Ludmilla had a completely ordinary workday at the register. See, she works at the local convenience store from eight to four every Monday through Friday. Actually, she usually gets in at five to. She wears jeans and a plaid shirt, every day – nothing too fancy. In fact there’s nothing fancy about her, but she does shine from behind that counter. Young, with black black hair and equally black eyes.

            She had an ordinary day behind the counter, but that isn’t to say that it didn’t have its troubles. To start, the clerk who works with her there – Jeremy – wouldn’t stop hitting on her, again. You could see it in his stance, his body language. During every interaction with her, he was busy looking for another not-so-subtle opening. The worst was when she went to the supply closet to refill the candy tray and he came up behind her. He stood at the door, smiling as she came out, and said, “Pay the toll!”

            Ludmilla had other problems. She had to deal with idiots every day; today there were four of them. The first three came in all at once. Then they were on their way out the door, completely ignoring her repeatedly demands that they pay for the numerous snacks in their hands. Jeremy actually handled that one without a problem.

            Later on, though, Jeremy wasn’t there and an irate and balding customer came up demanding a refund for a half-eaten bag of potato chips. They argued for a few minutes, minutes that the sputtering man positively seemed to enjoy. Suddenly Ludmilla tired, visibly tired, and then straightened up. She (at five foot eleven) looked down at her foe with an expression of wonderment and exasperation on her face. Just another day in the service industry.

            Help! What are you DOING? You monster, you –

            The rest of the day was straightforward, after she’d dealt with that poor sod. Jeremy became tired around three, and so left Ludmilla alone. The clock forged on at the obvious speed. Four o’clock finally struck, relief showed up, and Ludmilla gathered her things. Body, bag, hair, legs, jeans, eyes – as a cohesive person they all left through the front door. Ludmilla walked into the parking lot, where she got into her old brown car and went directly home.

            I swear.