Today's rambling: Story time!
Written on December 28, 2001 at 10:39 p.m.
while feeling a bit

Lola made me a new diary layout! Can you tell I like The Mario Bros.? *grins* Thank you muchly, Lolakins! *smushes*

Anyhoo, this is the last you'll see of first person for this entry. I've decided to write this entry like a story, so everythin' is going to be in third person. I don't know if I'll like it or not, hehe, but I figure it'll give me a chance to keep using my storywriting skills. And if it works out, maybe I'll do it every Friday! Whee!

~~~~

Bright sunshine awoke Amber that wintry Friday morning. Well, technically it was the bedside alarm that had woken her up, but the sunshine prevented her from falling back to sleep, and that had to count for something.

The sunshine served another purpose, however; today was the day she had to work her most dreaded shift--the 11:30 to 8 shift. Had she awoken to gray skies, she would never have been able to drag herself from her usual morning grumpiness. But the skies weren't gray, and so she cheered up quickly...as quickly as one can cheer up when getting ready for work, anyway.

For the first part of her shift, work turned out to be the same old thing: package rolls, bake bread, wait on customers. It was a routine that was so familiar, she wondered when she'd start doing it in her dreams. The one notable thing was when her manager, John, came over brandishing the store newsletter.

"Ha! Look at this!" he crowed, shoving the computer-printed sheets under Amber's nose. Her eyes quickly scanned the page until she came to what John was so excited about.

"Woot!" Amber exclaimed with a giggle, ceasing to read after she saw her name (which had been at the top of the list). She paused before continuing, "But I only got one perfect shop..."

"I know, but I'm not tellin' them," John replied, then went off to show Karen what his hard work had brought his employees. Amber couldn't help smiling a little bit to herself as she went back to work; it was nice to be appreciated by somebody!

On her way back from her ten-minute break, she met up with Geoff, her crush of several months, in the back room. "Hey!" she greeted gaily. "Is your day any better now?"

"Yeah," he replied, grinning at her. "I'm off tomorrow...I'm so excited!"

The latter phrase was all but lost to Amber's ears as she quelled an absurd little pang of disappointment. Every time she had to work when Geoff was off, the day seemed to go much more slowly. She wasn't looking forward to coming in the next day.

However, she pushed her disappointment aside as she continued to chat with Geoff. "So, got any big plans for New Year's Eve?"

Looking only mildly thrilled, Geoff told her about the party his older brother was going to be having. Amber quelled the impish urge to remind him that he "wasn't the partying type." After all, hadn't that been the excuse he used to get out of HER party on the 22nd?

After talking about the party (and how he'd probably just stay home), Geoff went on to say that this was his brother's 3rd wife, and she was younger than Geoff was. "My nephews are 21, and we all joke that his next wife is going to be their age," he quipped. Though she couldn't be sure, Amber figured she probably started blushing nervously at that comment. However, she had to giggle at the thought--he had nephews who were older than her! What would happen if she and Geoff ever did start a relationship? "Aunt Amber" coming from people who were older than her sounded absurdly funny.

They walked out of the back room, for the moment heading in the same direction (since it was necessary to pass through the frozen section on the way to the bakery). Conversation turned to the usual wild nonsense, and Geoff seemed to be trying hard once again to say something that would bring an expression of shocked amusement to Amber's face. Sure enough, after his last anecdote, he stated, "I try to shock you at least once a day."

That was the best part of the day. From that point on, things just went downhill. Debbie left at 1, Mare left at 4:30, and then Amber was left with a kid who usually worked up front...and whose name, ironically enough, was Geoff.

Geoff was a nice enough kid, though incredibly stupid. He had a "short-wired memory", as Carol put it, and Amber was inclined to agree. In the 3 1/2 hour period she had to put up with him, he asked her no less than 5 times when she was finished working. He couldn't remember how to do any of the setups even though he'd worked back there enough times to remember the fundamentals, at least.

Not even twenty minutes into his shift, Amber stalked up front to talk to John. "Can you use him up here?" she demanded in frustration. "He doesn't know what the heck he's doing, and I don't have time to stand around showing him. I've still got to do other stuff--I haven't even gotten to the Pane yet! And now he's getting mad at me because I won't drop everything to train him!"

"Uh oh!" John replied, walking out of the office. The two of them walked back to the bakery, where Amber started to feel a little uncomfortable. Now, no doubt, Geoff would ask her why she went to talk to John. She couldn't (and didn't really have the courage) to say "because you're dumber than a post, and I'm sick of looking at you," so her mind started working frantically for a nice-sounding excuse. In the end, she went with "I don't have time to train you, so I was hoping John would show you what to do."

By the time her shift ended (and Geoff had asked, "You're done now?"), Amber was in a less-than-stellar mood. She hadn't gotten to say goodbye to her Geoff, she'd been stuck with that kid, and tomorrow she'd have to go all day with nobody worthwhile to talk to.

When she walked into her room to change out of her work clothes and turn on the computer, she noticed that the second of the two new fish she'd bought were dead. The only thing she could feel was irritated. I bought those fish for $4.33 apiece! she thought, scowling at the fish tank. What a ripoff!

But then she signed onto the Internet and found the cute new layout that her friend Laura had made for her. And then Janette signed on, so her spirits lifted quickly.

That was the end to her Friday. Nothing particularly notable, but then again, is her life ever noteworthy? ;)