The Other Me

Today a new worker started at the pawn shop. And, as it turns out, he and I share the same first name (he shall hereafter be referred to as The Other Me). To be honest, I'm not too thrilled about this name sharing--mostly because it will lead to confusion when someone says our name and we aren't sure which one they are addressing, but also because I don't like sharing my name. It feels weird to me. I actually haven't met many people who share my name that I've liked very much, partially because I find sharing my name to be annoying. Immature? Yeah. But it's true.

Anyway, when I heard that The Other Me would be starting, I cracked several jokes about being confrontational and telling him things like "This pawn shop here isn't big enough for the two of us" or "Just so we can keep things straight, you'll be known as The Worthless _____ and I'll be known as The Worthwhile ______". I even went so far as to say I should ignore him and then growl and try to bite him when he tried to talk to me. I really don't feel any hostility towards The Other Me. My sense of humor is just aggressive and cruel.

When The Other Me finally did start around noon, I was actually paired with him to show him how to put away new pawn loans and such. He did a pretty good job and was polite enough, but one thing I noticed about him was how heavily he breathed all the time. He also made a lot of grunting and sighing noises during ordinary activities which do not usually warrant making such noises. It may be because he is a larger guy--he's not about to break any world records, but he must have about 150 pounds on me (who weighs in at 185 on a fat day). 

I actually kind of felt bad for The Other Me because we were super busy today. We actually broke a record for most pawn transactions in a single day. Between new loans and purchases, we had a whopping total of 129 transactions. An ordinary day involves about half of that amount of transactions. Imagine the chaos. But The Other Me kept up fairly well. I mean, he wasn't phenomenal, but it was his first day and, all things considered, he did just fine. I will admit that there were moments when I became frustrated because I had to move at a much slower pace so I could train him, but we survived.

At one point, I asked my boss if this was her way of replacing me (see Changes Are Coming). She laughed and denied it, and I believe her, but I wasn't about to let the joke drop. I told The Other Me that he would have some large shoes to fill and that it wasn't likely he would be able to do it.

I really hope he knows I was only joking. But, if not . . . eh.