Today, I was minding my own business, just going about my normal pawn shop routine, when a co-worker stopped me from doing whatever it was I was doing (putting away DVDs, stocking video games, who knows) and told me that a customer had just informed him that one of our cigarette butt tower collection things was smoking. I'm not sure what they're officially called, but I think most people will know what I mean. It's one of those plastic things that have a rounded bottom with a waist-high column sticking out of the top of it. At the top of this column are two holes, one on each side. People are supposed to insert their cigarette butts into these holes so as to 1) prevent unsightly cigarette butts from littering the ground, and 2) give cigarette butts that are still hot a place to cool off without the risk of starting something on fire. When I went outside, there were no visible flames, but a goodly amount of smoke was coming out of the top of the column. I removed the column from the base and dumped a glass of water into the collection bucket inside of the base, but realized that smoke was still coming from the column. Someone had pushed trash into the the hole, but it had not fallen all the way down. I had to slam the column portion onto the ground until a smoldering napkin fell out and I stomped on it. Apparently, some fool thought the cigarette butt collection tower thing was also meant for paper goods. Either that or they were feeling a little mischievous.
A while after this, a woman approached the pay day counter and was looking to take out a cash advance loan. I asked for her ID and she slung her oversized purse onto the counter and began to rummage through it. First, she pulled out a thick stack of various plastic cards and receipts. Not finding her ID, she began to pull out things from the multiple pockets and compartments in her purse. Out came a bottle of prescription pills, important looking pink slips, another bottle of prescription pills, receipts, yet another bottle of pill, a handkerchief, more bottles of pills. It was like watching Mary Poppins unload her bag, only this bag was filled with prescription pills, receipts, and trash rather than useful household items. The woman kept muttering to herself as she began to shift around the remaining contents of her purse (the counter was pretty full and would not have held much more sprawl of her things) and verbally hoped she hadn't left her ID at the pharmacy. Predicting that I had some time to waste as she continued searching, and not having an inkling of faith that she'd find her ID in that mess, I began trying to discreetly read her bottles of pills to see what they were all for. Sadly, it didn't work. They were turned or laid just so that I could read them properly. All I know is that one bottle said "preventative" in the directions. As I was doing this, the woman pulled a steak knife out of her purse and set it on the counter. Yes. She literally pulled a steak knife out of her purse and set it on the counter on top of a handkerchief that was on top of a mound of trash. I almost started laughing. I made one of those gasping noises you make when you almost lose control and have to suck a laugh back in after it's halfway out. I kept imagining her robbing a pharmacy with a steak knife. To my surprise, the woman did find her ID among her mess of cards and receipts, and then she began to repack her purse, shoving everything back in without rhyme or reason, including the steak knife. In the end, her loan was denied and I had to turn her away. Moments later, another customer approached the counter and pointed out that the woman's purse had been leaking something. I promptly sprayed the counter down with Windex and cleaned off whatever mystery juices the prescription drug lady had left behind. It makes me wonder what else had been hiding inside that purse.
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