The Art of the Hustle

by Edward Mullen

  ***

  “Yo, Trevor, how’s it going?” Jay said over the phone.

  “I’m hanging in there. How’s it going with you?”

  “I’m just at the Metro Mall location helping them out and was wondering if you can you check if we have some shoes in stock?”

  “Okay.”

  “You got a pen?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I’m going to read you off the model and the sizes.”

  “Okay, shoot.”

  I took down the information and left the phone off the hook. I grabbed a flashlight and walked down the narrow hallway in the back of the store. I found the general area that had all the shoes Jay wanted. I wiped the dust off the plastic sheets with my hand and held up the flash light.

  I returned a few minutes later. “Yeah, Jay, we have them.”

  “Okay good, I need you to box those up for me and express them over here today. Can you do that?”

  “No problem.”

  I hung up the phone and went back with the flashlight. I set the flashlight down and peeled back the tape that was securing the plastic sheet to the bottom of the shelf. I lifted it up just enough for me to crawl carefully underneath it, making sure the tape from the top did not come off. I did this a few more times in different locations in the stock room and put together everything Jay had requested.

  I called the shipping company we used and scheduled a pick-up. In the meantime, I found a flattened box from out back and put it together. I loaded all of the shoes in the big box and made sure the sizes and models were correct. The shipping company arrived shortly after, and in no time, the shoes were en route. Mission accomplished. That only took up about twenty minutes of my day. After that, it was back to reading the food and beverage manual until Jay arrived.