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Monday, August 11th, 2008
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3:25p
The shop girls and shop boys arrive at their respective darkened stores somewhere between the hours of 8.30am and 9, most clutching disposable coffee cups of varying sizes and colours, almost all containing some caffeinated beverage. Oil stained paperbags usually accompany the cups, containing equally nutritious goods, usually muffins dotted with chocolate, nuts and sometimes fruit for the health conscious, raisin toast, jaffles and bacon and egg rolls. They come in trackpants and hoodies, slightly disheveled, looking decidedly tired before the day has even begun.
By nine am, the doors are open, the lights on and the music loud. The shop girls and boys transformed in back rooms by make-up and freshly steamed clothes are overzealous with their smiles and conversational on cue, tracksuits and ruffled hair replaced by covered faces, heels for the girls, tucked in shirts for the boys.
Throughout the day they will lapse back into their natural state during scheduled times, carting food between cafes and food courts to their stores and taking frequent bathroom breaks. On the best days, my natural state is not eating in the super-packed food court, next to unknown often messy eaters nor is it in the store's backroom, in front of the computer. On the best days the 9 hour shift is happily interrupted by a lunch break date, one hour of japanese followed by cake eating or picnics where I don't have to pack a thing.
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