So, IDK why this popped into my head while watching Jeoporady before with my gf and her sister, but back when I worked overnight retail for a major drug store chain, one whose heart is BLACK and cold when it comes to their employees, This girl Rita used to come into everyonce in a while.
She was nice, but kinda disturbed. But, one thing I learned about while working overnight is that alot of what "normal" people would consider strange, is alot of the customers we had to deal with. Over the years i became desensitized to this, and became kinda "strange" in my own right.
I guess working overnight can do that to you.
Anyways, I have quite a few stories about Rita, but, here is the one i was thinking about just now.
I was working one night, a 10pm-4am shift, which was kinda a "Half" shift, not that we EVER got to take lunch or a break as we were always "Encouraged" by our management NOT to by their reactions to if we DID take a 15 minute break on our 10 hour shift, and some work didn't get done, lest they not sit in the office for 4 hours of their shift... which we witnessed on a regular occaison if we watched the DVR back...
anyways, Rita comes in. Rita was a nice girl, just seemed a little spacy. She comes in, and by this time I had become friendly with her, as I did alot of the customers that had come in during our shift. I was about to get off work, so she had mentioned how exciting that was and asked me if she waited around, if i wanted to come with her.
I was confused and interested, and asked her where she was going.
rita tells me to come out to her car.
On going outside, there was her Station wagon packed full. She had decided 4 or 5 hours earlier that she was going to go out to california to try and make it out there. So she proceeded to pack her station wagon, and, came in to ask me if I wanted to accompany her. why, she didnt really say, but I always assumed that because we had tried to start a band previous, and she knew I was a writer and played some guitar, that I would be an asset.
I honestly never found out why she wanted to go anyways.
I asked her which way she was going, she told me she was looking forward to driving thru NYC and thru chicago and going that way.
So, I was like fuck it, I told her, I'd go for the ride with her till she hit NYC, and, if she'd drop me off at Penn Station, which is under Madison Square Garden, and I'd catch a train home.
she was all for that.
I don't remember much about the ride, just that she seemed like something happened she didn't really want to discuss, and that she figured she could find something to do in LA.
Rita wasn't a bad looking girl, but, Rita wasn't what you would call a "looker" so I don't think that she was really what the movies or TV were looking for. Who knows what she expected to achieve when she got out there.
She obviously made an impression on me, cause here I am, writing about her on my blog. She got in Manhattan, she dropped me off at Penn Station, said goodbye, I said good luck, and i watched her drive off down 5th Ave? whatever the street is out front of MSG, u know, across from Hotel Pennsylvania, said to myself, Hm... better go catch a train home.
Got back to Long Island, walked from the train station to my house, not very far, as I had no vehicle at this point, which is another story for another day, and went to bed, taking some solace is thinking maybe someday I would be "man" enough to make my dreams come true, and, chase my goals or dreams like Rita did. I was envious of her, wished I had the drive to do what she did.
2 or 3 nights later tho, who came into my store? Rita. she hit Philidelphia I believe? I'm not really sure where she had gotten to, but she turned around and went back home. After that, Rita kinda became just another customer to me. It's one thing to SAY your going to do something, and not do it, but to START and not finish is another. I didn't have anything but negative thoughts about her again. Everytime she came into my store aafter that, I tried to avoid her. Even back then subconsciously, I was trying to cut the negatives from my life, and, I just saw her as a failure.
Whatever became of Rita, I don't know. The last time i saw her, she came into the store to sit down and read magazines for a few hours like she usually did, which, didn't bother me in the slightest, at 2am, someone looking for a place to waste some time, for whatever reason, at 2am, they must have a good reason, and since she never stole, never caused a problem, but the last time i saw her she looked about 6 months pregnant.
I never saw Rita again. I hope for her babies sake that she "normalzied". But, like alot of people i've had contact with in my life, I'm glad that Rita was a part of it. Just one of the many people in my past I'll think about everyonce in a while and wonder to myself, what happened to her.
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