Chapter 1 – Another damn day

Another damn day. Another damn delivery. You’d think now that I had made it out of university, I would finally be able to pursue my dreams. To do what I was born to do. To be able to help people. To share my medical knowledge. To make everyone’s lives, including mine, better. You’d think so. But no. I was considered the “newbie” at work and stuck with the stupid delivery duty. “That’s how we’re going to set ourselves apart from other pharmacies. That’s what’s going to make us special.” It had sounded great when Stan, my new boss, told us about his newest idea. But, of course, he wasn’t going to be the one to actually execute it. A great idea really. Delivering medicine to customers who can’t pick it up themselves at the pharmacy. But how it ended up being my job, when I was a pharmacist just like all the others, was beyond me. You’d think with the countless delivery services out there that we or Stan could have come to some sort of arrangement with one of them. But no, again. Of course, it had to be one of us. Personally. “Not everyone can be trusted with our medical goods. And it’s just more customer-friendly. It will really boost our good reputation. You know, it will really give you a chance to bond with our customers, Henry.” That’s what he had said to me while explaining that I’d be the perfect candidate “to take on this great responsibility”. Just two questions still unanswered. Question A: Even if we pretended this was all well and true… why would anyone – any pharmacist – want to bond with their customers? Question B: Why me?! The newbie who was just as new to the job as he was new to the city. Sighing deeply, I rounded the corner, finally spotting the last building on my list. Looking just as boring and dull as all the other buildings. Except for one elaborately decorated balcony. Flowerpots in all kinds of colours were stacked upon more flowerpots. Big ones, small ones. Elaborately ornamented ones and simple ones. And they all seemed connected through a string of lights weaving through the branches and flowers. Usually, I would have admired something like that, for my thumb was no green one. But I was exhausted and still didn’t know how I could possibly bring myself to pretend otherwise in front of the customer. I didn’t want to appear rude, but I also really didn’t have any politeness left in me. Observing all the names written next to the bells, I paused in front of the door. Strange. I couldn’t find the customer’s name anywhere. I looked down on my list again, but it definitely wasn’t there. Technically, that meant I could go now. I could just tell my colleagues that I simply couldn’t find the right address or that the customer might have given us a wrong address or that someone had tried to prank us. It wouldn’t be a lie. I could go home, heat my sad lumpy goo of leftovers waiting for me in the fridge, shovel them quickly into my mouth and then finally pass out in front of the TV, before getting up the next day at 6 a.m. and repeating all this shit all over again. But I guess, I was just too good of a person for that. Or maybe I hadn’t yet lost all my passion and dedication to what I had believed would be my dream job. Or, in reality, I dreaded getting home and falling yet again into this routine that had established itself when I moved here. So, without further ado, I simply decided to frantically ring all the bells and see what happens. Like the mature, grown-up person I was.