Chapter Text
Let’s recap in the past year: Rachel quits her job at KFC to work part time at Walmart, but she makes more money, than KFC. She also hasn’t let go of scammers and gave up finding a real man after a rejection, searching on Facebook dating for losers and the man she loves being married. Also, working the store during a remodel is always fun and so is getting full time after being there 10 months. So, what you think will happen this year? More scammers? Online Grocery finally getting into their new department? Who knows.
Wednesday, April 1st and Rachel has spent her last two days off eating pizza, spending time with Zoey and diamond painting. Rachel is also back on Facebook dating trying to move past the scammer Dan. Especially after he asked her for $400. She can’t be giving him money. This is a new story and things need to change. Instead of arguing with him, she should just delete telegram. But she does argue with him, telling him “no.”
At work, she arrives and the paint work on the outside building is questionable and makes her laugh. In the break room, she checks out a coworker named Steve, who has mentioned before that he’s widowed. She suddenly gets excited when he walks into the break room before she clocks in. She makes small talk with him to get to know him, even it means just being friends. Also, she is pleased that the pick path has finally been fixed and no more frequent trips to the pharmacy section. This means no excuses why her pick rate sucks. She is also told by a coworker in produce to not get used to the current produce set up, cause it will get rearranged again. Good to know. On her break, she talks to Steve again about work. After her break, she picks for two hours and dispenses her last two hours. She has been feeling tired all day, even after drinking an energy drink. She can’t wait to go home, shower and relax. Especially after she’s been smelling sweaty armpits all day. That is funny.
After her break, she gets on one pick walk, finishes it and is dragged in the dispense room for an hour, then takes another pick walk. By 5:30, her back hurts and she sits down for 15 minutes. Her feet and back hurt for the rest of her shift. Her coworkers ask if she’s okay. She mentions her back hurting and she powers through the last two hours of her shift.
Thursday, April 2nd. Rachel has reread her conversation with Dan from the end of January and he basically said he wanted $500 from Rachel, cause she hurt his feelings when she called him a scammer. I can’t make this shit up. Anyways, she got angry at him when he asked for $400 at the end of March, so who knows what he’s going to say next. Does he think money grows on trees?
At work, Rachel is offered overtime by her team leader, but she turned it down, explaining her back problems and he understood. She’d also would like to stick to her normal hours until she figures out what is wrong with her back, which is giving her problems today, making it feel painful to walk. She took pain reliever before her shift, which did nothing and decided to take more pain reliever on her break. After her break, she checks the board again to see that she doesn’t have to dispense. This is a pretty easy night for Rachel. She does have concerns about going to the doctor and then being told she can’t work. If that’s the case, she’ll end up going back to New York, cause there’s no way she could financially support Zoey by herself. It would be nice to get away from the scammers too if she got back with Gaylord.
Friday, April 3rd and talks to Randy before clocking in. She also asks her team leader if she could clock in thirty minutes early and that’s that Rachel does, cause it’s so busy and the coach is offering overtime to anyone. Around 1 pm, Rachel’s back is hurting so bad and struggles to walk and perform on her job. She sits down on a fifteen minute break and wait for the pain relievers to kick in. It doesn’t help that her break is spent on a bench next to a customer that smells so bad. But at least it’s enough to feel a little bit better and continue her work. Even then, it was a struggle to get through another pick walk. Being lightheaded and dizzy didn’t help. It took every ounce of her energy to not pass out. Her back hurt so bad and yet she moved faster than the customers. Once she went on her break, it was a struggle to get to the break room and finally sit down. She’s more interested in passing out, than eating. After her break, she doesn’t one pick walk before going into the dispense room for the last three hours of her shift. It hurt her back and had to rest. She couldn’t wait for her shift to be over and reward herself with Sonic.
Saturday, April 4th. It is Easter weekend and it has been busy since Wednesday. Randy tells Rachel that moving into the new space will give them less space to move around, especially when they add all the stacked dollies, totes and carts. No one believes him, but Rachel does. She also gets word from a coworker that the new online grocery department will be open on the 10th. This is exciting. She is tired of the small space that is online grocery right now. Anyways, her back hurts today, but she is doing stretches during pick walks and not doing much complaining about it. She also experiences claustrophobia while doing a pick walk in seasonal, cause the aisles are more narrow and crowded. After her break, she’s just picking until there are no picks and ends up picking until it’s 8. A coworker tells her to get the last two items on screen, but it’s 8 pm and she clocks out instead. Hope she doesn’t get in trouble for that. Anyways, she comes home to homemade tacos. She also has been having a migraine all day and goes to bed early.
Sunday, April 5th and it’s Easter. Her family goes to church while she goes to work. Not fair, honestly. Rachel hasn’t been to church in a few months. Zoey laughed at the Walmart’s new painted colors and thought it was funny. At work lately, every time the printers run out of paper, she’d look at whoever is next to her and say, “yeah, that’s my brain. Out of paper.” And gets a laugh out of her coworkers. Before clocking in, she sits across from Steve and they chat a bit before he leaves to clock in. After she clocks in, she dispenses one order and is told to pick. That’s fine. She has three chilled walks in a row, which gave her an impressive pick rate. On her break, she is distracted by the sexiness that is Steve, that she forgets to clock out for her break. Oops. She does clock out, 15 minutes after she sat down and started chatting it up with Steve. At the end of her break, she realizes that she forgot to charge her work phone too. After her break, she hopes no one was looking for her. She does end up picking and on her last hour, it’s straightening up the totes and carts in the staging room, which is very easy. She’s glad she has the next two days off. She can relax and order pizza. Will she ever hear from Dan on her days off? Will he be asking for that $400 again? Who knows. If anyone remembers Bobby Fletcher from KFC Gets Real, he’s back and been texting Rachel through instagram. They flirt and catch up on the last two years, since he stood her up. She has forgiven him and will give him another chance. You know, she has wasted a year on Dan. Maybe this Bobby coming back into her life is just what she needs. That and he’s 43 and Dan is just a scammer.
Wednesday, April 8th and Rachel has been at Walmart a whole year. To celebrate, she dyed her hair purple. She knows Randy’s birthday was yesterday, but she was off and today, she’s giving him the birthday card she bought for him. I mean, he is her only true friend at Walmart. At work, she is mostly picking today and checks out a printer. She also agreed to meet Bobby around the time she takes her break at 3 pm. Rachel is feeling nervous about meeting him. Will they meet up? Apparently not. Not the first time he stood her up. The first time, Bobby said it was car trouble and then yesterday he told her it was because he was sick. But, will she see him any time today? No and she has no patience for games. She gets enough of that from scammers. Rachel also gets paid $1,044 and gives her parents $500. She also pays her $175 phone bill, which leaves her with $255 to do whatever. Whatever, as in not give Dan any money.
Thursday, April 9th and Rachel ends up blocking Bobby on both Instagram and Facebook, so she wouldn’t have to deal with his shenanigans. But what if he shows up and asks her why she blocked him? Not during the first half of her shift. Anyways, she finds out that she’s picking most of the day and checks out a printer. On a pick walk, an older man stops her and asks for her help to find him the right clothes for him, like actually follow him into the clothing section and she didn’t know how to tell him she was just a grocery picker in the middle of a pick walk. As he walked off, she went to a manager and told her what happened and the manager told her to not worry about it and he’ll eventually find someone else. After her break, she continues to pick until 7, then ends up dispensing and doing returns for her last hour. Shes also missing Dan, even if he’s a scammer. You think Online Grocery will be in a new location tomorrow? Randy is doubtful, sayings the coolers ain’t even hooked up. We shall see.
Friday, April 10th and today is the day that online grocery moves into a bigger department over by lawn and garden. Is it big enough or not enough space like Randy predicted? But sadly, Rachel shows up at work and online grocery hasn’t moved locations yet. Randy was right, as always. Now it’s the 17th when online grocery will be moved. Anyways, Rachel is picking all day and grabs a printer. In between picks, her and Randy flirt and make jokes with each other. She swears if the first thing Dan says to her after days without texting is about money, she’ll scream and threaten to block him. After her break, during a pick walk, she helps a customer find oven cleaner and Rachel couldn’t understand the customer that either said, “thanks a bunch” or “thanks bitch.” Oh well. Also, she tried to help a customer find makeup remover and the customer acted like Rachel didn’t know what she was talking about, so she just walked off and continued her pick walk. Her last hour, she stays in the dispense room with Randy. She preps the orders and he takes them out. One order she took out and Randy came up to her, annoyed that the labels on the totes were facing the wrong way, as she approached the driver at their vehicle and Rachel was just confused. She couldn’t wait to go home and do some diamond painting.
Saturday, April 11th and a coworker informed her that online grocery is once again shorthanded on a busy day. She’s picking most of the day and not even halfway through her shift, her sciatica acts up, so she finishes her current pick walk and sits down to take a 15 minute break. Does it help? Not really, but she’s got two more hours until her hour break. During her next pick, someone had spilt oatmeal on the aisle floor and a customer told Rachel about it. As she turned the corner into the next aisle, there was the mess of oatmeal. Rachel waited til a manager came along and she was like, “I didn’t do it” and she continued on her pick walk. Rachel also ends up dispensing a half hour before her break and that’s just fine. After her break, she gets back on a pick walk and is asked by two different customers, “do you work here?” Before helping them. She does have a laugh about it with her coworkers with, “nah, I like moonlighting as a Walmart employee” and “nah, I like to wear the blue vest for laughs.”She does see her cousin, Ray Stantz and his wife, Ramona while they are shopping and Rachel chats with them for a couple minutes. Rachel also got jealous when a coworker bragged about her impressive pick rate and their coach praising her for it. Of course she had an excellent pick rate. It was at 5 am with no customers. Rachel is grateful just to get her pick rate over 100. When she gets home, she works on her diamond painting, watches tv and goes to sleep.
Sunday, April 12th and Rachel got to talk to Randy for a few minutes as he finishes up his lunch break. They share funny stories and scenes from their favourite movies before her day starts. On the clock, she can’t concentrate from her back hurting and Randy complaining about the smashed bread. Then Dan texts her while she’s on the clock.
Dan: (text) You know why I’m being silent all these while, I’ve always been busy but I always find time to talk to you even if it doesn’t convenient for me. I always manage to talk to you all because I love you so much and I’ve not given any other person this type of chance, but anytime I asked you to help me to buy a gift card. You always got mad at me and talk a whole lots of things, well I understand how you feel when I talk about money but I’ve told you if I don’t need the card I won’t ask from you and your money is not lost with me. I still need the gift card anyways.
This angers Rachel. She can’t do anything until she clocks out for her lunch break and she replies with this in anger.
Rachel: (text) You don’t need a gift card. I knew you’d bring it up after two weeks of silence. You are predictable. I am my only income to take care of myself and Zoey. It’s weird. Two weeks and every sentimental thing I said didn’t matter. All that matters is money. If we were physically together, there would be no reason to give you money and you don’t want that. You’d rather keep me at a distance and ask for money every single month. Whether your intentions with my money are pure or not. I’d hurt myself before I give you any more money.
That’s good to stand her ground and not give into his demands. He may just give her silence for a few days or silence indefinitely. It’s heartbreaking that she has wasted her time, emotions and money on this loser. During her break, she cuts up with other coworkers to make her forget about her troubles with Dan. After her break, she’s going to try and take her mind off of Dan. She’s just so upset with him and she doesn’t need that distraction while on the clock. For her last hour, she spends it doing returns, since there’s no picks after 7. After work, she grabs Sonic for herself and Zoey to have dinner. At least Rachel has the next two days off. Tomorrow is usually her pizza day. Tuesday is her doctors appointment to find out what she can do for her back.
Wednesday, April 15th. Yesterday, Rachel has had a doctors appointment about her back. Here’s how it went: she told her doctor about her back problems at work. She is prescribed pain medication and an x-ray at the hospital. Having no insurance, she may not get that x-ray. It’s actually $286 for her x-ray without insurance. Good thing she had that and not given any money to Dan.
At work, Rachel sees a prototype of the new pick carts and it has mixed reviews from her coworkers. Rachel stands next to it and with the totes on top of the cart, it is taller than her. Instead, she’ll use the other pick carts. But she does make jokes about the new pick cart, like needing a height requirement to use it and standing behind it after saying:
Rachel: You wanna see a magic trick? Now you see me, now you don’t.
She got a few laughs out of it with her coworkers. She does try it out and this is what she really thinks of it: she likes it, even though it’s too tall for her to see over, so she pulls from the front. She took it on a couple ambient walks and a couple of chilled walks before going on her lunch break.
During her break, she couldn’t understand why the fan was on full blast when the air conditioner is on. It’s cold enough in the break room as it is with just the air conditioning and now let’s add a pedestal fan. She turns it in the other direction where it’s not facing her while she eats. After her break, she is dispensing the last half of her shift. On her last hour, Rachel was told to straighten up the back room and Rachel prefers to work alone on it, cause she has a way of doing it. But when a coworker tried to help her, Rachel threw her hands up, like she wanted to give up. The same coworker saw her gesture and called her out on it and Rachel continued fixing the room after her coworker left. It’s also official that online grocery will be in its new spot on the 17th. Rachel is excited.