Welcome to Flashes of Sanity! Your weekly dose of flash fiction on 500 words or less.

This week’s entry: Behind the register

Enjoy!

I Love My job
I Love My job
I love My job
”Hi, how may I help you?”
The very stale man on the other side of the counter reached down into his bag he probably had carried since his face saw the light while screaming profanities no one understood.
”I would like some help… with… uhm… you know… this… I can’t get it to start.”
Donny picked it up, still desperately holding on to his mantra. He pushed the large green button and the little machine blinked followed by all the start up signals.
”There you go.” His smile fought for its place on his face. Donny glanced at the next customer. And the smile gave off a shriek as the bitterness got through all the defenses and stabbed it in the heart. Yet the smile held on to its throne.
“And how may I help you?”
“This shop of yours and all the shit you do to us has reached my final nerve.”
“Please tell me more, your satisfaction is our mission.” Donny resisted the urge to remove the spit dripping from his smile.
“You had the nerve to sell me a broken hair dryer,” more spit flew across the counter. ”Do you know how many there was staring at me in the subway? This is unacceptable.”
It wasn’t your hair they were staring at, Donny thought.
“I am happy to give you a new one in exchange for the one that was broken,” he said. As he reached for Adam to go fetch this so precious hair dryer, he got a look at what was coming next.
Is… Is he touching himself?
“Every one down on the floor. Now!”
The man with his hands down his pants accidently squeezed a little too hard from the sudden interruption. He moaned in pain.
Is that a spandex suit? Donny thought as he stood stunned and stared at the Woman and two of her not as well dressed grunts.
“You are crazy, boss.” One of the grunts laughed.
“Am I?” The girl in a right spandex suit asked. “You there! I said down in the floor!”
All guns and the spandex girl’s hands suddenly pointed at Donny and His little Line.
“Oh mama,” the man touching himself moaned before falling to the floor in spasms.
“You don’t dare,” the woman screamed before she also fell to the floor in spasms with two needles in her back.
“I said down!” The spandex girl screamed now with her knee on the woman’s back.
“And you.” She turned to Donny. ”You look cute. But down, now!”
“I am happy to be at your service.”
She called me cute, Donny thought and threw himself to the ground.
She is cute.
I hate my job…
”Do you need a hostage?”
The sound of money, clothes and jewelry being pushed into bags stopped.
She giggled.
The he glimpsed her wonderful face appearing above the register.
”Actually no… But in your case, I will do an exception.”

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Copyright © David B. Johansson 2021