I worked a night crew job in a grocery store when I was nineteen or so in Reno Nevada. I didn’t know anything about anything, but when the guy that hired me asked, I said I worked night crew before, so he put me on it. The store was brand new and had already been stocked. They had a regular stock crew but they worked during the day. The night crew was three guys. Our job was to fill the holes on the shelves, the special displays, and face up the store.

Two of us didn’t have a clue what or how to do it. The other guy had worked as a stocker for a few years. He had long hair down to his shoulders, but when he interviewed he wore a short hair wig. He wanted night crew because then he wouldn’t have to wear his wig. But he kept it with him, in case a manager came in. He showed me just what to do, open the cases by cutting the cardboard top off the box, stamp the price on the can or box, and put it on the shelf. Then toss the box down the aisle for pick up later.

We worked a couple of nights and got everything done good enough I guess, but the manager decided two of us could do it instead of three. The guy with experience stayed, and either because I lied about my experience or the fact that my mom worked for the main office of the grocery chain, the other poor sap got laid off.

They locked us in the store at night. We didn’t have a key. We were instructed if there was an emergency to call a phone number written next to the phone in the office. Seemed simple.

One night the other guy cut himself with a box cutter. The cutters are razor blades and they are sharp. Usually, when you cut yourself you don’t feel it. The first sign of trouble is when you notice the red stuff all over the place. Then it hurts. We were in the same aisle and I noticed blood splashing on the floor next to my buddy. I think he noticed at the same time.

I ran down the aisle to check it out and he turned his arm over and it was gushing blood from a long cut. It wasn’t spurting out, so I thought that at least it wasn’t an artery, but there was a ton of blood. I went and got a rag and soaked it in water and cleaned him off. The cut was long and deep. He was holding it together as best he could but it didn’t take too long until it was dripping off his arm again.

I went and got bandaids off the shelf, and we dressed it as best we could, but it was still bleeding pretty profusely. I decided it was time to call someone to help and realized I needed to call for an ambulance and someone to come open the door. I went to the office where the phone was and tried to open it. It was locked. It was the only phone in the place. I tried to pick the lock, but I didn’t know how really, just knew to push something in the key slot. But I couldn’t open it. It was a formidable door too, so I couldn’t bust it open. I tried.

I went back to my buddy and told him our predicament. He wasn’t surprised. He didn’t panic and he told me to go find some duct tape. I got some off the shelf and brought it back and wrapped a rag around his arm over the wound and wound duct tape all around it around and around some more. After we cleaned off his arm, no new blood seeped out. It was fixed.

He wasn’t concerned though I was, and I was kind of pissed that we couldn’t get out of that place and couldn’t make a phone call. I said some of my best cuss words to the shelves, got a bucket and mop, and cleaned up the blood. All the time I was thinking of what I was going to say to the bosses when I demanded we be given a key to the office and the store the next day.

We finished our work, my buddy’s arm was still not showing blood, (there was a load of duct tape on it) and when the morning guy opened the door I told him what happened. He wasn’t the manager, manager, but he told me he would make sure the powers that be were clued in about our predicament.

We went home to bed. I got up early in the afternoon and went into the store to see the manager. When I started telling him my story, he stopped me. He said he already knew what happened and he had the perfect solution. Since business wasn’t as…well, brisk, as they had anticipated, they were just going to lay off the night crew. He had my check in his desk. Problem solved.

I got another job in a bigger, more brisk store that same day, and they hired me as a journeyman at the top wage scale for a clerk. I thought it was because I did have experience now, it was no longer a lie, (it was about a month’s experience, but whatever). Found out later that the manager liked me because I was from Mississippi. Fancy that!