By the time my third year of undergrad rolled around, I was living in a college town. I needed a part time job for spending money, so I applied at the local drug store. I had to take a test prior to being hired…it was some sort of “honesty” test. I’m pretty sharp, so I aced the test. There were some trick questions at the end, but they were an obvious trap to me, so I answered them “correctly,” if not accurately.
As a result of my apparent brilliance, I mean honesty, I was offered a position as a pharmacy tech. It was pretty cool. I filled people’s prescriptions. I didn’t realize ordinary people could do that. The pharmacist, Stan, oversaw everything. He printed out the stickers for the bottles and handed them to me. I found the medications, counted them out, put them in the bottle, and gave it back for him to double check. It was kind of fun.
But one day, I didn’t show up for work. I had never dissed work like that in my entire four year career in low wage jobs. But I was under the influence of a boy I liked named Greg. He had quite a bit of power over me at the time. He didn’t grace me with his presence very often, so I savored the time he was around and never wanted that time to end. Who knows how long it would be before I could hang out with him again. (Thankfully, I’ve grown up since then!) So, he had stopped by my place, we ended up in bed, and I was took the coward’s route and didn’t even fake call in sick. Maybe I was afraid if I picked up the phone, he would disappear.
When I went back to work for my next shift, Stan said he was giving me the next two weeks off to think about whether or not I really wanted the job. I felt like a dipshit and never went back.
