Jack’s Haunt

Nary a half hour ago, I was in fear of a confrontation. Let me lay down the setting for this bizarre twist of events.

As I am currently doing, I was typing on Jenouvie’s laptop and I received a call on the work phone. After answering it, the person on the other end begins a bit of frustrated dialogue.

“Hey, I was there not long ago and I think I left my wallet on pump 1. Would it be a problem if you were to go check and see if it’s still there?”

“Yeah. Sure. Not a problem. Hold on a second.”

“Ok.”

(Commencing is a 3 minute long search of pump one involving looking on top the pump, on the adjacent pump, in the trash can and on the ground.)

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find…”

“Are you sure!?”

“Yes. I even looked in the trash can, dude.”

“Did you find it?”

“No.”

“What did you see in the trash can?”

“An empty pack of Kools and some empty ice bags.”

“Aw, man. I don’t smoke Kools. Do you smoke Kools?”

“No.”

“Are you sure you didn’t find it?”

“Yes. I’m positive and I’m sorry. I feel your loss. I’ve had my wallet stolen at least 3 times before. Each and every time, I lost all the cash that I had.”

“You sound like you’re being honest with me, but I just don’t know. I’ve heard that people from Ossian are crooks. Did you’re parents raise you right?”

“Yes. I don’t see what my parents have to do with this, and I’d suggest you leave them out of it.”

“WELL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!? I HAD $3000 IN THAT WALLET!!”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you had any more customers come in since I was there?”

“I’d say about 3, I guess.”

“3!? You’re telling me you’ve only had 3 customers in there since I left 20 minutes ago?”

“I’d consider that quite productive for 3rd shift.”

“Even with Ossian Days coming up?”

“Yes…Hold on. I’ll be right back.”

At this point, LC, our stocking/outdoor maintenance guy shows up. I tell him the situation and ask if he had seen a wallet out on pump one. He says no and we proceed to look a second time to no avail.

“Our cleaning guy just showed up and we both looked again. I asked him if he’d seen it and your wallet still hasn’t shown up. I’m sorry.”

“What’s his name?”

“Not that it’s a concern, but his name’s LC.”

“And what’s your name”

“Jack.”

“Do you or anyone else there have a criminal record?”

“No. Why?”

“Like I said, I’ve heard that people from Ossian are crooks. Do you have any surveillance that would be able to prove that no one took it?”

“Not on the outside, no.”

“You don’t have any cameras outside!?”

“No.”

“Well, I’m on my way there. I’m on I-69 and I’m turning around. I’m going to find it even if I have to pat you down.”

“Ok. ‘Bye.”

*click*

After this beauty of a conversation, I inform LC and our cleaning lady, S as to what happened. I then call my boss and inform her. She tells me that if I feel threatened, to call the police. Then Jenouvie calls as she is wont to do and I tell her of the situation. She gets worried and tells me to call her back after everything’s done just to make sure that I’m OK. Not long after this, TH shows up and upon relaying the story to him, he takes a tire iron out of his car and rests it on the counter inside. Not 5 minutes after he pulled in, 2 police officers show up who I assumed were called by my boss. I let them know what’s going down and we wait.

10 minutes go by when I’m ushered inside by LC and S saying that I have a phone call. It’s the asshole from earlier.

“Listen, Jack. I just found my wallet. I went to Fisher’s and found it hanging off my Lexus’ antenna. Apparently, I’d left it on the roof. Sorry for the trouble. ‘Bye.”

Long story short, sometimes my job fucking blows.