Working at a supermarket leaves you with two choices: stick to yourself and be miserable or embrace the built-in community. The store might be the last place anyone wants to be, but sharing the hectic experience with each other makes it slightly more bearable. The friends I’ve made during my five years here range from my age — 20 — to 20 years my senior. Age is just a number until after work, when the older crew can be found purchasing craft beer, and I go for a diet peach Snapple.
I like being out at night. I like the way buildings look when they’re empty, and I like to see which windows are still lit up. I like lying in the middle of the sidewalk and listening to music. I like seeing which doors are still unlocked, and I like to look inside. I like who I am at night, when no one is around to see.
As most of us graduate college and transition into adult life, we often find that it is not a very smooth transition; learning how to manage banking crises calmly when we get charged obnoxious amounts for overdraft fees and don’t…