First Day

I had been staying with Lance and his family for a little over a month when I finally got a job.  It was located about 25-20 minutes from Lance's house in Winter Park.  I really liked Winter Park.  It was a lot fancier than the area I was staying and the strip I worked in was really pretty with water fountains and cute shops.  The place I got a job at was called Chamberlin's Natural Foods.  It was a health food store that was all the rage with the local vegetarians and vegans.  I was to work in the Deli/ cafe` section of the store. My manager's name was Lari and She was about 5 foot, plump and had short bright red hair.  She talked to you as if she was going to reach over and pinch your cheeks at any moment and tell you what a good little girl you were!  I was given 7.50 an hour and 40 hours a week.  Honestly I would have worked there if she had only started me at three dollars. 

I was so excited my first day of work that I got up three hours early just to get ready.  I felt like it was my first day of middle school again or something. Lance's mom drove me to work that day.  She was the scariest driver ever, and had the worst road rage.  Her hip problem made her driving very jerky and needless to say I was extremely thankful that we had arrived in one piece.  I said thanks and hoped out of the car. 

 First they just put me on the cash registers for a while so I could get a hang of it, and then they sent me back to the deli area.  It was just Lari, a Black women named Teresa and a guy named Will that day. Lari gave me the run down of things and then sent me to Teresa to train. "My name is Teresa, but you can call me Motha Teresa, because I will be actin like yo motha while you here."  She was about my height and a little thick, about in her early forties. "Not a lot of people like me here because Im bossy, but I know how to get things done so they just deal with it."  I liked Teresa's personality, she was bossy, but she always had something funny to say about everyone and I liked that.  Teresa couldn't stand Lari and they were always getting into it. I didn't blame her though.  Lari got on my nerves really quickly.  Whenever Lari would tell you to do something, she would say it in this high pitched voice as if you were two years old and had just learned how to talk,.  She was obsessed with working, and Teresa told me that she even came in on her days off because she had nothing else to do. I did feel kinda bad for her after that, I mean you must be real lonely to come hang out at the place you work on your days off. 

Will was 19, the same age as me and was from Arkansas.  He was tall and had a thick build.  His hair was long and black and he had little thin mustache that reminded me of Zorro. His cheeks were really red all the time as if he had just finished running or something, and Teresa gave him a hard time about it. "What's wrong with yo face Will?  Why you all red? You should go to the doctor or something, you ain't supposed to be that red." She would say over and over.  I felt bad for him, he seemed really shy and Im sure that he was probably very self conscious about it.

The day seemed to fly by.  It felt so great to be away from that house, and Lance and when I finally snapped back to the reality that I had to go back I got really depressed.  I told Teresa the story about how I had moved here to be with a guy I met on the internet and how much older he was than me. "Girl you must be outta your mind! Whatchu doin here like this? you only a baby!" she yelled.  I knew I couldn't explain myself, I knew it was dumb but I didn't want to tell her the truth, that I was miserable. "I bet your momma is losin her mind right now with you gone!" 

"I don't know, she won't even talk to me." I said. I told her about how my parents had disowned me basically and that I hadn't talked to them in over a month now. "Oh, they just hurtin' cuz their baby's gone and they don't know what to do." she said and I guessed she was probably right. When it was time to leave and Lance pulled up, it took everything I had to look happy to see him.