We recently celebrated a holiday in America known as Black Friday. This is the most capitalist of holidays, where all of us grubby consumer whores wake up at times normally reserved for going to bed and stand outside in the cold and the wind and sometimes rain to display our unbelievable stupidity, and to show off exactly how much we value saving some money over our personal health and wellness.
So, in accordance with tradition, at 1:30am last Friday i was standing outside of Best Buy, hoping to score a $400 laptop and a $90 flatscreen monitor. Despite wearing two complete sets of clothing, a sweater, and my heavy green Army coat which may or may not have come from Siberia, the wind ripped through me and froze the marrow of my bones for three and a half hours until i, somewhere near the 100th person in line, was finally admitted to the store.
My next stop was Half Price Books, where everything was an additional 20% off in recognition of the holiday (so, 2/5ths Price Books). Amanda and Alyssa were already in line when i got there, so i just kind of sneaked in to join them. As i entered the line, the person standing immediately in front of my compatriots turned around and excitedly addressed me by name. At first i was shocked and confused, but then i recognized this short, balding fellow adorned with Green Lantern and Watchmen pins: it was Aaron, whom i'd worked with years earlier in the soul-sucking health insurance industry and one of the nerdier persons i'd kept company with!
Later on, when we were back home, Amanda asked who that person was that i'd been chatting with in line pretty much until the moment they opened the doors to the store. I responded with a story.
Aaron came in to work one day at our soulless insurance company and walked straight over to my cubicle. "Well, today's my last day," he said. I hadn't even realized that he was quitting. "I just came in to clear out my desk and say goodbye." We talked for maybe ten more minutes or so, and then he walked back across the room to make good on his assertion. Within another ten minutes, unceremoniously, he was gone.
A half an hour or so later, our boss, Jason (best boss ever), approached my cubicle. "Hey, Trevor, did i hear you talking to Aaron a little while ago?"
"Yeah," i replied.
"Um...where did he go?"
Confused, i replied, "...home?"
"Oh...why did he do that?"
"Didn't he tell you that he quit?"
"No..."
As it turned out, i was the only person that Aaron told that he quit.
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