Pa's in a foul mood. "Pa" they call him, "Your pa...", whoever is talking about him it's always the person they're talking to's pa.
And he is. "I'm not fucking-a buying any more pens, you fucking-a buy your own,...." It's payday. One of the girls has told me that his foul moods sync almost perfectly with payday. And he's off on various tangents, swearing and throwing things, pens, anything is liable to set him off....
Between shifts I have to go to the bank. It's good to escape.
And while I'm waiting for service, sitting down, there's a burst of tellers through the front door, carrying a cake and oversized novelty cheque for $15,000 (or thereabouts) - the head teller, some sort of personage within the bank, makes a speech thanking the staff for their hard work, they're the #1 rated bank in the province for this, and #3 for that, and as a result they've got a bonus coming to be split between the employees in the amount displayed on the cheque.
All the full time employees will get a $1,000 bonus. Part timers will get a pro-rated bonus. Tellers are hugging each other and jumping in the air for joy. And they have more prizes....paid time off and travel vouchers for high performing employees....
And I'm sitting there watching, as they're offering around the cake, and I'm thinking I need to get a job here, or someplace like here, the incentives where I work, (Bust your ass for 60 hours a week and if you're lucky you won't get yelled at or fired), the incentives, they're not so good, and the juxtaposition of work environments is so stark....