Lewis Key
The nametag on his uniform said Lew. Try as he might Lewis could not stop people from calling him Lew. He found this annoying. Just about everything annoyed Lewis. He worked for PPC or Privatized Package Curriers. Lew however was not a currier; he worked the front desk at one of the outlets, customer service. Lewis thought that customer service was annoying. Currently it was he was sitting out the slow time between three am and five thirty, when the early birds went out after the worm. The rush was still about twenty minuets away. Lewis was not sure the boredom of nothing happing, was better or worse then the line of impatient go-getters.
They were both annoying.
Then it happened the first customer. A larger woman, her black hair whipped up into a rushed bun, wearing a conservative skirt suit. She was all business; the whole transaction was done with out a word being spoken. Lewis liked customers like this. They knew what they were about, and he could do his job. His job was simple; when someone wanted to send a package, and not have it opened, they came into PPC. Lew took their money and in exchange sent said package on its intended way. That was it. PPC provided a computer which when connected to a scale could, if provided the correct information, would tell exactly how much it would cost to send the package wherever it needed to go. The only thing Lew had to do was say whether the package was an envelope or a box. His other tasks were to make sure he gave the correct change, and then make sure the customer entered the recipient’s information properly. There it was his three tasks: envelop vs. box; don’t lose money; and then try to protect the customers from themselves.
The first customer was not the norm; no unfortunately most people had a very hard time with directions. To Lewis it seemed simple all you really needed was a item to ship and an address for it to go to, and money to pay for it. The next customer that walked in brought an envelope full of money.
“I need this to go to my mom, in the N3uu4oR77 cluster.” The man said. “Its very important that it reach her tomorrow.”
“Ok sir,” Lew said, trying to sound chipper. He sealed the envelope and placed it on the scale. “All right, that was N3w”
“Not w, u..u.”
“OH! Uu, 4oR, I don’t remember the last digests.”
“Uhn, N,3,uu,4oR. Seven seven.”
“Ok, that’s been inputted, whats the rest of the address?”
“Whadda mean?”
How do you answer a question like that, a single cluster could have up to four or five million people, generally three million individual addresses.
“You know, like, her street address, what number her house is. Stuff like that.”
“She lives in an old folks home.”
Did this guy not really know what an address is. Now a line was starting to form, the next person in line was a cute girl. She was looking at her watch like maybe this errand wasn’t as crucial as it other tasks. Time to get past this guy, carefully, how annoying.
“Sir, if you don’t know the address I can’t send your package. We’re open twenty-four seven, you should call your mom and get the address, if you do it before three thirty it will get there tomorrow for sure.”
“Are you giving me lip SON, I am a paying customer, just send it to my mom in cluster N3uu4oR77. I want to speak with your manager.”
Customers always seemed to think that these were the magic words to get what they wanted. Maybe in other situations that was the case but they did not get much traction here.
“I Am the Manager.” Lew did get a little thrill saying that, knowing that it totally flipped the power dynamic. Then after a pause and to try and soften the blow, he gestured to the four walls and few piles of boxes and a desk that comprised the store. Clearly there was no one else here.
“I’m sorry sir, if I send it the way it is it will not reach her. If you want to make sure it gets to your mom we need the rest of the address. Make sure you get it here before three thirty and it will still get there tomorrow.” Lew then turned to the next customer. “I can help whose next, step right up, what can I help you with?”
The man stood with his envelope clutched to his chest. The next customer was not the cute girl but some old man. For a moment Lew thought that the man was going to push the old man out of the way. But he didn’t, which was kind of too bad; that would have been entertaining. The line that had built up stayed punctuating the morning rush. Annoying. Fortunately most people in line were regulars or at least knew what the address was. So the rush passed with only a little grumbling about raised rates. Till just after seven, the next shift had just come in and there was about fifteen minutes left before Lew could leave. So of course that’s when it happened.
She was hot, and she dressed the part. She was wearing a very tight business suit, and she wore it well, very well. She walked straight up to the desk in the controlled wave that of a women with very high heels. Lew knew that the timing was too good, and she was too hot, this could only mean trouble. The first and primary challenge was to make, and keep, eye contact. Don’t look down.
“Good morning, how can I help you to day?” Don’t look down. Wait till the right moment.
“I would like to ship this envelope, the address is written on the cover.” Her voice was husky and quite, so he had to lean in a little to hear her.
This was the moment, and he took the envelope, he let his eyes wonder, just a little. It was amazing. He quickly looked up to her eyes, realized that he was not holding anything. While he had been scoping her out, he had been looking to grab an envelope, so he had dropped the box she put in his hand. He picked it up off the counter.
“You want me to send this as an envelope?” Lew held up the box. “Please tell me that you at least know that this is not an envelope?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said with a mocking innocence.
“If I try to send it as an envelope some one else will see that it is clearly not one, and send it back. I would like to help you but it just will get sent back.”
She leaned forward towards him and whispered, Lew leaned in even closer to hear her. “Maybe that’s just what I want.”
He leaned back. He could see no reason not to do that, not if that was what she wanted, it was good customer service. Not only that but she leaned over the counter as he entered the information into his computer, it was a great show and he tried to draw out the whole interaction. Not a bad way to end his shift. He left the store with some small level of satisfaction. Normally he would have just gone home. But today it just seemed too oppressive to go from the four close walls of his work to the four small walls of his apartment. The plaza where Lew worked was as close to bright as it got now. Everywhere Lewis looked there were people moving about; shopping, chatting, generally going about their lives. Most other days Lewis would have found them all annoying. They would seem to step in front of him and then walk slowly, getting in his way. The kids would all make noise and whine. Normally he would have done anything to avoid this whole scene. For some reason he felt the want to join in. Then he remembered why. Nutrua came out today. He didn’t know much about what it was, but then no one seemed to know much about it. All he did know was that it was supposed to change the face of gaming and he wanted to be on the crest of that wave.
The only store in the plaza that held any interest was the electronic store. Lewis considered himself a gamer, and this store always had the new hot releases. As he walked across the parking lot he remembered that the store wouldn’t be open quite yet. But he had nowhere else to be so he sat down on one of the benches next to the door to wait. Maybe he would get a few moments of shuteye. That would be hard though he was pretty excited about this new game. He had seen the previews on TV; the first two had not done much for him. They showed some nice landscape and some dude in a cape. But the third one really caught his attention.
The third commercial was full of violence the dude in a cape, ripped into three goons using a quarterstaff. There was no blood but the brutality, or the opportunity for brutality, was clear. The commercial ended with the three goons broken on the ground, unmoving. The stranger in the video turned to the audience and challenged them. “Can you be the best?” He grinned before the screen went dark. Lewis took the challenge personal, he would be the best; he was going to take out all his anger and frustration out on anybody that entered his domain.
“Hey! You!”
Lewis was snapped out of his blissful daydream of brutal domination by some lanky nerd, “what?” he tried to say calmly. “What do you want?”
“Can’t you see there is a line? I have been here for three days. You can’t just cut in line.” The nerd whined.
Lewis though the nerds voice was annoying. He had dark skin and dark hair that fell over his eyes. He would have seemed tall if he was standing up straight but he had hunched his shoulders and kind of tucked his neck and head down. There was a tent set up, with bags and trash strewn about. From the look of the campsite it did not take any stretch of the imagination to think the guy had really been here for three day. However there was no one else waiting.
“What line? I only see you, its not going to sell out with just two of us. What does it matter?” Lewis knew that he was baiting the guy, but it annoyed him that he had to deal with this annoying guy when he could have been sleeping. Or at least dozing.
“Fine, you’re right I can see that I’m being a little ridiculous, I’m sorry. But I just really wanted to be the first person into Nurtrua. I mean, do you mind?”
“Whatever.”
“Great, thanks so much. It really means a lot to me.” Then reading Lewis name written on his work uniform. “Its nice to meet you Lew, my name is Eddie.” Could the guy be any more annoying?
“It’s Lewis.” Upon meeting his competition, he was thinking this is going to be easier then he thought. Lewis hoped that not all the player were going to be losers like this guy, know how the world worked they probably would be. How annoying.
“Oh, well its nice to meet you.” Eddie extended his hand for a shake. Lewis had no intention of shaking anybodies hand, and just ignored it. They sat in silence for a few. Then the sound of the lock clicking and the automatic door slid open with a hum. Eddie sprang up, and leaped for the door. The store employee blocked his path.
“My manager says that you can’t come in until you clean up all you’re trash.”
“What!? Common I just want the TAP. I promise that I’ll clean it all up when I’m done.” Eddie was not far from begging. His voice was still annoying.
“No. My manager said that I couldn’t let you in until it’s clean. I’m sorry there is nothing I can do, you don’t want me to get in trouble.” The employee was obviously enjoying this, and so was Lewis. Eddie turned from the door with a sob and ran to his tent. Lewis slowly got up and with a smirk strolled into the store.
