Next there’s Joe and Helen.  I adopted a kitten from them last September.  He’s gray with white toes and white triangles on his nose and chest.  His name is Smokey and he has the softest fur I’ve ever felt on a cat.  Fortunately, he loves to be held because he’s irresistible.  Our ten year old cat, Wiley has taken him under his wing.  More on that later.

I like Joe and Helen.  They’re good people.  They have some strange family dynamics going on, though.  Joe sometimes comes in by himself to get cigarettes and always has alcohol on his breath.  In fact, he does when he’s with Helen too.  They have two kids, or that’s how many I’ve met.  Their daughter is 18.  I looked very closely at her license the first time she bought cigarettes.   Didn’t want to sell to a minor.  She once came in to buy a pregnancy test, then returned it because it didn’t give results early enough.  She said she’d kind of know by then anyway.   Of course it was only $4.00.  She said that was her bus money.  Did Joe and Helen know she was out?

I saw Helen at the 6 pack shop down the street one night after I closed up.  She was with a guy and seemed a little awkward.  She introduced him and told him I had adopted one of the kittens.  We talked very briefly and I continued on to find a microbrew I hadn’t tried.

They also have a son who looks to be about 11.  He’s independent as I guess he has to be, and talks with a slight speech impediment.  He seems the most well adjusted of them all.

The Joe and Helen family are moving this month.  When they told me a couple of months ago, I asked if they’d still be in the area.  Helen said no, and added almost wistfully, “somewhere far away…. hopefully.”  Perhaps they’re looking for a fresh start.  I wish them the very best.  I don’t judge people.  I just observe.  I had a stint of drinking heavily a couple of years ago myself, so I know it’s a difficult thing to deal with.

I’m changing names to protect people’s privacy.

I’ve already told you about Ken.  Here’s some others.

Emily is one of our regulars. She’s in everyday, sometimes twice a day.  She smokes Marlboro Menthol Light 100’s.  She doesn’t want the receipt, except when she uses her card or when she’s buying something for her wicked mother-in-law.  I think the title is unofficial as she refers to her man as boyfriend, not husband.  Emily had a miscarriage last year.  We (my manager and I) think her boyfriend did something to her to cause her to miscarriage.  My manager was in an abusive relationship years ago.  The man she married turned into someone completely different once they were a legal couple.  She left him after a time, once she got up the courage and realized she didn’t deserve it.

Then there’s Liz who’s kind of quiet.  She introduced herself one day.  She knew my name from my nametag and felt like we should both be on a first name basis. She said something to that effect.  Liz nearly always has her very well behaved kids along.  A boy and a girl, I’d say around 8 and 10.  She didn’t introduce them officially.  I commented recently that I haven’t seen her as much lately.  She said she’s been super busy with work and the kids’ activities.  One is in soccer and the other in band.  She never mentions a husband/dad.  If he’s there, he must work a lot.  Or, she could be a single mom working a lot of hours and still keeping up with the children’s activities.

There’s two women whose names I don’t know that come in a lot.  One of them has a walker, though she isn’t old.  She gets social security since she can’t work.  She and her sister are there at least every other day.  They like to grab a soda from the cooler and drink it while they shop.  You have to remind them at checkout that you need to scan it. Otherwise they’ll “forget” to pay for it.  It’s like a game, I guess.  They do spend a lot there, but you have to watch them.

There’s the dude who works at Joe’s Battery and Tire.  He’s a good guy.  Works hard and has at least one kid, a boy who is also very well behaved.  He comes in every Sunday morning not long after we open and buys cereal and milk.  I wonder if he skips breakfast the rest of the week.  He’s very easy going and has never complained about anything.

There’s Eddie who always gets Rip It energy drinks and sometimes gets Newport Red 100’s.  I wish I could only smoke a little, but I smoke ’em if I have ’em.  We always have to enter a birthdate when we sell tobacco products.  His is 10/23/1972.  The aforementioned Emily’s is 7/6/1981, exactly 10 years after mine.  Eddie is going to be joining the team soon as a part time cashier.  He needs a second job, as so many do these days.

There are many others which I’ll keep writing about.