bone in sub

i got my bike lock open by stealing someone’s water bottle, filling it with hot water, and pouring it over the keyhole cover. it was risky…if it didn’t work it would have been a much worse situation.

there’s this grumpy old guy that comes into my store to buy a very specific (but not very special) ballpoint pen, the Itoya Gripper MD. he usually refuses to talk to anyone but me (citing “she doesn’t know what she’s doing”), always asks “do you have any of those gripper pens.”, buys one or two, and leaves. i hadn’t seen him in 3 or 4 weeks, and this morning i had a funny feeling.

“i feel like gripper man is going to come in today,” i quipped to my colleague soon after i opened the store. i went and put a brand new gripper pen in my pocket, just in case. i had joked a couple months back about doing that.

towards the end of the day, i was switching out money at the front of the store when someone that i can’t see asks from behind me “do you have any of those gripper pens.” “yep!” i exclaimed as i whipped it out of my pocket. he was somewhat taken aback and asked me “……is this new?” before he bought it while humming happily. it may have been a coincidence, but he’s always been pretty cranky. i like to think that i made his day.