Chapter Text
September
"Okay, everyone, as we all know holiday season is starting, black Friday is around the corner and we are starting the seasonal hirings so we might find a lot of new candidates today, how exciting, isn't it?"
Everyone is sitting in the employee's rest area, waiting for Mr. J.Y. Park to finish his morning encouraging speech. It is too early, he is too cheerful and Minho didn't got time for his morning coffee, and honestly, SeungMin was in charge of the coffee machine at work and , for a coffee lover person, he sucks at making it.
District 9 store is one of the biggest retail stores in the state, and when Minho was in college, he thought it would be cool to work part time there, get some employee discount and finally be able to buy that camera that he really wanted. He did got the camera, and also a full time job once he dropped out school.
And don't get him wrong. Is a good job, it pays the rent, has health insurance and after 6 years working there, he knows how to use his discounts wisely. The employees parties are not that bad, there was this one Christmas they made Jeongin drink a bunch of different energy drinks and the poor soul ended up throwing up in Hyunjin's car. They also made a scary clown maze for Halloween one time and Changbin almost cry when Beomgyu started to chase him.
It was a good job, a decent job. A —at least I don't so drugs— kind of job. Although one time they did saw Gaon smoking weed next to the dumpsters.
"Since I'll be in a meeting with the corporate, SeungMin and Minho will do the interviews" J.Y. Park says, with a big smile on his face.
Seasonals are the weirdest, random and not so pleasant workers, since their contract is only from October to December. They make everyone's job harder in the busiest season of the year. You might think regular workers get to rest with the seasonals working their asses off, but no. Regulars ends up fixing the seasonal's mess.
"Maybe don't say that out loud" SeungMin's voice interrupts Minho's thoughts.
"Let's just get this done. I'm pretty sure I saw vomit in toy's aisle and I don't think Jisung will clean that"
The interviews were a parade of freaks. A 16 years old asking if they could use their discount to buy beer, one very old lady that felt asleep when SeungMin asked her about her motivations, a guy who wanted to get a gun, a person who didn't speak English accept for types of fish.
"I can't do this anymore" Minho says, letting his head rest on the table "if we get another bare feet Haight-Ashbury hippie, I'll cry"
"Well, we need to pick at least one today" SeungMin's pen touches his head "it's the end of September and people will get crazy closer to Halloween so, pick your fighter"
"I don't want to, they all suck."
"Yeah... I can't believe all of them made Wooyoung look like a trust worker".
And look, Minho is not religious, but he is pretty sure God heard him because suddenly a angel-looking guy walked right in front of them.
"I'm sorry I'm late. I'm Christopher Bang" angel-looking guy says and Minho suddenly feels thirsty "I got lost since I'm new in the city, but... Can I still be interviewed for the job?"
"Yes" Minho's voice was loud making SeungMin laugh.
Christopher Bang. From Australia. Landed two weeks ago just to take care of his aunt who lives by herself. The store is actually pretty close to her house but apparently, California's public transportation is an enigma. He was working in Australia in his dad swimming company, loves to exercise, hot weather and his favorite food is whatever his mom cooks. He has two siblings, one girl, one boy. And SeungMin keep asking Minho why is that relevant to the job application but Minho says nothing but "because I say so."
"Okay, so, if that's all the unnecessary questions, you start tomorrow" SeungMin stands up with a polite smile but a death stare "welcome to district 9, the best district in town"
"Awesome. I'll see you tomorrow then"
"Before you go, can you give him a tour, Minho? Just so he can starts right away"
"I mean, sure, whatever keeps me away from Beomgyu"
They walks to the back of the store, directly to the resting area with the tables, lockers and a big fridge.
"We start the day in here, Mr. J.Y Park gives us every morning a super exciting speech " Minho's voice was unamused "you can come here at your break to eat, read, sleep or cry but please, and I'm begging you, please don't smoke. Also do not reheat fish in the microwave, it will stink everything"
"Got it. No fish and no smoke " Chan is smiling, smiling too much for someone who just agree to work in hell, but hey, Minho is no one to judge, he will just patiently wait till black Friday comes and Chan won't smile anymore.
"You can put your stuff there but please bring your own lock. A few months ago someone tried to make a love lock bridge and used all the locks in the store and ours. We will give you a brand new vest tomorrow, if it has blood or any kind of weird fluid just ignore it, put a pin on top of it or glitter, I don't know, use your imagination"
"I .. won't ask about that"
"Good."
They walked around the store for some more minutes, teaching him how to use the price guns, where the cleaning area was and how to use his employee discount in expired food so it could be cheaper.
"So, you are a swimming teacher" Minho asks once they both were in the parking lot.
"Yeah, or was. I had to come here to help my aunt cause she is getting old so I left everything."
"And why a seasonal job? Don't you want something more.. well .. durable?"
"I just wanted to get something quick and easy, save a bunch of money and maybe go back to Sidney or open a swimming school in here"
"Ow, honey, you think you are going to make a bunch of money in here?"
"Well, one can dream"
"Yeah, not me, though"
"Why not? Dreaming is free"
"Wait till black Friday and tell me that dreaming is free. Gotta go back to the store before any of them cause a fire. See you tomorrow, swimming guy"
"See you tomorrow, Minho."
Working in retail is not for the weak. And Minho is not a weak person, so he didn't yell at a customer one he got asked if they could sell them a slice of American cheese and not the full package and then proceeded to ask if they could sell them a slice of ham and two pieces of bread.
The Halloween merchandise arrived two weeks ago, but today is the day when they'll start filling up the store with the pumpkin decorations and all the Halloween costumes. It's Hyunjin's favorite season because they can get to work with fun accessories and even some makeup or clothes. There is also a Halloween costume contest on the 31. The price is a mug from the discount area, but hey, at least they get to eat some pizza.
The boxes were heavy, and some of it has things that could break, but no one said anything when Allen dropped it.
"Today's specials are our amazing district 9 AAA batteries, buy two, get three. We also have some aisles empty because we are getting the Halloween stuff. We know you are expecting the theme candies and the special edition peeps. Please, be kind to our staff, they are working hard on bringing Halloween soon.
And nope, we don't have pumpkin spice yet."
The day went as every other day in district 9. Customers were wild, someone clogged one toilet at the men restroom, the food at the cafe was almost frozen but still a lady ate it.
Minho took the buss to get home, and an hour later, when he arrived, he greeted his cats, ate dinner and watched some TV before falling asleep.
The next day got pretty quick and now Minho is regretting falling asleep on the couch cause his neck hurts like hell. It's 4 am and the morning already sucks. A quick shower, a simple black shirt, black pants and a jacket and he is good to go to take the buss.
September is no way close to cold, actually is still very, very hot. But it's 5am and the sun is not there yet. He arrives at the store five minutes before 6, just in time to get a cup of SeungMin's horrible coffee and the annoying speech of J.Y. Park. Everyone's still asleep, because it doesn't matter how many years they've work there, being in the morning shift always sucks. Nobody, but really not a single customer has been there at 6:30 am, the opening time. Not even the starbucks across the street is open at 6:30 am.
"Oh my god, and Hyunjin and Jisung are super best friends but they were in a relationship until Jisung found out Hyunjin did some nude photography for a class in college, it was so dramatic, they couldn't work together for like two weeks until Hyunjin kissed him in the sports aisle. Yeji, Hyunjin's twin saw them doing the deeds in Hyunjin's car. Can you imagine that? I mean Yeji use that car too"
"Yuna, what are you doing?"
"Oh, hi Minho" Yuna smiles at him "I was just telling Chris all the tea, Mr. Jay told me to tell him everything. Ah, Minho and SeungMin use to date too."
"Stop, please" Minho rolls his eyes "he doesn't need to know that."
"Why? " Yuna asks, her eyes going from Minho to Chris.
"Is not relevant"
"Ohhhhh, you wanna flirt with him" Yuna smile gets bigger "I think he is way out of your league, you should go back to SeungMin, he is less hot but hella smart. And taller than you"
"Hey, I'm tall" Chris interrupts them "...taller than the dude in the register number 3"
"Everyone is taller than Changbin" Minho says "so, first day and you already got the Halloween decorations, what did you do? Kissed Mr. Jay?"
"He smiled at him and told him his speech was cool" Yuna adds.
"He was very inspiring" Chris ears get red, a nice, pretty shade of red contrasting his pale skin "Mr. J.Y. Park seems like a very wise man"
"Owww Chris, tank you" Mr. Jay voice interrupts "but you can call me Jay, Mr.Jay , or JY, you know? Cause I'm a cool dude, a dope fella or whatever the gen z says. Six seven and stuff"
Minho frowns, and Yuna's expression is.. something.
"Mr. Jay" Chris repeats "Mr. Jay it is"
"You are adorable, isn't he adorable, Minho?"
"I'm going back to work" Minho says rolling his eyes again "Yeonjun is at electronics today and I need to stop him on playing some weird cartoons on the TV's."
September is still a slow month, just right after the back to class season and just right before the holiday mess. Customers gets crazy when they see the Halloween decorations, and even if the staff hasn't take the stuff out of the box, customers takes them and put them in random places all over the store.
Chris is an excellent staff, Minho can see, he learned the basics pretty quickly, he is friendly and speaks with a soft voice to the elderlies. He also kind off flirt too but hey, whatever it sells. He knows a lot about music and electronics and he stopped Yeonjun to play euphoria on the TV's when Minho wasn't looking.
Mr. Jay keep doing the interviews to get more seasonal staff, and SeungMin, being the sub-manager is working his ass off to make a nice schedule without anyone whining about how much hours they have and how they won't be able to go to knots scary farm.
It's 4pm and most of them are finishing their shift. Minho is at the resting area with his head on the table and a bag of chips in his hand. SeungMin enters the room, he sits next to Minho and his hands finds Minho hair, petting him softly.
"Tough day?" SeungMin says "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you today."
"Ryujin soaked a customer with a water gun" Minho says almost sighing "where did she got the water gun?"
"Discount area? Jooyeon locker?" SeungMin playing with his hair felt so good Minho dozed off for a few minutes
Chris comes to the room, his vest full of pink and purple glitter. Apparently, a little girl was trying to open the glitter jars and when he tried to stop her, she throw it to the floor causing a sea of different kind of sparkles.
He takes his jacket out of the locket, changes in front of them and clock out, waving his hand with a soft "see you tomorrow" to not wake up Minho.
Usually, at the end of the day, Minho just wants to go home, take a shower, eat, sleep and repeat but today he feels a little less death so he and SeungMin ends up in In-N-Out with a double cheeseburger and a huge plate of fries.
"If you get today's menu at the cafeteria please don't eat the soup, we are not sure how long it was under the water leaking."
"Felix!"
"I mean, the soup is extra moist today, pick a couple of extra salty crackers just to get the right amount of flavour".
The week goes as any other week. The seasonal staff gets bigger and bigger and suddenly the whole store is like a Halloween castle full of costumes, pastries, decorations and makeup. The clothes section has a lot of theme sweaters, skirts and some dresses, the electronics has spooky music and the best horror movies on display, grocery and bake area has all these cakes and cookies with black cats, bats and witches hat.
There was no big incident inside the store other than the usual Karens and some kids opening the blind boxes.
Suddenly is September 22 and everyone greets SeungMin with a birthday hug and small presents that they got from the discount area. There was cake on their lunch break made by Sullyoon and they got the big balloons with helium.
"It's a boy?" SeungMin asks.
"Well, you are a boy" Mr. Jay says "my boy"
"Please don't call him like that" Minho adds, a little disgusted if you ask him.
"Okay, guys, SeungMin is leaving early because is his birthday " Mr. Jay's voice is too loud "so Minho will be in charge today, and I think we can all agree that the floor manager can be Chris, right?"
"What?" SeungMin and Minho says at the same time.
"I know he is new but he is such and angle. And he can be very helpful for you, Minho."
"Yikes, the good looking Australian gets in charge in a week while I've been here since three years ago in the same register"
"Being on your phone the whole day doesn't help you, Changbin "
.
"If you don't have enough toiler paper, we neither, white socks are at buy one get one free just for today until we get some more toiler paper"
Chris keeps following Minho as a lost puppy, wagging his invisible tail with a big smile on his face. Every time a customer approach them, he is the one that helps them with a cheerful tone in his voice and sometimes he even high five them. It's okay, it's fine, Chris is excellent at customer service but he is too enthusiastic and Minho hates that. He just wants to get his job done, go home and maybe watch a movie with SeungMin to celebrate his birthday, who knows, maybe they'll end up fucking just as a present.
"Chaeryeon told me in October we can dress up every day?" Chris asks him.
"Not like every day, but yeah, you can come with accessories or shit like that, we do have a costume contest on Halloween, though" Minho's voice sounds so annoyed for no reason at all.
"Cool, what are you going to be?"
"For what?"
"The contest"
"What contest?"
"The Halloween contest"
"Oh, I don't do that. I'm the one who gives the price, take a picture and that's all."
"Come on, it will be fun. I bet everyone's gonna look amazing"
"You clearly don't know them. Dayoung will come with the sluttiest costume she could find at party city, Changbin will come as a wrestler or something where he can show off his arms, Felix will be something disgusting and we will have to ask him to remove his gory makeup because well... He is the one at the entrance giving all the announces... And Mr. Park will look like a creep with a costume for kids like Barney or Elmo or something like that. "
"And he'll tell the kids he has candies in his van?"
"He did one time"
"What!?"
"Yeah"
Minho doesn't care about Chris. He does not care how everyone thinks he is so amazing, or how in the laps of two weeks everyone, even the regular customers loves him, he doesn't care about his dimply smile and his cheer personality. He does not care how he is so good at selling dark romance books to girls who ended up giggling and blushing while walking to the register. He does not care how much he flirt with everyone. Everyone except him.
"Do I stink? " Minho asks Jisung, they were at the Starbucks crossing the street, a brown sugar shaken espresso with double shot was the only way to go that morning after an insomnia night.
"You smell like vanilla, what the fuck?" Jisung says, smelling his neck "and strawberry... Do you live at bath and body works?"
"My mom sent me a strawberry candle, my cats hates it"
With their beverage in their hands, they are coming back to the store, Jisung was holding a pink drink with matcha foam and an ice Americano, one for him (the pink one) and one for Hyunjin. Minho is holding his beverage and a cake pop for SeungMin. Chris is at a table in the cafeteria with the other two, talking about that time he killed a huge spider with his bare hands and little spiders came from under his hand.
"Ew.. " Minho says "here I got you a cake pop " and he gives the pastry to Chris.
"Isn't that supposed to be mine?" SeungMin asks.
"He is the new guy, he deserves the cake pop."
"Aww, thank you, Minho " Chris stands up and hugs Minho.
Ugh. He really, really, really dislike the way his body is soft and warm. And how good he smells.
"Thank you for shopping in District 9, today's special is our body wash, our great value brand has enormous discounts , specially in the halloween scents. Don't forget to pick your favorite, mine is untill death do us part .. or how we call it in the normal world: fruity."
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