Day 13 : First time ?

Day 13, 11/18/25
First time ?

I wake up this morning…. And i had an horrible night.
I come downstairs to eat breakfast, i am so damn tired.
My Aunt is about to go.
I dress up for my first day at Cultura, and i come down stairs to say goodbye to my Aunt.
My mom hugs her, she says that she will never be able to tell her thank you enough, and they both try not to cry because they have make up on.
My Aunts gets in her car, and she starts going. We wave goodbye to her, and she go.
We go back to our house and we see her go the other way because she took a wrong turn.

Me : Well what a way to ruin the emotional scene.

So we start getting ready to go to Cultura.
Before we go my mom says :

Mom : OH i forgot i had this, lemme do something symbolical real quick.
*she shows us a picture of our father*
*she turns on her lighter*
*she burns the picture*

F**king farewells David.
So we go out the house.
And…. The car is frozen.
And we don’t have an ice ratter or whatever its called i don’t really care, the thing that removes the ice from your car glass.
So my mom gets a wet sponge and she try to wash off the ice.
She manages to do it and we go.

In my pants pockets i got my bro’s nokia in case i need to call my mom, and i got some chewing gums so i can in some ways wash my teeths after eating.
In my lunch bag i got a sandwhich and a bo’ol o’ wa’a (bottle of water), with also a croissant with chocolate bits.

And so we arrive. I am TIRED as F**K. The day did not start ladies and gentlemens, it did not start yet.
So we take a picture infront of the Cultura to send it in the family groupchat, and then we get inside.
Inside we inform a cashier that we got a tryout for [my full legal name, yall aint gettin this nuh uh] and the cashier calls her supervisor.
So i’m gonna either use the people real names or create them for those i forgot because there was too many people i met today, and i aint got time to create a name for everybody.
The supervisor arrives and she comes to me with a great smile :

Supervisor : So you must be Alexander !!

Me : Yes it is me.

Supervisor : My name is Marine, you probably met Erwan last time you came here, but he left and we
totally forgot we were supposed to get you on a tryout today.

Me : Erwan…. OH YEAH i remember him, so you’re the new supervisor.

Marine : Yes i am, and its a pleasure to welcome you.

I signed up for the music section of the store, and Erwan (the guy to whom i gave my CV last time i came here and that scheduled me this tryout) was totally thrilled to see a teenager interested in the music section, and he said yes to my tryout request instantly (and i am not kidding when i say instantly).
For instance I have a VERY filled CV, idk how its called in english but its a paper where you put your expertise, your abilities etc…. And for exemple, in my CV i put that i knew how to speak english very well (which is very usefull in a CV in France) and i also put that i had a lot of experience with guitars and other instruments of all sorts, and lots of other stuff…
And i might (might) (its a possibility) (its plausible) have a more filled CV than your average teenager that wants to go in the gaming section of the store.
Anyway back to the day.

Marine guides me to the locker room and she says on the way :

Marine : So just so you know, everybody here ‘’se tutoie’’, so don’t worry about nothing in terms of language.
(You can only understand if your french, but basically we got 2 versions of ‘’you’’. We got the ‘’tu’’ that you use with friends or people you know and we got the ‘’vous’’ that you use to be more polite. French is a difficult language peps, it is.)

And so she gives me a staff vest, almost feels weird to put this on, but i’m already having fun.
And then she gives me a little tour of the store (that i already kinda know but im glad she did anyway).
She gets me in the social space, the dining room, the resting room, i see a whole part of the store i’ve never seen and that didn’t know existed. She then introduces me to Leo, my partner in the music section.
So Leo takes over the role of ‘’guide’’ and Marine goes back to her supervisor activities.
Leo is super kind with me.

He continues the tour of the store but he goes in detail for our section.
He tells me that we are in charge of the Gaming section, the Dvd section, the CDs and Vinyls section, and the Instruments and Music section (the section i mainly signed up for).
So he goes in deep details about how everything is placed, stored, what to do when a certain client ask an item that isn’t in our section etc…
He is ultra nice.

We then go around the rest of the store where he doesnt go in details ‘’due to lack of knowledge of how things happen over here’’ he said. He introduces me to all the staff members we meet on the way. Everyone is super kind, it pleases me (considering the dark times i just went through these last 2 weeks).
He tells me everybodies name but i only remember Quentin in charge of the toy section and the storage room, and Thierry that is one of the cashier. Why do i remember Thierry, he got the ‘’I’m an hilarious and fun friend’’ aura.

Leo’s way to talk kinda reminds me of my best friend, but he’s way more chill.
So our first duty of the day is changing the price tags on the items that changed price overnight. He tells me it happens everyday and its the most important thing to do.
We do this, it takes us a good 30 minutes or even i’d say 45 minutes.
Then in between our tasks we help sometimes some clients. Thankfully Leo is used to talk to clients, but i got no idea how to interact with them.
We then unpack some packs we received to refill the shelves. He tells me how to valid the content of the boxes, how to print the price tags, put the anti-thief system…
He’s the goat at telling you what to do and i like it because if you don’t tell to do something or to not do it, i will either not do it or do it.
We then get our lunch break.
I eat my sandwhich, and Leo tells me :

Leo : You know, Erwan talked to us about you, but a LONG time ago, and we totally forgot that you would come today. He kinda leaved without telling us when you would come.

And so i think that Erwan told them that i would have a tryout the day i came with my CV.
And so we eat, we discuss a little, then we got in the resting room (not the restrooms i just realised the double meaning). Tomorow i will bring a book for sure. I waited for my shift to start again for like 40 minutes with nothing to relax.

And so we start our shift again. We go down the stairs of the staff rooms to go into the store but Leo says :

Leo : Oh wait Alex, come here imma show you something.
*I go back upstairs*
He shows me the board where we put the gains and the losses of the day, the budget of each section etc… and he tells me :

Leo : As you can see, the Music section doesnt have that much of a budget, and yesterday we surpassed it by almost 50%, you know why ? Because yesterday we sold a piano, and just by selling a piano, we can fill our quota of the day no problemo.

And so we go back downstairs into the store.

Client : Uhh excuse me sir ?

Leo : Yes what can I do for you ?

Client : I would like to buy this piano please.

I laugh inside because i’m like ‘’welp, we’ve just reached our quota’’.
And it was this client lucky day because this morning, i changed the pianos price tag and the price dropped by like 30€. And it also was the last one in stock.
He told us it was for a birthday that happenned today.
And so Leo goes to get the box in the storage room.
He cant find it.
And so i am like ‘’Oh no pls let us find the box, this guy wants to do a surprise to whoever he wants to offers this to and it would be a beautiful surprise’’.
We go in the back room of the store where they put all the real products that they call ‘’sensible’’ or like high risk of being stolen. They put some (mostly video games and consoles) fake products in the store and when you come up to the cashier, they give you the real product. And he told me :

Leo : I highly doubt we’ll find the box in here, like the chance are as big as winning the lottery.

Guess what.

We found it.
LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
But only one problem, we can’t find the cable that is provided with the piano inside the box.
And so Leo replaces the cable with another one, and he decides to do a little promotion for the client for all the trouble.
The client also bought the transport bag and the piano legs.
Yes, its the store brand named Shiver and it has the bad habit to sell everything separatly.
For exemple i once bought a mic from them yall prob remember maybe, and i had to buy for 15€ extra the mic stand, that wasnt provided in the mic box.
And so we helped him transport everything to his car.
We sold 1 piano. We reached our quota. Nah i’m joking we didn’t…. Or i don’t know i’ll see tomorow on the board by how much we surpassed.

I had a wholesome moment also when Leo was helping the client.
There was a mother with her probably 2 or 3 years old child playing some displayed instruments.
She was playing with the tongue drums, then the little girl started putting the stick in her mouth, and the mother just told her ‘’No, give it back, you’re not supposed to put it in your mouth’’ and the child listenned.
No violence, just pure education.
Then the little girl walked in the direction of the guitar wall and she wanted to play some.
Her mom said ‘’No honey you’re too young for guitars right now, wait come over here we’ll play some piano’’ and the little girl listenned.
No violence, just pure education.

Then the mother tried to find out how to turn on one of the piano, i told her that they apparently were all plugged off, but i helped her anyway, and we found one that accepted to turn on. Then the mother got her kid on her lap and started playing ‘’twinkle twinkle little star’’. The child obviously just went ‘’BRUML BRAM BRUM BRAMMM’’ and the mother at some point said ‘’Okay enough piano. Now lets go in the toy section’’ and the little girl didn’t cry because the fun stopped, she just listenned and followed her mother.
No violence, just pure education.

I won’t explain all the client interactions because some were less interesting than others.

At some points we got someone that bought bass strings and after i confirmed him that ‘’a pick is mostly used in electric guitar playing for a more precise playing style, but it is also used for folk guitars to play chords more easly’’ we opened a supply box. Leo chuckles and slowly gets out one singular bag of the exact same strings the client bought and he said :

Leo : We usually never get those, funny we get hem when we need hem.

After this client, a guy approaches :
(We’ll call him client father cause he was a father to what i understood)

Client father : Hello, i would like to know if you got some keyboards for kids.

*Leo hesitates* : uhhh i don’t think…. Wait… OH yea i think we got this.

We walk up to a shelf with all the kids instruments and stuff you can find in any first year of music theory class.

Leo : This should probably do the work. It is a keyboard with… 27 keys if i’m right, and it has some built in loops with built in speakers, it is mostly used for the awakening of musical senses.

Client father : Okay, and how much is it ?

Leo : it is, wait a sec…. 57,99€

Client father : Hmm, and you only got this one ?

Leo : Well we got these models but they are more for adult beginners than for childrens.

Clients father : Hmmm yes you know my kid is 4 and he’s really into music so i want to get him whats best.

Leo : Well i think the first one i presented to you should fit more what you’re looking for.

The client asks a little bit about colors and stuff, the abilities of the keyboard… Then he goes :

Client father : Okay thank you for this, now i would like to know if yall got ukulele strings. My kid broke one string from his and i want to replace it.

Leo : We got this right over here.

We walk up to the shelf with all the strings.

Client father : Oh wait you only sell them in packs of 4 ?

Leo : Well its ukulele strings, there is only 4 strings on a ukulele.

Client father : Oh wait my bad, its not a ukulele, its more like a guitar, but its the size of a ukulele approximativly.

Me : Would you describe it a little more please.

Client father : Well its a mini size guitar with 6 strings and all, there is frets, metal strings. Its kinda like these *points at a bag of bronze strings*.

Leo : Well maybe you have a guitalele, but in that case we don’t have the strings.

We start moving onto the guitar wall where we got from the 1/4 classical guitars to the 4/4’s, thinking he maybe had a classical guitar.

Me : Maybe you got this *points the ¼ guit*.

Client father : Uhm no, its even tinier.

Leo and I looks at eachothers.

Leo : Well that is gonna be very complicated then.

Client father : Agh…. And you cant like buy a bag of normal strings and cut them the size needed ?

Me : Well it could work, but it would be extremly risky.

Client father : Oh why is that ?

Me : Well because according your description we’re talking about bronze strings, which are used on folk guitars, and bronze strings apply quite a lot of pressure on the neck, and the risk is that if you put those strings on a guitar that wasnt built for this kind of pressure, well the neck could snap in half.

Client father : Aww shoot.

Leo leaved to help another client seeing i had the ‘’string problem’’ in my pockets.

Clients father : Well its very weird because its the exact same strings and all *he strums the open strings of a folk*.

Me : Well again if you wanna try, you can but its risky. For this kind of operation tho, i would recommand more Nylon strings, they are softer and apply less pressure on the head. And you’re sure your guitar isn’t a mix of copper and nylon ?

Client father : Well i don’t know, i’m not sure there was nylon in the strings. Lemme try to find a picture hold on.

He searches on his phone.

Client father : Well its this thing, agh i cant manage to zoom in.

He downloads the picture and zoomes in.
And he shows me :

Me : Wait can you zoom in on the bridge pls.

He zooms in.

Me : Hhmm nah even if you tried to put nylon strings i’m not sure it would work, it isn’t the kind of bridge that can fit nylon. I think your guitar is more a toy than a real guitar.

Client father : Yeah that’s what i am starting to think.

He makes a pause contemplating the guitars.

Client father : You know i bought it at the E.Leclerc down the road, and i’m wondering if they would sell the string or repair…

Me : Well i’m not quiet sure…

Client father : Yeah its a toy…

Me : I would honestly be surprised if the providers created replaceable strings or even had the thought that someone would need to replace them.

Client father : *Chuckles* yea i think you’re right. Well still, thank you very much for helping me, i guess my only choice is buying another one.

Me : It was a pleasure.

The father leaves

Leo comes back :

Leo : Well i see that in terms of strings and guitars, you know what you talking about.

Me : *Chuckles* yea i really do.

This was my first real interaction in solo (in some ways) with a client.

After this someone wanted help to find a book, so Leo walked to the book section and i followed behind, till out of nowhere :

Client in his 40’s : Oh excuse me sir !

Me : *sorta stunned* Oh, y-yea ? What can i do for you ?

Client in his 40’s : Well i would like to find 5 books of the series [i don’t remember the name]. Stupid thing tho i forgor the name of the author.

Me : Wellllllllllllll I can’t lie to you sir i’m not quite sure i can help you because i can’t lie to you, i’m here on tryout and it’s my very first day.

Client in his 40’s : OH *chuckles* well okay don’t worry.

Me : Maybe i can get you to my colleage, he just helping a client right now then he’ll be able to help you.

Client in his 40’s : Well please do.

I get him to Leo, the client says the same thing he said to me, then Leo calls someone in charge of the library section.
The guy was honestly very kind considering the fact i couldn’t help him. There were some bad interactions sometimes but i won’t really talk about these because they were not this big, just the mood that changed when the client learnt that i was on tryout.

Around the end of the day, a kid and her mother asked some questions about a pokemon pack Mega-combat edition, thinking it would not be the official cards, then Leo says to me :

Leo : You know what i would like to do someday ? Wait just one question, until which day you stay on tryout.

Me : till the 29th.

Leo : Okay, that would be a lil short but i could still try while you’re here on the last Saturday. You see these cards ? Magic ? Well i would like to do a innitiation class on a Saturday morning so the clients can learn what Magic is about.

Me : Ohhh that sounds interesting.

Leo : Well i tell you this in case you wanted, if this even happens before you go.

Me : Well honestly, i’m into it.

Leo : Cool, i will first need the authorisations and stuff, i’m not even sure this will happen. And you see Thierry and Mathew are both ultra into Magic cards, so i wanted to do this for them too.

Me : Well its a good idea tbh.

Leo : Oh wait what hour you’re supposed to end your day already ?

Me : 18:00 (6pm).

Leo : Oh well you’re doing so supplementary hours right now !

Me : Oh well i should get going then !

I thanked him for helping me and giving me such a warm welcome then i picked up my stuff.
When i go back downstairs, in the hallways of shelves i see a guy with short hairs that kinda looks like my bro. Then I realise ITS MY BRO.
My jaw drops…
I totally forgot he had an haircut appointment today. And just so you understand, we’ve been letting our hairs grow out down to our man tits, and i was so used to see him with attached hairs, i was genuinly shocked.
But ngl, it is giving him a good 10 /10 look.
Then, i saw my mother and i told her about my wonderfull day, how kind everyone was with me, and she was happy for me.
In the car i discover they bought me the exact curtains i needed for my rooms, blazing red, it is perfect.
Now i won’t explain in details what i did after allat like eating, showering etc…CAUSE ITS 23:28 (11:28 pm) AS I AM WRITING THIS AND I GOT WORK TOMOROW !!!
GOODNIGHT !!!

Next day : imgflip.com/i/adwuqq