Chap Stick

Lissa shrugged her green vest over her shoulders as she walked briskly through the electric doors. She smiled at all the customers as she briskly made her way through the crowded store. “Finally” Lissa muttered as she made it took the door leading to the stairs. She ran up the stairs as fast as she could, and rushed through the door trying to make it before the three minute mark. She let out a chuckle as she punched in her numbers 3:02, saved by the minute. Lissa walked over to her locker and shoved all of her belongings in, slamming it shut she turned to go to work. She tensed as she saw an older bagger walking towards her, with his wide smile. Paul had been working for Publix for ten years; he had what the managers called a learning disability. Paul stopped directly in front of Lissa completely blocking her path. She glanced to the side knowing there was no way to escape this encounter. She screwed on her customer service smile and said “Hi Paul how are you today?”

He just kept smiling. Lissa gave him a confused look. Then his expression changed, as he leaned in and asked her “Do you, you think you want to put some more, more chap stick on?”

“What?” Lissa asked even more confused.

He stepped closer, “Chap stick, put more on” his voice becoming more firm.

Then it hit her, earlier this week she made the mistake of putting on lip balm in front of him. Afterwards it had been explained to her that doing so was not smart and it would have unpleasant effects. Apparently Paul had a tendency to, like it too much. Lissa sighed a said “No I’m good. Thanks though.” She glanced around hoping for an exit. Paul got a strange look in his eyes; Lissa felt a surge of panic. He reached into his pocket and began to move towards her more aggressively, so Lissa side stepped sending him into a locker. She took the opening and made for the door to the break room. Behind her Paul had turned around holding a tube of Chap Stick in the air, yelling that she should put more on. Lissa walked faster, shaking her head at the odd exchange that had just occurred. As soon as she arrived behind the customer service counter she walked to the phone and did the only thing she could think to do. Over the intercom you could hear “Customer Service manager dial 223 please, Wendy 223.” The phone rang and Wendy’s voice came over the phone “yeah?”

Lissa sighed and said “Hey, so I have an interesting story to tell you.”