I worked in a building named Plaza One. It is a brown building that looked liked it was someone’s brilliant idea in the 70’s. By this I mean that it’s constructed of light brown bricks and it looks something a child would make out of legos. It is three stories and on the right hand side there is a large window that reveals an awful decision in lighting fixtures. When I had to walk everywhere as a teenager we knew that is was one of the only places we could go into air conditioning and smoke. The top floors are reserved for offices, but I am not even sure who works in them or what they’re for. The front was dedicated to a strip mall housing an Italian ice place, a tuxedo rental place, and Video Thrills. That’s where I worked. Seems pretty inconspicuous and yellow neon sign proclaiming that it was where thrills involving that of the video nature were located. I want you to break it down though. Do you think we specialized in action films and that’s what thrilled? I will give you a word. Pornography. That’s what we were constantly thrilling people with.
At first Marty, my boss, wouldn’t hire me. It didn’t matter how much retail experience I had. There was no way he was going to hire a girl. I said:
Look Marty I don’t want to tell you how to run your store, but I think that it’s pretty sexist for you to just turn someone away just because they are a girl. I could probably call some people. Plus I think having a girl work here instead of a sleazy guy then you probably get more customers in here. I know what kind of people these are and I know how to handle myself and…
Well I had the job now didn’t I? Besides it would have been hard for him to turn me away. He’s an old friend of the family. My mother’s friend to be exact. I think at one point my parents were probably swingers. What she would have done with fat old Marty Schillman was beyond me. Maybe he was a real looker back in the 70’s, just the Plaza One building may have been a good idea. Or even the interior of Video Thrills. Red counter with a white base. Shelves behind the counter of the same nature. Because Marty is a real genius with interior design. That’s what I always told him anyway. It was situated so that in the front there were old vhs copies of bad movies and then there was a back section. It was kind of a cheap front because I didn’t think that Marty really bothered to stock anything after 1992. We didn’t have any horror either because my friend had ripped most of it off. I don’t think Marty ever noticed.
The good thing about the job was that I could read as much as I wanted to and also be on the internet for long periods of time. I had a little monitor where I could watch to see if anyone was stealing Cum Guzzlers. It was usually just some shady looking middle aged man who roams the aisles for and hour and a half and comes out with Dirty Debutants 2. People love Ed Powers I guess.
