I USED TO WORK the glass aisle. Let me explain. We stock clerks at Kwik Chek (Winn Dixie) were assigned to keep certain shelves filled. I had the glass aisle which was jars of stuff: juices, pickles & olives, ketshup, mustard & the like. In those days, these items were actually in glass, not the plastic containers we see today. If it got dropped by a careless shopper, it broke.
"Clean up in Aisle 7."
I've always had a taste for pickles & olives. As a kid, I had no idea that opening a jar and eating a pimento-stuffed olive or two would cause the rest in the jar to spoil. I just put it back on the shelf after enjoying them.
On Wednesday nights, several of us came in at 9 PM, when the store closed, and stocked shelves all night. We used to put Louis Prima on the store sound system.
"You can't tell the depth of the well / By the length of the handle on the pump."
We emptied box after box of grocery stock, tore down the boxes, and headed for what was called the cardboard room. This meant passing through the produce department, now empty of both customers and the ever-watchful produce manager. All the stock clerks filled up on their favorite fruit.
Never opened a melon with a box cutter? You were never a night shift stocker. And even today, I enjoy listening to Louis Prima.
"I eat antipasta twice / Just because she is so nice / Angelina, Angelina, / The waitress at the pizzeria."
Of course, I'm still pulling olives from jars, only now it's after I buy them and bring them home.
"Ti vol-glio be-ne / Angelina I adore you / E vol-glio be-ne / Angelina I live for you. / If she'll be my Car-ra mia / Then I'll join in matrimony / With a girl who serves spumoni."
Your pulling my leg again.Ouch.