Kruppo

Chapter 24
I stood across from the American Eagle in the local mall less than a week later, feeling accomplished. Behind me was the Pacific Sunwear store, where I had just been handed a job. It had been a stressful few days; with very few people hiring, or claiming they’d call back to set up an interview, but never doing so.
Marvin had encouraged me to keep up the pressure. “Stick to it, no matter what.” He’d said. “Because you won’t be doing anything this summer if you have no cash.”
An unfortunate truth indeed. So unfortunate that it had come to a point, after multiple interviews in the past few days, I had finally reached a point of exhaustion and had stopped caring about where I worked, almost. Once again, I had come dangerously close to going a summer without a job. The pattern was taking on a shape that I didn’t like the looks of. These was happening way too often in the US to be anything other than a severe sign of troubled times coming down the road.
Everyone was losing jobs. It was either that or they just weren’t making enough to support themselves; in a way, it was a circular loop that ran around in a vicious cycle that was, for reasons I don’t think anyone really understood, showing up now on the radar. It was a growing concern, and I wasn’t sure exactly how bad it was gonna get. It was a ball that had been tossed up into the air; nobody knew exactly when it was going to come back down, but we all had a good idea that it was going to be coming at a faster rate than we all anticipated.
Scrambling around like a madman hadn’t helped my chances; it wasn’t that I practically screamed at anyone, or got on my knees and begged for a job. I was friendly, appreciative, and I shook hands firmly, as Marvin had showed me when I was younger. I’m sure what put off the managers and interviewers for other stores were that naturally intense stare I seemed to get on my face whenever I was feeling nervous or desperate. A freakish stare, wide-eyed yet friendly, it definitely was a bad habit of mine.
Not that it mattered anymore. I’d hardly been in the Pacific Sunwear store, having turned in the application, when a big guy came from the back of the store and hollered at the kid working the front. “Hey, did he say he was looking for an interview?” The big guy pointed at me.
Several minutes later I was sitting in the back with this guy, going over my application, and surprisingly, we hit it off great. The big man was a decent guy, friendly as could be, a large smile with a tad bit of an under bite, but a cheerful demeanor that pretty much trumped anything negative about him. Eventually, after completing the interview, I knew I had him hooked; we had connected easily, having a surprising common taste in music. Maybe not the extreme stuff, but this guy seemed to know enough about bands like Kyuss that I didn’t feel like a fool talking to him, which was a pleasant surprise when it came to talking to people about music usually.
“You’re not bad, man,” He shook my hand heartily, beaming me a smile. “Name’s Ted. I think you’ll do well here. So yeah; you’re good.”
“You mean I’m hired?” I tried not to show any true jubilance, but some might’ve shown due to the relief I was feeling in my gut, knowing that I had a job and wasn’t going to be left in the cold with no cash.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “You’ll have to come in and do orientation later this week, but otherwise, yeah, you’re hired.”
“Thanks Ted. I appreciate it man.”
“Not a problem, bud.” He grinned, and it actually seemed as if the room actually was lit up by that smile. Like the light above us had just kicked it up in juice. This instant flaring friendship between Ted and me, though, felt like a truly good sign. There was more to come, I hoped.

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I'm so post-rock I shit sad birds