i could have done something to prevent it. couldn’t I?

I wanted to write on how much I love my gray Gatsby wax, and how I use it and all, but I guess that’ll have to wait, because, I basically just lost my mood for everything.

Work was alright through the night, It wasn’t too busy, but it was in a sense quite boring. I still remember the time so clearly. It was already 11pm. I was sweeping the store, and prepared myself for mopping. Waiting for the last customer to go off, I dragged myself to the store to get the mop and started mopping the area.

The pest control guy came, just some routine checks. I started mopping beside the dark pastry case, thinking that work will be ending in around 1/2 hour time. Just another boring day concluded. I took my mopping over to the last table and chair, with the Pest control guy, aged Late 40s or Early 50s, doing his routine check around. He was flipping up all the seats cushion to make sure they were hiding some weird nest or whatsoever.

Well, tough job, I thought to myself. I continued my mopping, but I couldn’t continue, because the guy was in the way, he was running through that set of chairs. I just stood there looking and waiting for him to check finish so that I can mop this place and get to rest soon, I’m so tired.

“He’s sure taking 1 hell of a time”, I thought to myself. He’s spending an extra period of time on this cushion. “Maybe he found a real hornet nest below the chair!”, I thought stupidly. Sleepless nights + working long hours tends to do that to you. I peeped nearer, and I saw the guy fidgeting with something, I could see him pressing a phone, and if I wasn’t wrong, it was quite a new samsung phone.

“Well, he’s rich from clearing pest, maybe I should do that someday.”

I shrugged it off and then he told me he was done with that set. I answered “k” and finish up mopping the area. Finally I got the mopping done. I grabbed a cloth, and went checking the area for any stuff to clear, when a customer came in. “Yoo hoo, we’re closed, can’t you see the lights off or something.”, I thought.

“I’m sorry, did you see a mobile phone around anywhere? I lost it here,” the teenage customer asked. “A phone? I didn’t see it, but let me ask my partners whether they saw it.” I checked with my manager and closing partner, and they confirmed they didn’t see it.

“Damn bad luck,” I thought to myself again.

Weird how these thoughts keep invading my mind. I swoop around to look at the whole cafe, when I realized, “hey, where did the pest control guy go to.”

The whole thing started to piece together. The customer last sat location was at that sofa, the sofa that I stood at for so long, the sofa that the pest control guy took so long to check, the sofa that I was last at. “Don’t tell me the shining thing, was the customer’s phone?!”

“Oh fuck, what do I do now, he’s missing, where the hell did he go?!”, the inside me started shouting. A shouting that only I could hear, but the outside me was just looking the same, the tired me.

I spotted the guy coming back, from the toilet. I didn’t wanted to sound like I was accusing him of something, and so I went to him instead and said:

“Hey uncle, did you see any phones around? I kind of dropped mine when I was cleaning the area, If you find can you return it to me?”.

I said that, in the hope that he would return it because after all, I’m a staff over there and he would be honest somehow.

“Ok.”, was all he said.

I could see from his face, he was trying to hide something. He went to the toilet again, I didn’t knew whether he had some stomach upset or was he doing something inside. He returned10minutes later, asking me why I didn’t try calling my phone. If I didn’t guess wrongly, he went in to switch off the phone. “Fuck, he got me first”, swearing inside my head.

“I found my phone already, its ok”.

He then started to tell me how he always lose his phone and so now he uses a lousy phone old model phone so if he loses it, he doesn’t lose much.

“Now what the fuck, the customer’s lost phone was a samsung phone, and you are telling me you are using a old phone when I just saw you pressing a brand new samsung phone.” I swore even louder inside me.

What should I do, I kept pacing around with the mop. I didn’t have enough to pin against him. I ran in to tell my manager secretly, and after hearing it, he looked concerned for probably 10 seconds, before asking the customer to fill in her contact number and we’ll contact her If we find her phone.

“Fuck lah, her phone is with that guy, you’ll never find it if you don’t get him,” thought myself.

-

The pest control guy finished up his job and went off, and before he went off, he told me to look after my properties properly the next time. I WAS TOTALLY FUCKED UP BY HIS COMMENT. CBCB.

Then thinking back, I could have done something couldn’t I. I could have stopped him, I could have requested a check, knowing we’ll probably find the phone on him. But no, he might have done something to it during the toilet trips.

I know how it feels to lose something, and now seeing something like this but having done nothing, I’m really really guilty and it just feels like I’m the one who has taken the phone itself.

I know I could have done something. Why didn’t I. I could have threaten him to return, I could have reported to my manager. No, I already done that, and nothing was done.

I swore I could have done something to help.

I’m feeling so fucked.