Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Sunday, May 13, 2007

A strange, tiring day

I worked at the gas station, and they've changed out the software to the registers so that every time we touch the screen it beeps, all of the alert sounds we did have are changed, things are in different places, procedures are no longer the same, and one thing was utterly stupid (which I won't mention here, but let's just say something happens before cashing out certain sales that can only be undone with a great deal of effort). But, all in all, I did pretty well, and by the end of the shift had it pretty much all down. But it threw me off most of the day. It used to be that the total, for example, was in numerals an inch and a half high. Now they're the same size as everything else and just a different colour. Sometimes. Oh, well, I'm sure I'll be whizzing through as if I never knew anything different soon.

I was told I was beautiful today. Granted, I was told this by a leering Hispanic man who seemed, well, drunk or stoned, although I didn't smell alcohol on his breath or any weed. I was very polite and worked very hard to get out of the corner of the store he'd come up to me in. He reminded me of the homeless old man who came up to me in the middle of the street when I was 16 and asked me to marry him.

Well, I have to get up very early tomorrow (at 6 am or so), so I'll sign off for the night. The wind is whipping outside and it seems like a storm might be moving in, although the stars are out and it's clear for now. Goodnight.

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