Circuit City Days

Two short anecdotes about my days at Circuit City and Lynne:

A little background information:

     I worked at Circuit City as a sales person from the summer 1994 thru sometime in 1996. Circuit City was a retail electronics/appliance store, something like HH Gregg or Best Buy, but had a sales staff vs. being self service the way Best Buy is. I needed the benefits, so was working full time - which meant I needed to work a certain number of hours during the week.

      At that time, no one sold much during daytime hours on weekdays, but the store needed coverage during those times. If you wanted to be able to work the busiest shifts, you "put your time in" during slow times. My point is that I had a lot of idle time on my hands. I worked in the computer department- which was adjacent to "small electronics" (clock radios, cordless phones etc), car audio, and the music dept. (Cd's and cassettes - it was 1994). During the week I'd deal with "tire kickers" or small transnational business - it was slow. I made all my sales on the weekends (often from people that tire kicked during the week) That meant that during the week I would chat with coworkers. Lynne worked in the music dept. She's blonde and buxom and bubbly and beautiful, (and married). Guess who I spent a lot of time chatting with? I probably went out to lunch with her and one or two other coworkers twice a week -maybe it was just the two of us once a week.

Story #1: Truth or Dare

     I don't recall the exact circumstances - this would be sometime late 1994 or perhaps early 1995 - . Anyway, a few folks from work and I were playing drinking games at a house party (Lynne's house? For what ever reason - her husband was out of town). Everyone was getting  little tipsy and having a good time - but no one (not even me) was stupid drunk. We were playing Quarters for a while, and someone had the idea of playing "Truth or Dare" - where you had to either answer a potentially embarassing question, truthfully, or perform some silly task (a dare) as a 'penalty' instead of drinking. Well it was Lynne's turn and she missed.

     "drink, or truth or dare?"
     "I can't do anymore shots, I'll fall asleep!"
     "then, truth...or dare?"
     "....dare"

     A couple of suggestions were floated and shot down. Eventually what was settled upon was:

     "suck Jason's lower lip, for 5 seconds"

     How do I describe exactly what she did?  She told me not to move. I closed my eyes. It started as exactly like it sounds, I slightly opened my mouth, and she just sort of inhaled my lower lip (sideways) then she made chewing motions. After a second or two of this our mouths overlapped and we were essentially 'making out'. I vaguely remember someone counting down from 5 to 1 and, people were laughing and hooting as she paid her penalty. I say vaguely because I had mentally checked out. I really don't remember the rest of the party.

     The next day at work, for whatever reason Lynne was in before I was (was I working a later shift?) she was fidgety and nervous. For some reason she felt the need to apologize to me for what had happened.  Apologize!? I felt like I won the lottery! I told her that she didn't need to apologize I wasn't embarrassed or anything, and that nothing had really happened.

     "No, something did happen! We made out! You know I'm not that type of girl, right? right?! I am so screwed if my husband finds out... you can't tell anyone! Forget it ever happened!"

     She was speaking a mile a minute. She was so worried that I thought less of her, or that there would be gossip about her at work. I'm sure she spoke to everyone else (who was at the party) before I got there (who knows what she threatened them with to keep them quiet?)  I tried to reassure her that she didn't do anything bad, and that of course I wouldn't tell anyone.

But I couldn't forget.

Story #2: "When did you get a girlfriend?"

     Some months after the first story, I want to say it was late summer/ early fall 1995 (like September?). Todd and Anne had been dating for a while. It was the end of my shift and we (Todd, Anne and I) were going to go out for some reason. I was finishing up, counting down my drawer etc. Anne came in, greeted me with a little hug and a friendly peck, and let me know that I was late, and that she and Todd would be waiting for me outside. We spoke for a moment then she waved as she walked out. Anne didn't realize how much attention she had drawn. I didn't notice the whispering of my co-workers as I said my goodbyes and left.

     The next day I came to work like I usually did. Almost immediately Lynne rushed over and started peppering me with questions:

     "Who was that girl?"
     "How long has this been going on?"
     "She's so pretty and was dressed so nicely, did you have a date? Where did you two go?"
     "Why didn't you tell me that you have a girlfriend?!"

     Each question was punctuated by a little punch on my arm. I didn't have a chance to answer. I was laughing, the whole scene she was making was kind of cute.

     One of the other girls (Theresa? She worked small electronics ) chimed in:

     "You should've seen her last night after you left, she kept talking about you two"

     "Really?" I said

     "Yup! Are you two timing on our Lynnie-girl?"

     I looked over at Lynne, she was starting to turn red and sputter like a little tea kettle.

     I asked her, "What is she talking about? Are you jealous?!"

    "What?! Why would I be jealous? "

     She looked down and said in a small voice:

     " I just thought that it was nice that you started dating someone. And I'm a little annoyed that this is the first time that I have heard about it. I thought we were friends, and that you would tell me about that sort of thing."

     I reassured her, "Don't worry, I'm not dating her. She's my friend's girlfriend who just came in to fetch me. I'm still all yours"

     She didn't seem to notice the last four works of my statement. She was practically beaming as she walked back to the music counter.

     I said to Theresa, "She was really jealous, huh?"

     "Yup"