FILE: Complaint

Okay, so I had work today. Surprise. Surprise. I worked a few hours at my first job but since we were WAY overstaffed they sent me home two hours later. That was nice. I did a few things in town before heading to my other job. That one wasn't too bad. The time seemed to go by fairly quickly (...is that proper grammar? to have two ly's next to each other? Oh well. I don't care.) Anyway, I got my first break two hours after I arrived, which is on-time, and then I was scheduled to have my lunch two hours after that. ...Well. That one wasn't on time. The scheduled lunch-hour rolled by and nothing. Another hour rolled. Nothing. Shouldn't somebody notice? Shouldn't my boss realize that I haven't disappeared for an hour yet? ...Five hours rolled by and I still hadn't gotten anything.

I guess you could ask, as I surely would have, why it was I didn't say anything. Well, at first I didn't think anything of it, I thought they had it under control. By the time I realized that I wasn't going to get my lunch it was too late. By the time I would get back from my hour meal the store would be closed. What would be the point? I started hoping then that I could just get off work an hour early.

My hopes were crushed. An hour before we closed I told my department leaders that I hadn't had a lunch. By law they have to give me one. So I took one. (They didn't buy my get-off-an-hour-early thing. They said they needed me on the registers. Which didn't make sense because if I was going to take the full hour we'd be closed before I got back anyway.) I had the choice of either an hour or a half hour. I couldn't decide.

I wanted to take the full hour. I always took the hour. I tend to get so absorbed in whatever book I'm reading that thirty minutes just isn't enough. So, I went back into the break room, frustrated and ripe-ready to leave, and ate my lunch. I didn't read. I was too upset for that. I was tired and I wanted to go home!

So, though I knew they needed me up front, I spent the last half hour of work back in the break room. I wanted to show them. I was being stubborn. I wanted to show them. I chuckled cruelly at the clock as it struck closing time. "Ha!" said my rebel self to my fellow workers who would never hear these thoughts. "While you're busy closing this silly place I'm back here doing nothing! Nothing! Ha! Ha! Ha-ha!" I was getting revenge. Sweet revenge.

But not really. If you looked at it in the right light, it wouldn't be very sweet. I wasn't getting paid. And doing nothing isn't something I prefer, especially at work. I decided at the last minute that I was only going to take a thirty minute lunch. If I had to stay at work I might as well get paid for it.

It turns out they didn't need me as a cashier, they just set me doing the closing cleaning stuff. It was easy tonight. That was good. We got out ten minutes after closing. That never happens! ...Of course. All of this means that I very well could have gone home earlier, but... Oh well. I was a little upset at first. Mostly just frustrated, I hate taking late lunches. And they should know better than to forget me. But I'm not too complain-ish right now... I think I'm just tired. ...I think I'll go to bed.