In 1997 I had a job at Circle K--the leading convenience store in the Phoenix market. I was going to school part-time and working part-time. It was an alright job--close to home and school, and the hours weren't too bad.
I worked the 2 PM to 10 PM shift with another guy, Bob. He was a portly old fellow with a very dry sense of humor. Most people thought he was just cranky or even mean. I never had a problem with him. I assumed he just wasn't one to talk much. Despite that, I thought we had a good working relationship.
One afternoon I showed up for work and Bob wasn't particularly happy (as if anyone really knew the difference between him being happy or not). The manager had left just before I showed up, and it turns out that he had given Bob a list of things that our shift was to do--things that the day shift normally did, but the manager felt we didn't do enough and wanted to make some changes. He said we needed to pick up the pace and that we could get it done if we worked faster.
Well--I'm not sure what the day shift did altogether, but for Bob and I it was non-stop selling of gas, beer and cigarettes. I barely had a chance to leave the counter late in the shift to restock the beer cooler before the next shift came in, and Bob knew that whatever the manager wanted us to get done probably wasn't going to happen.
He mumbled and grumbled for hours about that list before he finally turned to me and said, "You know, I've got two speeds--and if he doesn't like this one, he sure as hell isn't going to like the other one."
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