I work at a grocery store in Northeast Philadelphia, the Bustleton area, and as I was at work tonight I was asking around for ideas about what to write about. One of my coworkers said, “Why don’t you write about the people that work here or the customers? There’s plenty of stories.”
So I thought about it and decided, “Well, why not?” We have plenty of stories that we pass around about our dear, crazy customers. We like some of them and some we wish we would never see again but all in all, they are quite a group. So I’ve decided I’ll write about the customers that shop at my store and eventually, the other people that work there.
So to start with, I picked a store favorite. There are two women who come into the store once or twice a week, usually on weekdays, sometimes on weekends. I do not know they’re names but can recognize them instantly. They are mother and daughter and both hairdressers and very much alike. The daughter, I’d say, is in her early-mid 40s and the mother maybe her 70s. The daughter has actually recently started working for the store, I guess as a second job, but in a different department. They both have short, choppy hair that’s dyed multiple shades of brown. They wear it so that it’s shooting off in all directions but in a fashionable way. I believe they both have brown eyes, although I’m not too sure about that. The mother is about 5’4 and the daughter is about 5’6. They usually wear earthy –toned clothes and are very practical. Everyone that works at the store that has been there for more than a month knows them and they are pretty well liked because they don’t annoy us (which is very important to us), they say hi to the people they remember,& they have even developed relationships with some of the employees. Not romantic relationships but working ones. For example, I can think of at least one girl I work with that I’ve heard talking to them about going to get her hair done by them. Basically, they are some of our favorite customers and we hope we’ll be seeing them for a long time.
Another character is a guy who is really only memorable because of what he buys. I used to work on Saturday afternoons and I was usually in the express lane. And every Saturday, this one guy would come through my line (or someone else’s) and buy 8- 15 bottles of Lysol concentrated bleach. They’re small bottles and could usually all fit in one bag and he’d usually buy a couple other things, too, but it was the bleach that always stood out. He was older, I’d say maybe in his 60s, and usually wore those pants that you always see old men wear that are usually too short around the ankles and very straight. I think he used to wear glasses and a red baseball hat and sometimes a sweatshirt. I haven’t seen him for awhile, I guess because I haven’t really been there on Saturday afternoons for awhile but that guy is one of the ones I’ll always remember.
Lysol bleach? Do you think he's a murderer?
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