems an employee is already here. What's his name? Jackson Baxter? Johnson Burningham? He didn't quite remember and just shrugged before deciding to greet him. He seemed so into wrestling. He smiled "Good morning." He greeted.

 

[TravisBM]

Finally seeing that he wasn't the only person at work Jason looked away from the screen smiling at the man who he remembered to be Bryan. "Hey there man how is it going..well i guess slow since its still morning but ya know anything can happen right." After saying his small greeting he was drawn back towards the screen hearing the announcer scream, "Another Tombstone its over!," signaling the end of the match as one of his favorite wrestlers, The Undertaker, stood over his opponent with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. This set off a loud cry of joy from Jason seeing that he won even taking time to do a little shuffle to celebrate. But he reminded that he wans't the only person in the room and turned back clearly even brighter than he was before.

 

[Wicked Hex]

Bryan jumped in surprise and looked at Jason. He was a little impressed by the little shuffle and couldn't help but burst into laughter. "AHAHA! That was so random." He held his side and sort of died. After calming down from his fits of laughter, he cleared his throat, though he still sort of "Ahem. That was quite the little shuffle you did there." He grinned and attempted to mimic the way he shuffled. Only, he failed miserably and almost tripped on his shoelaces again. He bent down and tied his shoes in a tight knot before standing up and straightening up. And blushed a little. "I wish I could dance like you." He semi teased him.

 

[Noctis the Devious]

Hayley Campbell

Hayley stared at the wood of her door forlornly, wishing she could slip back in, snuggle down, and read something from the magical girl genre, or maybe she could pull up that alien scy-fy fantasy she started... Wait no! Work! Money! Living! Life, unfortunately, cost money to keep and to earn money she needed to get to work, which meant finishing off her morning routine with locking all her comforts away in her tiny studio. It kind of sucked. She didn't want to surround herself with real people. Real people had three dimensions. Manga characters only had two and didn't talk back when you yelled at them like a lunatic for missing the opportunity to kiss their love interest for the umpteenth time. Seriously, it couldn't possibly be healthy to get close to someone so many times! If she had a love interest who did that, they'd have to keep a minimum distance of one foot if they weren't planning on making a move; no teasing!

She realized she had been staring at her door for the duration of her inner monologue when the door behind her opened and slammed shut and the most shady character stalked down the hallway. Oh my god she was going to get killed in her sleep or, worse yet, have her Japanese media collection raided if she continued to live there! What if she came back and all of them were gone? Or the thief left them scattered all over the place in their hurry to escape? What if they were in there right now? She fumbled with her keys and jammed it in the lock, swinging open the door upon hearing the click of success. Nothing. The apartment was empty. Unless they hid in the bathroom. Did she shut the door? She didn't remember... Her eyes fell on her alarm clock and squeeled when she saw the time.

Work!

She abruptly shut and locked the door before running down the single staircase leading toward the doom that was known as the outside world. Why couldn't going outside to do things go out of style already? Wasn't this suppose to the age of technology? When the day came when she could do everything without taking a step out of her apartment, including work, then and only then will she acknowledge the future.

The heels of her baggy, knee high boots - the faux leather dyed a grey-purple - clacked against the pavement of her sidewalk as she walked at a brisk pace. She didn't even carry a purse with her. She never knew how to hold one first of off, and she never seemed to wear anything worthy of such an accessory; therefore, her keys were rigged to the belt loop of her jeans and the phone was tucked away in her back pocket. She would be lying if she said it would matter if she lost it or not. The only reason she had one to begin with was because of her mother. The only other function it served was making her out to be a total doofus.The stares she got when she couldn't figure out how to message and there was that one time she tried ordering a pizza but instead called her brother Mark. She would never live that down!

The multi-department store loomed ahead and she slowed to a reluctant walk to the point she was at risk of dragging her feet. She didn't want to deal with weird people! She barely dealt with her own weirdness! Oh man, she hoped the scary chick with the drill piggy tails wasn't there yet. Hayley was honestly terrified of her. She looked like she escaped from prison and was keeping a low profile as a minimum waged worker. Well, that was the place to do it. She was honestly surprised the department store was still afloat. How did it even manage? She peeked into the glass doors and looked around for the blonde thugess, only going in when her lack of presence was confirmed. She didn't bother looking around for any other co-workers before quickly stealing away to the safety of her bookstore - if it could be called that. Either way, it proved to be a safe enough haven to hold herself in until the end of her shift.

 

[TravisBM]

"Thank you my audience i'll be here all week," Jason replied laughing at himself a bit since that was truly random. He also noticed this was the first time he'd heard Bryan laugh since he had kept to himself the entire part of last week except for the mandatory meetings that they were forced to go to. "Well if you ever have a little down time stop by over here and mabye you'll get a few dance lessons from.." he paused doing a little turn around and stopping, "The king." Some people might classify Jason as a boasting prick or way to over confident for his own good but he still kept with his sports mentality which meant if he wanted be a champion he had to act like a champion.

 

[Wicked Hex]

He clapped and grinned "Oh can I? If it's alright with you." Bryan was truly happy. That he had made a friend today. He heard someone come in and turned to face her. Hayley right? "Good morning." He greeted her before turning back to him "I would love to learn from the king." He was excited. He gets to learn how to dance. And from his new friend. He liked how bold and cool Jason was. He wished he could keep that sort of mentality. "When do you want to start?" He asked and glanced at the clock. He had to make sure his work ethics were on time and actually productive in that time frame. He pushed up his glasses and shoves his hand into his hoodie pocket.

 

[Dunruffle]

Casper woke up to the blaring of his cellphone alarm app. Grumbling incoherenty he promptly smacked the snooze button and went back to sleep. Eventually 9 o clock rolled around and Casper sighed as he wearily got out of bed. Stumbling around his apartment, Casper located his work shirt and tie. After grabbing a snack bar and a bottle of soda, Casper made his way out of his apartment and started walking to work. For anyone observing him, Casper would have appeared to have just gotten off a 12 hour shift, when in reality he just woke up. "Ugh...the daily struggle begins again."

 

[TravisBM]

"When ever you want to come in i'll make time for ya man," Jason says seeing that it was about time to open up shop and get the day rolling. "Well its about that time so lets hope for great sales on both of our ends alright," he says putting up his hand for a fist bump. To be honest he was rather surprised to make friends with someone this early but took it as a good sign to come and hopefully it would remain the same situation with everyone else that he was going to work with. And just as that was all happening he forgot he left the t.v. going and heard that it was about time for the main event to start which he was looking forward to seeing.

 

[Wicked Hex]

Bryan fist bumped him and nodded. "Yeah. It's time. I hope so too. How does. Tonight sound?" He was free tonight. He shifts the weight of the backpack he was carrying on his back and started to shift into his work attitude. He always believed that working hard will get you somewhere in the world. Bryan takes his backpack off and sipped it open before taking out his laptop. He opene dit and booted it on. He had to make sure the department store was stocked up. Today wasn't going to be so hard. And he was thankful for that. A regular woking day.

 

[TravisBM]

"Tonight works perfectly for me man so i'll see you around that time," Jason says patting him on the back givng one last smile as he turns to look at the clock. He wondered when everyone else would come in since it was him, Bryan, and Hayley, (Who he made a mental note to talk to when given the chance), that were here so far and it was give or take..20 minutes before work officially started. He was once more pulled from his worries hearing the music of another superstar named, Seth Rollins, that made his way to the ring which brought on a surprised reaction from the crowd. Jason then went on the chant at the screen "Curbstomp give them the Curbstomp Seth," and continued watching until work started.

 

[Multi]

Jacky quickly grew an excited grew when she saw Sammy get out of her room and walk up to her. "Let us be off Bowser, the Mushroom Kingdom awaits your Tyranny!" Jacky said as she walked out of the door, watching Sammy walk out, and promptly closed and locked said door. As they started walking Jacky quickly let her worries be known to her room-mate. "Ooooh, i really don't like going to work, it feels like im on death row, i wouldn't make it in prison Sammy! I would be currency, Adorable Currency! They'd pass me around more then a Jamaican passes around a thing of weed!"

 

[נָג]

In a utterly deadpan tone, Sammy brushed off her roommate's fears. "They'd have to beg me to be allowed even a look at you, Jacky." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "You're too good at hiding, anyway."

The trip took too long. And there wasn't enough coffee. In fact, halfway up the street, Sammy started seeing coffee everywhere but in her hands. Cappuccino walking its little latte-on-a-leash which dropped off some coffee beans behind a fire-hydrant. And every car, driven by different cuppas! Except that one. That one, there, looked like tea. You can tell by the fedora. A few feet down, they passed a mocha tree. And leaning against it, a greasy cup outta McDonalds reading the Caffeine Times!

Finally, the store!

Taking a deep breath, Sammy leaned forward. She pressed her palms against the doors and pushed against their handles. They creaked then groaned, swinging open at her behest. For a moment, she swayed, to straighten up again. Then she started in, right past Harley. "Stupid doors are noisy again," she murmured, passing right by her place in the store, "Coffee..."

She walked by Jason and Bryan. "...Coffee..."

And into the shitty break-room corner of the back, safely out of everyone's sight.

 

[Blood Lightning]

After her eleven hours of sleep, Ashley looked at the clock as she stretched out her arms. She had about an hour before work started. Well, better hurry and get ready! Upon getting up, Ashley went straight to the showers to clean herself off before getting on her work clothes. So she wouldn't have to deal with Morning Sickness at work, she made herself some peppermint tea. Too bad the baby daddy ran off and disappeared. He'd come back eventually, won't he? Or at least send the Child Support Money that she'll need. She was lucky enough that her parents were helping her.

As soon as she was ready, Ashley headed to her Car and drove down to her new workplace. Before exiting her car, she took a deep breath. She then walked inside, eager to see what her new Co-Workers were like.

 

[Mundane Monster]

Lydia was startled out of her sleep by a large crash and the sound of scrabbling claws. Letting out a mortified scream, Lydia sat straight up in bed and quickly leaped to her feet, so she was on top of her bed and swiveling her head this way and that in search of, "THE RATS! THEY'RE BACK AGAIN!!" She heard one of her neighbors howl from somewhere in the hall. If she had been at work, Lydia would have said something like, "Hey brother, calm down and try to find your inner peace. Rats are just our smaller, misunderstood siblings." But she wasn't at work. And rats were friggin disgusting. Her landlord Grace had informed her when she first moved in that the building had a bit of a rodent problem but it wouldn't be so bad and that the problem would be solved sooner or later. That had been four years ago. The rats didn't show up everyday or anything, but every once in a while a horde of them ran through the building like the wildebeest stampede from the Lion King and every tenant in the building was Mufasa.

Once she was sure that there were no large rodents scurrying across the floor, Lydia jumped down from her bed and promptly screamed again. But not because of the rats. Because she was late for work. Like super super late.

"Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap..." She chanted as she skipped a shower, breakfast and even brushing her teeth in favor of jamming herself into her less smelly clothing and bursting out the door.

She made it to work in time, fortunately. But she was hungry as hell and she felt gross due to the lack of a shower. Oh well, break room has a bathroom for a reason. She thought as she headed inside, waving at her co-workers, giving a cheerful, "Namaste." and making a beeline for the break room.

 

[Noctis the Devious]

Hayley Campbell

Hayley jumped when Sammy bulled by and ducked behind a bookshelf. She did her best to keep out of the way of that woman, not wanting to end up minced meat for uttering the wrong word or accidentally phrasing something the wrong way; an occurrence that happened more often then she'd like. Only when the close was cleared did she slink back to the open, just to duck for cover again when her co-worker, Linda or something waltzed in spouting something she didn't quite understand. She had mixed feelings for her. She was nice enough, chill even, but man did she like messing with her books! She had a tendency to stack them into towering death traps Hayley definitely didn't approve of. She hadn't spend the first couple of days rearranging the entire book floor in the way she liked just to have them converted into Lego blocks!

When it seemed the stream of co-workers paused, she slipped her way from her hiding spot and took a seat at her work station, fiddling with the computer provided for cataloging and, well, messing around in general. When she first started work she was appauled to find the poor thing neglected and quickly updated the software before cleaning out any and all junk with the store's antivirus. Now it ran smoothly. She clicked around for a bit, running weekly maintenance and checking up on what books remained, not that she couldn't remember what books were bought. A grand total of three were purchased last week by two individuals. She may neglect the purpose of working at the store itself, but she wasn't completely incompetent.

 

[Multi]

As soon as they arrived to the store Jacky immediately went into hiding. Going behind shelves and counters, going un-noticed, as she arrived in the Break room just in time to see Sammy making a cup of coffee. "Wow, your more addicted to coffee than sonic is addicted to gold coins..." Jacky said as she giggled with her over-sized sleeve over her mouth at her own joke. Jacky was apprehensive about going anywhere without Sammy, but she had a job to do, so Jacky started walking off. "Well, i have to go re-stack and re-order shelves in the Video Game section, so i'll be seeing you later." Jacky thusly walked out of the door and ninja'd her way to the Video Game Section, going once again un-noticed by the others as she put headphones in and started to listen to her playlist of 'Hollywood Undead' songs. Jacky's music taste was unique in a way, as Jacky didn't stick with just 1 genre of music, instead she listened to all Genre's of music and just listened to songs that she liked, instead of just sticking with one genre.

 

[YankeeSamurai]

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BE-

Chester's digital watch chirped a tinny little alarm for the start of his shift before he silenced it with a squeeze. He grumbled curses under his breath and walked faster, speeding through the entrance's automatic doors and tracking puddle-water into the checkout area. His squeaky footsteps seemed loud, too loud, as if they were wetly squawking to the whole store what a tardy excuse of a Video Game Section Manager they were stuck with.

The watch's LCD display flashed the seconds by. 10:01:58... 10:01:59... 10:02:00. Presently, Chester raised his wrist to eye level and checked the time. "Shit," he breathed, and took off at a dead sprint down an aisle. Appearances be damned. He passed the video game section like a bullet out of a chamber, black zipup hoodie billowing behind him. He thought he saw Jacky shelving games, and were those headphones in her ears?! Most unprofessional. He would need to have a word with her about that.

By the time he ran past the bookstore, he had to admit he was getting rather winded. The slapping of his shoes against tiled floor was starting to slow, and his breath sounded ragged in his throat. A quick, sidelong glance confirmed that the tall jeans girl was indeed working the bookstore today. Chester felt a momentary pang of equal parts desire and apprehension as he weighed the risks of sneaking away from his home section to try and put the schmooze on her, or at least have a productive conversation about... whatever she was into. Books seemed like a good enough place to start.

But this wasn't the time for contemplation. He was already at the break room, lifting his watch to his face once again as he came barreling through the doorway. 10:04:09 and counting. Thank Christ, it could be worse. He'd be docked a minor tardy, but at least he'd narrowly avoided another major tardy - his next would be a write-up, and Chester just couldn't afford that, especially with his competence as a section manager at stake, and what with his jockeying to be first in line for the next store manager opening, but it didn't matter now, he'd taken a risk staying up until 6 last night but apparently he'd gotten away with it, everything was fine, everything was oka--

Chester's sneakered foot collided with the edge of a mop bucket sitting innocuously by the break room door. The ground rose up to meet him, filling his vision before he could even yell. There was a BONK and flash of brilliant white light, and Chester Treembly along with Chester Treembly's Backpack and Chester Treembly's Sack Lunch veritably bounced off the break room floor.