Bret stood patiently watching as the woman serving him scanned his DVD then made an annoyed exclamation. It was just a cheap straight-to-DVD Action movie starring Danny Trejo. He had decided to buy it on a whim since he had a bit of spare money in his pocket, but it seemed he was going nowhere fast right now.
"Not now!" Karen was having a bad day, she was doing three jobs all at the same time and still had over an hour to go before someone came to take her place at the DVD counter of the supermarket. Nevertheless, right now she was not worried about that, she was more worried by the customer who she was serving.
"I'm sorry about this but the till has scanned the DVD twice and I'm not sure how to delete it," she said in a very apologetic tone, almost waiting for him to rant and rave at her.
"That's no problem, I'm not in a rush" he smiled as he spoke, trying to put her at ease from her obvious hesitancy.
"That's good, I'll just ring my supervisor and they will sort it out" Karen said reaching for the phone and asking for Debbie while looking back at Bret who once again smiled at her.
It was a pleasant surprise that this tall young man was being so understanding and nice, when she first saw him she had instantly judged that he would be like all of the others who she served. He was young looking, tall and quite broad. Usually with that sort, she found if there was even a hint of a delay they get impatient and tended to take it out on her. This young man just kept smiling at her however and standing quietly as he waited, tapping his Β£10 note on the counter as he waited to pay.
"I'm really sorry about this" she said again after hanging up the phone, she had been informed Debbie would be a few moments only, but Karen felt she had to apologize again for the wait.
"Don't worry about it, not your fault" came the replay in an upbeat tone accompanied by another smile which made Karen feel even more at ease, his smile was nice too she thought, not just his personality.
"Should just be a moment or two," she said looking around for her supervisor but only seeing customers "My daughter better be up and ready for collage or there will be trouble" she said just trying to make a bit of conversation as they both waited.
"Collage you don't look old enough" Bret said with actual surprise that this woman had a daughter of collage age. He had assumed she was in her mid thirties going by her looks.
"Oh I am trust me" Karen laughed and slightly blushed, she had never been good at taking compliments and while she knew she didn't quite look her 43 years, she didn't think she'd be hearing something like that from a guy who she thought must be in his late teens.
"Well you don't look it," he said again smiling and looking around.
Karen smiled to herself, she really liked this person, he was polite and sweet and the more she saw his smile the more she liked him.
"She should be here by now, I bet she has forgotten about me," Karen said referring to Debbie who she had called for several minutes ago now.
"Probably found something else to do" Bret said with a grin
"Again I'm sorry about this" Karen said, now feeling bad that she had made this nice guy wait for what seemed like an hour, but inside she also felt happy she was able to spend more time with him. "I'll ring again, it's been five minutes right?"
"Yep it has," he said as he watched Karen rang again. He took in her looks and admired her as her straight blonde hair framed her face. She was very pretty for a more mature woman, quite short and no supermodel but not fat either, just a nice curvy woman, in his eyes a perfect shape.
"Is Debbie on her way? I've got a lovely customer here who been waiting for ages" she said glancing over at Bret who smiled when he saw her gaze at him.
"Is she coming?" Bret asked as Karen walked back over
"Yes, she's on her way finally"
Bret nodded and smiled again, making Karen smile back at him like his smile was infectious.
"Ah here she is" Karen said as her supervisor finally arrived to sort out the problem, which Karen was busy telling her.
Bret watched as the supervisor tapped on the till buttons, then looked at Karen who gave him a little thumbs up and a wink which made him chuckle and her laugh.
"There you go all done," the supervisor said as she stepped back
"Thanks, I hate this till" Karen said, "I can't wait to get finished and home"
"Yeah well tough" the supervisor said jokingly "Anyway what you complaining about you got a lovely customer here"
"He is lovely!" Karen said quickly, in the ten minutes or so they had been talking she had really enjoyed his company and was not exaggerating with her response, which was fast and heartfelt. Bret smiled happy to take the compliment from such a nice woman.
"Ok finally! Here you go enjoy your film," Karen said as she sealed the DVD in a bag with his recite and handed it over.
"I better bloody do after all this" Bret joked making Karen laugh loudly
"Oh god I hope so" she said through her giggles "You have to let me know!"
"I will probably be back here Friday," Bret said with a chuckle. That was his usual shopping day, today was just a quick trip.