Weather Permitting & Other Stories by Pratap Reddy

Author:Pratap Reddy [Reddy, Pratap]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781771830577
Publisher: Guernica Editions Inc
Published: 2015-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

***

On Monday morning, Ravi woke up even before the alarm rang. He had a shower and got into his uniform. He went into the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich. After finishing his breakfast he washed the plate and the mug and replaced it in the cabinet. He wiped the dining table with care so that his landlady, who seemed to have a mania for cleanliness, would have no cause for complaint.

Outside, the wind was blowing, and it felt very cold. Yet, Ravi decided against taking the bus: public local transit wasn’t cheap in this country. After he had been walking for a few minutes, he could feel the cold invade his body; the wind that came sweeping down from the North Pole made short shrift of his skimpy leather coat. And the gloves he had picked up in a dollar store were no match either. He shivered, and began to walk faster, stuffing his fists into his pockets.

When he arrived at the store, he bolted inside as though he was being pursued by a predator. The supervisor who answered to the name of Zack was on his way to the cold room, briskly pushing an empty trolley. He was a lanky, tousle-haired kid who was just out of school. He also looked, for good measure, as if he was just out of bed. Somehow, it did not seem right to Ravi that a chit of a guy like Zack should put him through his paces.

“The apples are low we have to refill them. Let’s go to the back of the store. I’ll show you how to do it.”

Zack and Ravi loaded the big white boxes containing apples on to a dolly and wheeled them to the front of the shop. Zack showed Ravi how to arrange fresh apples on the counter — Ravi never imagined that there was a well thought out strategy behind such a quotidian task.

“The fresh apples must go to the back and bottom,” Zack explained. “This is called ‘rotating’.”

Quickly and expertly he moved the old apples on to the dolly and replenished the counter with fresh ones. Later, he poured the old ones on top, within easy reach of the customers.

How I wish I could work some magic like this with my resume — somehow make it more attractive to the potential employers.

“While you’re at it, you must pick out damaged or rotting fruit,” Zack said, tossing a damaged apple into a box.

Zack also showed him how to arrange the ‘drop’, a counter-high pile of boxes in the front with the topmost box open, showing up the fruit. This made the table look bursting and full, a merchandiser’s vision of cornucopia.

North America is a land of plenty. One day in future I hope I’ll also be able to shop until I drop, and not keep counting pennies like I’m doing now.

Once he learnt the drill, Ravi did oranges on his own. And then he had to do carrots, then potatoes,

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