A(nother) place to write

The people who go to the grocery at midnight are not the same people that go to the store during the day. The people at night seem shifty, dirty, unkempt and generally not normal. Perhaps it is just that it is late and they are tired, or that only unsavory people go out at night, but I suspect that a combination of the two is true. The store is different as well. The magic of restocking takes place mostly at this time so the aisles are full of boxes. The store is quiet and dark, because they have turned down the lights and canned music to conserve energy. Stockers shelve and quietly talk among themselves or to themselves. The regular door is blocked and customers must enter from a specially cordoned off combination entrance and exit. Occasionally one might hear laughter or a yell from somewhere else in the store, but traveling from aisle to aisle no one is to be seen unless they happen to be stocking.

While some shelves are freshly stocked some are barren because the employees haven’t gotten to that section yet. One then has a choice. You can either hunt down a stocker and request the item you desire, you can go without or you can wait around the store until the stocker brings out the fresh shipment.