Starting Over

I feel like I’m at the beginning. Like I pressed a reset button. I’m back to zero and working towards one. At work whisking through aisles I become reminiscent. Well, why not? Everyone around me is 20 years old. Either they just left high school or are still in it. They'll all look back fondly one day at their time working at a grocery store. I’m just starting now. 

I live by myself. Finally! There’s something to boast about. Some of these kids still live at home or with their roommates. I can rub that in their face at least. They'll laugh at me snubbing them while I walk my ass to the T. I need all the mental edge I can get. I have to justify why we’re on the same level. 

In some weird magic eight ball scenario I envisioned this. After spending night after night in a T-Mobile store with seemingly no escape, my dreams died. The best I thought I could do was walk into a job and charm my way to the top. With my credentials I can do that at a grocery store. 

Literally, I was hired in a fire sale. Giant Eagle was giving away jobs. The company they commissioned to organize the sale even offered to pay us (still don’t know when that’s coming, hurrumph). Me and some nigga who left the state and came back 30 years later like witness protection were hired at the same time, no questions. I think I was asked “Did you fill out an application online,” and “What job do you want?”

As long as I didn’t molest kids I was in. My piss wasn’t even tested. I scribbled down jobs dating back to the Reagan era on a beer cooler just to get rejected by a distributor. All Giant Eagle wanted to know was “WHAT HOURS DO YOU WANT?” 


I’m a 34 year old, straight of out high school, genius baby. My knees and life experience project the 34 years and my resume shows that I lived in Pittsburgh. My life is running through aisles, talking to pretty teenagers, waking up early and doing just enough work to get by. I haven’t just gone backwards, I’ve started over.