Boxed

By Melissa Rowe

A story within a story. If you've worked in retail, this book is for you. If you've worked on a store truck crew, this book is especially for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Melissa Rowe
• Release date: Feb 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310439254

Melissa Rowe

I lead an uninteresting life, and I like it that way. Writing is my hobby and an outlet for all of the unusual and interesting scenarios that enter my head but will never happen in real life.

Book preview

Boxed

Melissa A. Rowe

Smashwords Updated Edition

Copyright 2023 Melissa A. Rowe

Cover by Melissa A. Rowe

This short story is also dedicated to everyone that I worked with at stores 0143, 6452, 061, and 083. It is also in memory of two co-workers with the same name.

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As usual, Nicole was sitting at the break room table and writing furiously...

It was a normal weekday in downtown Pittsburgh. Commuters were beginning to stream out of buses and parking garages, juggling various combinations of laptop bags, tote bags, travel mugs, and all of the other accoutrements of the seasoned commuter. These were the hardy ones, the early arrivers. In the winter, days are dark and cold both when they enter and exit their office buildings, a depressing prospect at best. But this was summertime, when the early arrivers were beating the heat.

Lisa was one of those who liked to start early. She liked catching the 6 a.m. bus filled with like-minded commuters who sleep or read in the quiet of the morning. She liked getting to the office around 7, depending on the traffic of course. Those winter mornings were indeed dark, but most of the year she could watch the sunrise if she chose. She liked getting a jump on the day, before clients started calling and people began knocking on her door with requests to fulfill or problems to solve. She liked this job more than she thought she would, which made what was about to happen unpleasant.

Word had come down that their company was closing the downtown Pittsburgh office. The salaried employees, those who processed data and dealt directly with the clients, were offered transfers to the Philadelphia office. Moving east would have been easy