A Positive Change Who: Fin and Jade When: Sunday, 29th October - afternoon Where: Books and Beer Warnings: none Status: complete
Sunday at Books and Beer wasn’t usually that busy, especially now that it was getting later in the year and the days were cooling down as winter edged ever closer, Fin had found that in the past that now was a good time to get things that seemed to be pushed to the pile of ‘later’ - things like rearranging the shelves, changing the artworks for sale on the walls or giving the wood of the booths and the bar a good oil - which was what he happened to be doing on that Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t a hard job and after his morning tackling some half-dead shrub in his new yard Fin wanted something easy that didn’t involve too many muscles.
Thanksgiving and Christmas were now a matter of weeks away instead of months and this proved to be the busiest time in the ‘off’ season, people didn’t really drink too much but the sale of books plus things like magazines and stationery made up for the shortfall in revenue. With November less than 72 hours away it was also time to think about hiring someone to help out for the two or so months, really Fin should’ve thought about it before now and hired someone but he had other things on his mind and it usually wasn’t that hard to find a willing worker, over the years he had everyone from a number of high school students in their senior year, to a grandmother who was finding it lonely after her husband had passed away, some people were a good fit while others only lasted a few days, it was a gamble really. Getting the sign out from his office Fin put it in the window, it was several years old and simple but to the point Holiday Casual Wanted - Inquire Within
Jade was a frequent patron of the books part of Books and Beer. At seventeen and a half, he wasn’t anywhere near the required age to be served alcohol, but read he could and did. Once he’d spent a couple of hours curled up near a window reading a novel and completely losing track of time. He’d bought it, of course, and finished reading it on his window seat at home. He was walking around town out of sheer boredom and his attention was caught by the sign in the window.
Jade read the words to himself, not realizing his lips moved as he did. What was a Holiday Casual? It wasn’t a phrase he’d ever heard before, although it seemed mildly familiar. After a few more moments of puzzlement, he decided to go in and find out. Plus, there were books in there. Books were always a win. He pushed through the door and glanced around to see who was working.
Fin was used to people getting lost in their books and losing track of time, he had done it himself many times and more than once was late to work because of it. He also knew most of his regulars by name, sometimes even what they liked to read or drink, small towns did have their advantages at times. Fin also knew who didn't like to be disturbed but often had to just check up on some customers to make sure they were alright and hadn't lost track of time.
He was still rubbing the oil into the wooden table in one of the booths when the bell alerted him to a customer, looking up he saw young Jade Bradford - one of his younger regulars. Standing the rest of the way up from where he had been hunched over the booth Fin walked out of the bar section and towards the young man. “Hey Jade, how are you doing?” He asked, the younger of the Bradford brothers was the opposite of his big brother and in some ways reminded Fin of himself at that age.
“Hi,” Jade said, self-consciously sticking his hands in his pockets. He tried to avoid calling Fin anything because he wasn’t old enough to be called Mr. Haynes but it would also feel weird calling him Fin, too. He was around Luke’s age. It was just… weird. “I’m good. So uh… what’s the sign in the window mean?” He felt like maybe he was missing something, that he should be intelligent enough to know it already. But also how did you find out a thing you didn’t know if you didn’t ask?
Fin got called a variety of things and was used to them all, including those who didn't think he was old enough to be the owner and manager of store but Mr Haynes still reminded him of his grandfather. He could sense the slight awkwardness and offered a smile to try and put Jade at ease. “I'm looking for someone to work here for the next few months, mainly around Thanksgiving and Christmas as that's when things get busier. Casual just means that it could be an hour one day and four the next, depending on the workload. You interested in giving it a go?” He’d give Jade a trial if he was interested, though he had a feeling that Jade would be a good fit anyway, the quiet bookworms usually were better workers than the loud, popular ones.
Jade had been talking to his brother about getting a job not long ago but he hadn’t gotten around to looking. Having demonic backlash or whatever from using a ouija board had taken up some of his time, and once that was over he’d been resting up from the constant nightmares. Also, he might have procrastinated a bit. “Really?” he asked, not quite able to believe the almost too good to be true offer. “This would be an awesome place to work. Do I need to fill anything out?” He thought Fin would be a good boss, too. He seemed fairly laid back and was always friendly.
There were no demons to worry about at Books and Beer, just a ghost attached to the boss who occasionally liked to play tricks, though so far (thankfully) it was only things like fogging up the drinks fridge or dropping the temperature in the room when skeptics were in the store. And Fin was sure that his father wouldn’t do anything to harm anyone. “Well, I can give you a trial, see if you like the work before we go filling out paperwork.” He answered with a soft chuckle. “Got any time free now? I can give you a rundown on what would be expected, it’s not rocket science but can take some getting used to.” If Jade didn’t have the time now than they could work out another time after school that would suit them both.
“Oh… sure,” Jade said when Fin suggested giving him the scoop on the job now. “I’m just kind of wandering around town, so I have time.” He ended up doing that sort of thing more than he’d like. It was true that he was the loner type at heart, but he could honestly use more companionship sometimes. His friends always seemed to be busy lately with parties he didn’t feel comfortable at along with other things. Having a job would be a nice distraction from life in general, and he’d do his best to be a good employee.
Fin smiled when Jade said he had time, if all went well he could remove the sign by the time evening came. “I rarely got to just wander around during my final year, I was here for most of it.” Not that he regretted his grandparents letting him work and gain knowledge in running the place, when he had told them that he wanted to take over they begun teaching him everything he’d need to know. “It’s quiet at the moment, but that’s Sundays in general. I tend to do all those little jobs that never get done during the week, cleaning’s not the most interesting of tasks.” Not that he was expecting Jade to do that kind of thing just yet.
He explained that most of the deliveries arrive in the morning or early afternoon but occasionally a truck was late or other tasks took up the time, he showed Jade one of the shipping invoices and gave him the basic rundown of checking the numbers of books on the invoice matched those actually received and to note if there were any damaged stock. As Jade would be mostly working after school or on weekends Fin didn’t think it necessary to burden him with the opening duties and the like, instead focusing on things such as making sure that the fridges were kept stocked and where the bottles were kept in the storeroom, how to properly stock (new bottles to the back, old at the front) the fridges and because he was still under eighteen he could only take drinks to customers and collect glasses and bottles. The last thing that Fin explained was how the books till worked - the scanner would read the barcode but still needed to be double checked to make sure the price scanned and that on the book was the same and the computerized screen would add the total, it didn’t need advanced math levels but still some understanding of it. When they were just about finished a customer came up to the till and Fin let Jade take the sale while he supervised.
Some of the information was common sense, but Jade was aware that it would apply differently to different businesses. It seemed like there’d be a variety of things for him to do here, and that was good. He thought it might be a more interesting job than some a high school student could get. He did fine with the sale he rung up and felt pleased with how this had turned out just from randomly coming inside to ask about the sign. “I’m pretty flexible,” he said once the customer had left. “I can do some after school and definitely weekends.” As long as he kept his grades reasonable he didn’t feel like Luke would object. Luckily, his brother wasn’t the sort to ride him about stuff unnecessarily.
Fin was pleased with how Jade handled the sale and how he engaged the customer with a smile and bit of small talk, interacting with difficult customers more often than not got Fin's anxiety levels up but thankfully they were few and far between. He did mention to Jade that if he needed a timeout -- for any reason -- that there was a Zen Room out the back for that purpose, he hoped that people would be nice to the new guy but one never knew. “How about six til eight tomorrow? If you can bring a copy of your timetable for classes we can work out what nights would suit you best, final year is stressful enough without adding work pressures to it.” Fin was also aware of the limits to the number of hours he could employ Jade a week because of school and they'd work out where those limited hours would be better suited. “If you want to hang around for a while longer and help out, you can, help yourself to a Coke or soda if you're thirsty. I'm just going to finish oiling these booths.” As Jade was there without pay for the moment he didn't want him to feel like he had to stay around, they'd work out pays and things tomorrow.
So far, senior year wasn’t that stressful. Jade was generally good at keeping on top of his schoolwork and his duties at the paper and yearbook. He didn’t think adding a job to it would be a problem. “That works,” he said with a nod. “I’ll hang out a little longer.” It wouldn’t hurt to get more of a feel for the place as an employee before he officially came in. Honestly, it didn’t matter that much what he got paid; it was more having a job and getting experience. Not that he’d turn his nose up at the money.
Senior year hadn't been stressful for Fin either, he could only imagine what it was like for someone like his friend Brad, who was pushed to get the best grades possible. But college wasn't the ‘be all and end all’ that everyone made it out to be, though he had done his degree more out of interest than to get into a job or start a career. “Grab a book, take a seat and chill out, you're not on the book today.” Walking back to the booths he added some more oil to the cloth and worked it in, with the heating going more as the weather cooled down it would dry out the timber if not for the regular oiling, and no one wanted to sit at a table that looked unloved. Hopefully Jade would like working there, Fin knew the pay wasn't great for a teenager but at least it would be enough to do something with - be it saving for college or just to live off, he had talked with Luke before about the lack of landscaping jobs once the snows hit.
“You’re never gonna get a no from me when you tell me to grab a book to read,” Jade pointed out. He went to grab the drink he’d been offered and then found a poetry book that had piqued his interest on his last visit. There was no shortage of places to sit down and he found himself one. When he’d left the house today, he hadn’t imagined he’d end up with a job, but he was pleased with how this had gone. Jade settled in, having trouble concentrating on his reading for one of the first times ever. He felt sure this would be a positive change.