May 30, 2020
He hadn’t even been the one to put the script away - he hadn’t worked that day. Yet the pharmacy manager had said, when he’d mentioned not being able to find the script, that he needed to watch where he put things. It did raise an eyebrow from him, as it should, but he’d gone about having the script refilled for the customer before sending them on his way.
What got to Larkin was his pharmacy manager approaching him three more times, over the next hour, to mention watching where he put scripts - check the bin numbers. He was reminded not to rush and make sure to read the bin numbers. Every time he was told...he was trying to help a customer and find their script. So being approached when he was busy doing his job and it wasted time that he could be getting a customer done and out of the pharmacy.
They, the pharmacy manager, had said the last time that they were going to be talking to everyone about putting things away properly. So far two people had come onto shift...and not a word said to either of them. No one already on shift had been spoken to either - just him. He wasn’t surprised though - he never was. It was always something being said to him and only him.
He tried to not speak back, he really did, but sometimes saying ‘yes’, ‘yup’, and ‘I understand’ just weren’t enough. So in those times he tried to explain himself...and it always went on longer. It always, in the end, led to him shutting down and going as close to mute as he could for the rest of the day. Somehow no one noticed or cared.
As the final minutes of his shift ticked down he spent it poking at his phone. Everything was, at the moment, done. He’d already finished putting scripts back to stock that had been waiting for two weeks, as was normal to do, as well as putting away the waiting bin scripts. He had no line of customers at pick up and so there was nothing to do, he was never really allowed to fill scripts and hadn’t been trained in other areas. Poking about facebook Larkin already knew where a bit of his paycheck was going this week.
The people he knew on facebook all sold starbucks merch, it was the only reason he had a facebook, and he’d been looking at a few things that he’d wanted. A cup from Taiwan was on his list along with an Alice in Wonderland piece from South Korea. As he scrolled over things, and bounced between the sellers he knew, he waited for the next five minutes to tick down so he could clock out and start ordering things - he’d pay tonight when his pay came in.
Larkin thankfully didn’t have much to pay out, in the way of bills, he still lived at home along with his siblings and the only bill he really paid was his car payments and insurance. His cell phone was part of a family bundle and his parents paid that since it was cheaper to keep them all together. He didn’t pay the other basic bills but he did buy food when there were things he wanted, or wanted to surprise others with. This allowed for him to buy things for himself and feed his collection of Starbucks merchandise.
Looking up from his phone he took note of the time and almost cheered as he clocked out. Calling out to the others, not that they cared. “I’m out - have a good night.” And as he finished that sentence he was grabbing his cold cup and headed past the production table and the group socializing there. His words were spoken softly, not wanting to garner too much attention, he closed the little door behind himself and headed for the store's backroom so he could grab his wallet and keys from his locker.
Pocketing his wallet and keys he made his way from the backroom into the store and towards the doors, calling out as he went that he needed a bag check. He knew one of the managers was the next isle over from himself so they’d hear him, they weren’t deaf even if they pretended to be at times.
The bag check was, as usual, quick and with a quick good night he headed out to his the suv he had. It wasn’t anything too special, he wasn’t a pharmacist making a load of money, but it was nice and comfortable. He kept it clean and parked as far from people as he could, which at work was nearly impossible to do, but he did his best to keep anything from happening to it. Setting his cold cup into the cup holder, his wallet going in next to it, he plugged his phone in and turned on some music. He needed music to unwind...he always did. Work should not be so stressful and miserable and yet it was - it almost always was.
It wasn’t something he’d planned to do but as he pulled out of his parking spot Larkin decided to go get something to eat, he didn’t feel like cooking. The idea of cooking, which he normally didn’t mind doing, was just...too energy draining. That in mind he headed for one of the local asian fusion places - they always had good food. Food might help him feel a bit better...at least he hoped.
Word count: 922
