Life At The Counter

“How can I assist you?” Ashley leaned on the counter and addressed the man.

She had seen him here before. He was one of the people Mason bought things from. He was tall, portly, but handsome. His suits were ill fitting. They were always too big. But it was his perpetual smile that killed it. Ashley knew fake and his grin was a product of a well trained salesman. Screw him. Mason seemed to like him enough, but he had commented how these salespeople were always looking out for themselves. Mason wasn’t fooled, and that was what was important. He knew where he stood with these salesmen and Ashley had seen him play their own game against them.

“Is Mason here?”

“He’s in his office.” Ashley motioned toward the back room. It was not so much an office as a section of store that had been sequestered for paperwork. Still, Mason made the best of it. The tiny space doubled as the company break room. There was a small fridge and microwave to heat up lunch. It was too tiny to relax in, most of them grabbed their food and then went other places, but Mason shared it openly.

The man nodded his thanks and continued back without further conversation. Mason had commented that the man sold the majority of the things they carried that wasn’t plants. Mason called them hard goods. There were terms for everything. That meant bug killers, fertilizers, and all the kitschy shit in the store. She liked the chimes and pinwheels, but the rest seemed like stuff for old people. Mason had asked for her input. He was good like that, but she had no idea what to pick. She circled a few things in the books, but little of it ever showed up. Mason said something about demographics, but it sailed way over head.

She idly twirled a pen until a customer came in. It didn’t take long. It was a nice day in the middle of spring. There were dozens of them milling through the tables. Most of the time they came in together. They synchronized their shopping and finished all at once. Mason had stressed to not get overwhelmed. To take one at a time and not be intimidated by a long line.

That pep-talk likely helped Tim, but he was high strung. She just stared at the anxious, impatient people, and offered her best smile. These adults had nothing better to do than come in the middle of the week and buy soil or flowers. There were disproportionately more women. Mason commented that landscaping was a male dominated profession. Weren’t they all?

Husbands often came in clueless. Like flowers were going to hurt them. When they did come in they bought manly plants like shrubs or trees. When they claimed they were here on their wives orders Mason often politely suggested they return with the spouse or risk chancing the wrong purchase. Smart. It was far from men being stupid, they just didn’t care. If it wasn’t about shit important to them, it wasn’t relevant. Fuck them. Why did they have to be so tasty? Why couldn’t she be into girls?

Ashley turned to the woman. Her husband, or boyfriend, hung into the shadow of the door like he was some kind of vampire, but really he was just being impatient. She was a slight, pretty thing. A blond with the prettiest pink lip gloss. She was overdone for the garden center. She wore a nice, yellow sundress and high heels. The ground was mostly hard packed stone. Her heels would suffer.

As for the guy. Ashley could tell he was in a fancy suit. He had a fancy watch which he glanced at impatiently. They had been there less than five minutes. What could possibly be so urgent. Nothing. He was just bored and wanted to cosplay having somewhere else to be. His hair was done up. He might be one of those “Get ready with me.” types from the internet. He wore these obnoxiously large glass that concealed too much of his face. He likely felt he was too cool for anything. He was pretty, but Ashley guessed that when he spoke he killed anything.

“Excuse me,” The woman stepped up to the counter. Her smile was still fake, but pleasant. “Perhaps you could help me find something.” He voice was dainty and cute because of course it was. Alpha dude bro would probably not want anything less.

They didn’t belong at a dirty garden center, but it happened sometime. People on their way to some event looking for a gift. That was probably this situation. She had probably begged until he stopped reluctantly. He likely saw this as indulging her. A kindness to mollify her and for which he would surely be rewarded for. He would probably complain to his boys later of the great sacrifices he had to make for his nagging girl and they would all nod along and agree.

She could be like her. Some asshole’s prize. Screw that. She was far too independent to be a kept trophy. Boyfriends were great for one thing and that was it. Otherwise, they were disposable. She wasn’t going to be held down by some bro. She would use them like they used women.

Still, it was a really nice dress. Ashley felt sorry for her. Unlike the woman, Ashley’s smile was genuine.

“Of course, what do you need?”