Disclaimer: NOT EVERY DAY SUCKS, JUST MOST DAYS. We genuinely love our jobs, but right now we are so short staffed we aren't even guaranteed a day off.

"Jack-bots! I'm home." Walking through the empty apartment, Jack picked up the broken pieces he was calling to. Reaching for a head, he held it to his face. "JB-28, I had such a horrible day." He Tossed the head on the threadbare sofa. "God, I hate Mom! I hate being cut off!"

Reaching for a warm beer, he turned to the head. "I may not have ever been a great Heylin warrior. I may not have gotten any respect. But, dammit, I'm still an evil genius!"

So then, why was Jack Spicer: Evil Boy Genius stuck with a crappy job in a crappy one-bedroom apartment with no refrigerator and minimal furniture? He had come home to his lair after a showdown to find his parents balking at the exploded remains of his bedroom wall. Immediately he was sent to military school for the summer. However, after being kicked out for his cocky attitude and wimpy nature, they simply cut him off. Now, at twenty-two, and having never gone to college, here he was.

…

The clock read 6:20 A.M. when the phone rang. "Jack? Hey it's Lana. Yeah, so long story short: I need you to come in at 9:30 and work till 5:00. I'm really sorry."

"But I closed last night. I didn't get out until 2:00 in the morning."

"I know, but Stacy totally flaked on us and I had to open. I really need you here, man."

"Who else is there?"

"Um, well. Stacy was 6:15 to 1:30, I was scheduled for 9:30 to 5:00, and Ted was 11:00 to 5:00. So, you'd be taking my place and Ron gets your 5:00 to 7:00. Again, I'm really sorry. Everyone else was too close to overtime. But, this will put you up there too! So I can't call you in again till next week."

"Fine. At least you gave me time to wake up."

Shit. Digging around for his uniform, Jack got up. After a cold shower and a breakfast of dry cereal and red bull. He headed out to work. As soon as he got to work he wanted to run. The soda fountain was busted and leaking with an OUT OF ORDER sign taped to it. The credit card reader had crashed, and poor Lana was trying to negotiate with an irate man in a suit.

"As you can see, Sir, our machine is down. I can only ring up cash sales."

"All I have is my card."

"There's an ATM next door."

"I don't have time for your bullshit! I'm leaving" He stormed out throwing his sandwich basket across the store. Jack grabbed a mop and a broom and set to work cleaning it up.

"What happened to the WET FLOOR sign?"

"Some kids came in here and broke it. Everything's broken."

"Another day at SuxDay. Am I right?"

"SuxDay indeed."

…..

Despite the rough start, the lunch rush only lasted three hours. Best of all, there were very few customer complaints, and the ones they did get were minor things like that they had to get bottled drinks instead of cups. Overall, it wasn't near as bad as some of the other shifts Jack had worked.

At 2:00, Ted was doing the last of the prep work, and Jack sat down to eat. "You know; I think we might be able to catch up."

"Yeah, today wasn't so bad compared to last night. What time did you leave last night?"

"2:00. I had to mop after I locked up."

"But I mopped before I left at 9:00"

"Yeah, but then some stupid kids came in and threw food at each other for about a half hour. Hey, when I'm done, I think I'm gonna try my hand at fixing the fountain."

"Be my guest. I'm already soaked from dishes, man."

The rest of the afternoon flew by. 2:00 to 5:00 was a dead zone with only about 20 sales in the three-hour period. He was able to leave the night crew with no dishes and a working soda fountain. Right at 5:00, he put in his fingerprint and clocked out.

Notes

Our particular store operates from 7AM to Midnight, with employees working from 6:15 AM to 12:30AM or later depending on how busy it is. We use fingerprint ID to clock in and to run the cash register. In other words, you need to scan your fingerprint every time you make a sale.