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Veronica’s Black Friday

Black Friday is a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s a peak shopping event for some. A sleep-in day for others. Unfortunately, Veronica fell into an often-overlooked third category. She worked retail.

It was bad enough to have to work when everyone else had off, but working in a store on Black Friday could make even the merriest merchant want to tear her hair out. Veronica had promised herself that she’d bail before the holiday season. She knew that the throngs of rude shoppers would make her regret staying past her designated exit date but Marcy had begged her to stay long enough to find and train someone to replace her.

Apparently, everyone else felt the same about working retail on Black Friday. The few people who had applied to fill her position weren’t available until next week. Convenient. Well, convenient for them. Even triple-time wasn’t enough to entice them. So, here she was getting jostled, yelled at and complained to by a tidal wave of annoying people.

“Do you have any in the back?” The pudgy woman demanded of her. “The flyer says you’ve got them.”

“I’m pretty sure we sold out of those by seven-thirty.”

“Can’t you go check for me?”

She glared at the woman in disbelief for a moment before it occurred to her that she’d just been provided with an opportunity to escape the madness for a moment. A minute of peace and quiet would be a fair exchange for pretending to go look in the back for something she knew darned well was gone until the next truck arrived. “Sure, I’ll be right back.” She said cheerfully as she scurried toward the stock room.

“Hi, Ronni. What’s up?” Marcy was opening a huge box of fleece-lined socks.

“My blood pressure.” Veronica said. “Do we have any more of those air fryers with the WiFi app?”

Marcy giggled. “No, silly. We sold out of those by seven.”

“You’re giggling at ten-fifteen on Black Friday, Marcy. Should I call an ambulance?”

“No, I was just amused by the question because I’ve been asked a dozen times every ten minutes since we ran out. You know what we do have? We’ve got these fluffy socks that look like ugly Christmas sweaters. I’m pretty sure we’re going to have these until Harvey sends them back after New Years.”

“Yeah, but those are so ridiculously comfy. I’d wear those things every day forever.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I am, actually. I’m just using them as an excuse to stay in here a minute longer. These crowds are driving me bats. Why are these people still shopping? Black Friday always dies down after eight. Always. What is this craziness?”

“It’s called profit, Ronni. It’s how we can afford to pay you triple and a half to put up with rabid shoppers for the day.”

“It’s still bananas, Marcy. I really don’t want to be here, no matter how much you’re paying me. This isn’t who I am.”

“This isn’t who I am, either. You don’t have to define yourself by what you do for a living, Ronni.”

“I know, Marcy, but I just can’t work in stores anymore. There’s something waiting for me out there and I can’t find it if I’m stuck here answering dumb questions from selfish people.”

Marcy put down the fluffy socks and took Veronica’s hands. Looking her in the eyes, she said. “You’re absolutely right, Ronni. You won’t find your destiny working in a department store on Black Friday. That being said, you promised. Deal with today, today. I need you today most of all. Bear with me, Ronni.”

Veronica’s eyes narrowed. “Oh my God, Marcy. Don’t you say it. Don’t you even say it.”

“There’s always tomorrow for dreams to come true.” Marcy sang sweetly.

Veronica screeched and ran from the room. She found the woman outside waiting for her. She was wearing an ankle-length fur the same color as her hair. It made her look like a haystack with lipstick. ‘Honestly,’ Veronica thought. ‘who does that?’ “Ma’am, I checked the back room thoroughly and asked my manager. We sold out early this morning. There will be another shipment coming tonight after we close. If we get any of those, they will be back on the shelves when we open tomorrow at eight.”

“Can you set one aside for me?”

“I won’t be here for the restock. You can ask at the service desk. They might be able to do that for you.” Veronica pretended to see a customer waving for her attention. “Duty calls. Have a lovely day.” She dashed away to housewares and ducked down an aisle where the overbearing woman couldn’t see her.

“Miss?”

Veronica jumped.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” The silver-haired woman said. “I was wondering if you might hand that down for me.” She pointed to a picture frame on the top shelf.

“Of course.” Veronica pulled it down and handed it to her. “Here you go. Is there anything else I can help you find?”

“No, thank you. I just need to find my husband so we can check out.”

“Not sure if I can help you with that. We’re fresh out of husbands in this section.”

The old lady chuckled. “Yes, he’s probably looking at hats or ice scrapers. Have you got a fellow?”

Veronica laughed so hard she snorked. “That’s the last thing I need.”

“You’re young.” The woman smiled kindly. “You have time to figure out what you want.”

“Oh, I know what I want.”

“That’s wonderful. May I ask?”

“I want to go home and go to bed.” Veronica laughed. “Black Friday is not my scene.”

“Seems to me you’re in the wrong line of work, then.” A voice said from behind her.

“Oh, Charlie.” The old lady chided her husband. “This young lady was helping me reach this lovely picture frame.”

“Good call.” He slid past to join his wife. “She looks like she could probably unscrew light bulbs from the ceiling.”

“Charlie! Where are your manners? She’s not that tall.”

“She’d bump her head on an airplane if she wore heels.”

Veronica rolled her eyes and slowly backed away as Charlie and his wife continued arguing over her height. ‘Jeez, I’m only six one…’ She thought as she retreated to the far end of the store.