Typical Day
Kyle Grundi's alarm—set on his iPhone, because who has an actual alarm clock anymore?—blares in his ear from the spot where he dropped it by his pillow when he fell asleep playing Flappy Bird. With a lurch, he sits up, rubbing his eyes and checking the time. 8:15AM. Time to start the day.
He takes a ten-minute shower to wake himself up, then downs a scalding hot cup of black coffee, half an untoasted bagel, and a banana. His car takes ten minutes to start up, and, of course, traffic is killer, just like every morning. The mall kiosk where he's employed opens at 9:00AM, and he's seven minutes late—even though he sped and ran a red light. The mall is crowded by the time he clocks in.
During the first hour of his shift, Kyle approaches fifty-two different people. Out of those fifty-two people, only ten stop and talk to him, three look around his kiosk, and one makes a purchase. By the third hour, Kyle's exhausted from standing on his feet and circling his booth so he decides to take a break from active selling. Instead, he sits on the stool provided by his employer and watches the masses pass by.
As he rests his aching feet, someone behind him yells, "Grundi!"
Kyle leaps to his feet, spinning around to face his boss, Jim. "What are you doing lying around?" Jim's voice is loud enough to surprise the sleeping old man on the bench four stores down. "Get on your feet and start selling!"
Kyle coughs. "Er, sorry sir, I was just taking a quick rest."
"No quick rests!" Jim yells. "Work. Now."
Kyle scurries back to the selling, grabbing his free sample of lotion on the way around the kiosk. With his boss watching, he nervously lifts his voice towards a young man, calling, "Excuse me sir, can I ask you a question?"
The young man glances at him, annoyed and scowling. But he doesn't stop, so Kyle goes on. "Um, how's your skin holding up in this freezing weather?"
The man just glares at him. "What?"
"We have some special lotion that could cure that." Kyle can't help his voice shaking a bit as he pours some of the scented lotion on the man's hands. The man looks at the lotion as if it was poison, then grudgingly starts rubbing his hands together. Suddenly, his expression brightens.
"Wow, this stuff feels really nice. What do you call it?"
Kyle eagerly holds up the bottle, displaying the label. "Barney's BeeNice Salve. It's only fifteen dollars a bottle."
The man nods interestedly. "Does it come in different scents? Something more manly?"
Kyle nods, ecstatic. "Of course! Come look at our selection!"
The man ends up spending over a hundred dollars on Barney's BeeNice products, much to Kyle's surprise. His boss left soon after he approached the man, which is unfortunate because it would've been nice to have him see Kyle make a big sale.
At 5:00PM, his shift ends and his coworker, Kristen, arrives early to take over the booth. Kyle had been crushing on her hard since she started working there about a month ago, but hasn't had the courage to ask her out. Today, though, he's thought up his plan and is determined to get a date. He greets her as she clocks in. "Can I get you anything before I leave?" he offers politely.
Kristen smiled. "No thanks, but that's nice of you, Kyle."
She remembered his name.
This is the moment Kyle's been waiting for. He leans on the edge of the booth, trying to be casual. "So, uh...do you want to eat later?"
She laughs. "Um, yeah I generally eat dinner."
Kyle fumbles. "But you know, with me? Like, you and me and eating together...plans?"
Kristen rolls her eyes and smiles. "Sure, you can come back at the end of my shift and buy me a slice of pizza. Now scram, I've gotta work."
Kyle gleefully walks around the corner before carltoning his way to his car.