A cup of coffee in hand to start the day can keep the working daze away.

Foreword – Working Daze is a work of fiction. It’s characters and story line are all the creation of the writer and do not reflect anything or anyone in real life.

I’ve written about Glen Dempsey before and have been able to develop the characters. Be sure to read the first two installments and then continue with the story line:

Part 1 – The Ever Evolving Worker

Part 2 – A Month Of Sunny Sundays

A few big drops of rain fell on the windshield signaling the beginning of an early spring rain. For Glen Dempsey, it marked the beginning of yet another dismal day. Unable to sleep he got up and took his time getting to work that morning. Working for a used car dealership had its perks but those were quickly wearing off.

The job was easy but the monotony of it all was wearing down on him. He felt a longing to be back in the print shop again where at the end of the day you actually felt a sense of accomplishment.

The lights were still off in the office so he’d have to wait for Jeff, the office manager, to open up anyway. On his way to work he had picked up a cup of coffee and the paper. The strong smell of the coffee filled the inside of the car while the paper sat in the back seat, untouched. Adjusting the visor so he could look at himself in the mirror, he ran his fingers through his facial hair to make sure there weren’t any crumbs from breakfast left in it.

He had received a compliment on his goatee a long time ago and had grown it ever since. Now it was laced with single white hairs that had betrayed him in his old age.

“You ain’t getting any prettier.” The voice was cool and casual. That was just the way Ronnie portrayed himself. Glen put the visor back up and turned to see him slumped against the passenger door. The mere sight of him made him cringe inside. How old was the kid?

Of course at his own age Ronnie would look like a kid. He had to be somewhere between 22 to 25. But then who really knew?

“I was just cleaning up after myself.”

Ronnie came up out of his slouch and looked Glen up and down. Offering only a small grunt, he leaned once more against the door and stared out the window. Glen looked at him for awhile and waited for another comment but got nothing else from him. It amazed him how cocky the kid could sometimes be.

He could see it in the way he talked and carried himself. It reminded him a little of the person he once used to be. These emotions would evaporate the minute the kid would open his mouth. He always had an answer for everything and of course he knew everything as well.

The lights came on within the office and startled him out of the moment he was having.  He could see Jeff milling around inside, getting his morning ritual of having everything ready for the customers to arrive. The Pantum copier took forever to warm up and he always had the coffee ready right away. Jeff wasn’t hard to work for, but sometimes seemed a little to aggressive with his managerial style.

Glen always thought he was trying to impress his dad who owned this car lot and the new car lot across town. Jeff’s ultimate goal was to win his dad’s favor so he could once again resume his position at the ‘new’ car lot. It became apparent very quickly that Jeff despised selling the ‘used’ cars and viewed it as being at the bottom of the barrel.

“Well? Are you going to get in there and let the man stick it to you again or are you going to sit out here all day?” Ronnie hadn’t even moved when he said it. He just continued his slump against the door. The coffee was strong and working.  Glen felt that his patience with Ronnie was getting shorter by the minute.

“Tell you what, why don’t you get a job and help pay some of the bills for once. I’m doing this every day while you do what? Sit around and wait to make snide comments and stupid remarks about the way I get things done?”

Ronnie sat up in the seat. He was ready to get confrontational and his mannerisms quickly changed.

His voice was low and with a certain amount of authority he answered. “You’re going to grab that cup of shitty smelling coffee and you’re going to go in there and start you’re dead end, go nowhere job, and get to work.” His eyes were intense and he looked ready to fight.

Glen’s voice was anything but low key and he couldn’t believe the audacity of this kid. Who the hell did he think he was? “Really? Now what would make me go in there?”

Ronnie had let go of some of his chest puffing and a smirk came across his face. The kid was suddenly so sure that he had the upper hand he allowed himself to relax a little. With the same tone in his voice he calmly averted his eyes from Glen’s and looked to the front of the building. “Cause Jeffy boy’s waiting.”

Jeff stood at the front of the building holding the front door open waiting for Glen to come in. He must have seen him sitting out there and wondered why he hadn’t come in yet.

Score one for Ronnie!

Grabbing his cup of coffee he quickly got out of the car. He didn’t want to even acknowledge Ronnie much less leave him with any parting words of wisdom. To emphasize his point, Glen slammed the car door shut behind him. He was done talking to him and was ready to move on.

“Morning Jeff.” He could only hope that he sounded more cheerful than he felt.

“Morning Glen.” But Jeff wasn’t looking at him. He was looking back at the car that Glen had driven to work. “Hey, is that door acting up? We can bring it in the shop and have it looked at.”

Was this how the day was going to go? Now he had to back peddle to get out of this one. “I guess I don’t know my own strength. I just pushed it a little too hard. It works fine.”

“O.k. It’s just that we might have someone in today who’s interested in it and we have time to fix something that might give them any hesitation to buying it.”

“It’s fine.”

Glen moved past Jeff to go inside. Jeff”s gaze lingered out toward the car for awhile but then he followed Glen inside.

Another day at the Ultimate Auto Plaza was now officially under way.

Stay tuned for the next part in the ‘Glen Dempsey Saga’.

Did you miss the first and second part of this story? Visit our ‘Entertainment’ category

Did you like the Working Daze short story? What did you think about Glen and Jeff’s interactions. Where should the story go from here? Leave me a comment below. I would love to know your thoughts and story suggestions.