Days come and go in the same pattern: Waking up at 7:30 a.m., splashing some water in the face, a quick breakfast, smartening oneself up, and heading to catch the bus, with a crawling hope it won’t be cramped so I can doze peacefully for a few more minutes during the drive. A drive known inside out, passing by the same houses, shops, and trees, all familiar but also distant. Finally, getting off the bus, a 5-minute walk, and here’s the destination.

I enter the shop through the back door; everything lies silent in the dark: mattresses, bed linen, towels, blankets, pillows, and what else a bed store sells. Only some faint voices are climbing the stairs. I follow them, and I reach the kitchen and meeting room. I wish a good morning. Anita and Irene are already drinking a cup of coffee. I join them, and we three smoke a cigarette before we open the shop. A new day, a new start. Our big question: Will we hit the sales target and be the first among the other branch stores? The management puts everyone under pressure to achieve high sales figures and creates antagonism between the branch shops; the shop with the highest sales volume will win, and its sellers will become the bonus. But in the end, the real winner will be the big boss. We join that game only because we need the bonus on the month’s pay. Somehow, it makes you wonder how sales figures can decisively dominate your life — pushing you to create personal strategies to approach customers and convince them to buy. At this juncture, the competition between you and your close colleagues starts: who has a better plan and is better at fishing customers?

Ensnared in such thoughts, the sales day begins. Lights are on, doors are opened, and the goods are put out and rearranged for a showcase, aiming to attract potential customers and lure them into the shop. As we finish, the store manager arrives, a few minutes late and approves, satisfied with our work. One of the advantages of being a manager is that you can be late for work without being scolded.

Now, for the rest of the day, put on a friendly smile and wait for customers to come. Never forget that the customer is the king.

If buyers don’t storm the shop, there’s a lot of other work to do, like dusting off, putting the towels in a new attractive style (good if you have plenty of creativity; you can apply it here), fluffing up pillows and down comforters, or changing the exhibition bedclothes. All tasks are fairly shared; we must kill time until lunch break.

While carrying out the work, we chat and pour out our hearts. Irene tells us her son’s movement out of the family’s home has gone smoothly and adds in an earnest tone, „I hope soon he will get serious and settle down, but not with his current girlfriend. They don’t fit each other.” On our question, what makes her think that? She responds, „They have a long-distance relationship, and it doesn’t look like she wants to move in with him. She cares more about her career. “

On the other side, our store manager reveals she met an attractive man. She’s happy the relationship is evolving smoothly; her concern is how her daughter will react to this new relationship. A few months later, one morning after her vacation, she will show up with a 5-month baby bump. Things can go fast. Silently, I follow the discussion, thinking about my future and whether I should really do this job for the end of my life. Is that really what I want? The colleagues are great, but does this job have a brilliant future for me? Absently, I dream about another life in another country.

Thankfully, the traffic is higher after lunch. Others, having lunch breaks, pop in the shop to do minor shopping for a towel, pillowcase, or bedclothes, or shoppers stroll around and, if something attracts their eye, make a bargain. However the actual good buyers are targeted independently of daytime. They know what they want, and you proudly can show them your know-how about down duvets and mattresses.

Relieved, closing time approaches. On the fly, we bring all the showcases inside, do the accounting, get our stuff, and head home. My mind dreams again about another life in another country, mixed with sales strategies. Soon, I will be back.