‘Hey, Ale.’
Ale span around and saw that Elm from checkout support was leaning against the fence behind the trolley hut, not smoking as most staff did there, but looking unhappy. Ale pushed his trolleys sideward, out of the way of the road, and stepped towards her, rolling his strap automatically. ‘Hi, Elm. On a break?’
‘Yep.’
‘How’s it going? Busy in there?’ He gestured tamely at the airless block a few strides from the trolley hut that was the store.
Elm gave a slow, heavy sigh, and to Ale’s embarrassment, he realised she looked as though she had been crying. Her makeup, though there was little of it, was smudged around her eyes and her breath wobbled as she exhaled. ‘Yeah,’ she said eventually, unsmiling. ‘I’m just taking a minute to calm down.’
‘Mm,’ said Ale. ‘Trouble in there?’ He gestured at the store again.
‘Oh, you know, just a shopper being an absolute dick to me,’ said Elm unapologetically. She pushed herself off the fence and walked a little closer. Ale stood where he was, uncertain. ‘You know how it is,’ she continued, wiping her eyes.
‘Yeah. There can be some real dicks sometimes,’ murmured Ale unhelpfully. ‘Well,’ he said after a while. ‘Back to it.’ He smiled at Elm and turned his back to her, strapping the row.
‘Watch yourself,’ said Elm from behind him.
‘What?’ said Ale, turning round again. Elm was pointing at the floor beneath him.
‘You’d better get a cone for that,’ she said. ‘Otherwise it’ll be your turn to have some dickhead complaining.’
‘Right, cheers. Will do.’ Ale frowned down at the pothole Elm had pointed out. It was at the edge of a now-empty parking space, but Ale could have sworn it hadn’t been there yesterday. What was more, it was the same sort of poorly filled pothole as the one he’d coned and reported. A loose bit of concrete-like material sticking up from the road on which he’d tripped and skinned his leg. ‘Another one?’ said Ale. ‘Who’s fixing these? They’re not doing much of a job.’ He snorted. ‘Gat’s going to be pleased. He just had one fixed at recycling.’
‘As much as I sympathise,’ said Elm, smiling for the first time, ‘and I mean this as nicely as possible, it’s not my problem.’
Ale smiled back. ‘No, it isn’t. Well, I hope that’s some consolation.’
‘I’ll let you deal with your pothole. Thanks, Ale.’
‘For what?’
Elm shrugged and walked through van parking, around the main bay and vanished through the opening doors of the store, followed by a short burst of shoppers.
‘Did you know there was another pothole?’ Ale asked East once she’d returned to the main bay with a row of her own.
‘Is there another one?’ she said, surprised.
‘Yeah, just by the trolley hut. Maybe there was a car over it and that’s why I didn’t spot it yesterday.’
‘Next to the trolley hut?’ East frowned. ‘But I would have seen it this morning, surely? What should we do? Should I report it to Gat when I finish?’
‘Well, I’m going to grab the cone again for now,’ said Ale. ‘But yeah. We’ll just have to let Gat know, and he can get it fixed again.’
‘He won’t be happy,’ said East apprehensively.
‘Well, what can we do. We’ll have done our job and reported it.’
‘I don’t think the shoppers even care, to be honest.’
‘Yeah. Well, there’s always some dickhead,’ said Ale, thinking of Elm.
‘Hear, hear,’ said East, nodding her agreement. ‘Shoppers can be such a pain. And it’s like, they’re supposed to be on our side in a way.’
‘What, just because they work here?’
‘Well, yeah.’
‘But they don’t really work here,’ said Ale. ‘They’re basically glorified customers, and who likes customers?’
‘Lime was saying that Gourd wants to become a shopper here. She’s applied, apparently.’
‘Oh, nice. Is she with the Company?’
‘I think so,’ said East. ‘I mean, Lime is, so I guess that wouldn’t hurt her chances. They definitely live in a groundflat together, so I guess she is with them in some way.’
‘Nice,’ said Ale again. ‘Well, it’d save them some money anyway. Lime spends money on a shopper for some reason. No idea why he doesn’t just do it himself.’
‘We had a shopper before I started here,’ said East. ‘But it wasn’t too bad. They don’t charge much, and if you’re in housing, it’s even less, I’m pretty sure.’
‘Yeah, they offer discounts. I get sent ads all the time in the mail. I live in a groundflat out past the store.’
‘Oh yeah, you’re down at...’ East clicked her hooves, trying to remember the name.
‘Borhill,’ said Ale.
‘That’s it. Is it good there?’
‘Pretty good. I get a discount on the rent as well, and my flatmate’s good to share with.’
‘Yeah? Who’s your flatmate?’
‘He’s a Canterlot guy called Farl.’
‘Ooh, Canterlot? Fancy!’
‘He’s actually alright. We don’t speak much, but we get on. And he’s clean, which is a bonus. I mean, you know how a lot of students are.’
‘What’s he studying?’
‘He’s graduated, but he does R&D at the college here.’
‘Nice, nice.’
Sensing their conversation had expired, with little desire to extend it, Ale took the first excuse that came to mind. ‘Right, well. I’d better get that cone.’