Day 24 : Last day

Day 24, 11/29/2025
Last day

I wake up to the sound of my mom saying ‘’Wake up’’. Its 8:30 am. I almost forgot in all of this that i decided to wake up earlier to fix my mistake from yesterday.

When we get in the car, its 9:20 am, when we arrive its 9:45. I go immediatly because ‘’the sooner the better’’.
I go through the store, i say hello to some colleagues, and i search Leo with my eyes… I can’t find him.
I decide to go have a look in the staff area… I can’t find him.
I drop my stuff in my locker, put the biscuits my mom made on the dinning room table, and i meet Servane on the way downstairs.
I ask her if she has seen Leo and she tells me he is probably around in the store. I go in direction of the table and i see him from afar, talking to a client.
I wave to him he looks at me kinda confused. I give him his Note right away, and he says thanks.
He was using Mathews Note.
I go back upstairs to put on my staff vest.
When i go downstairs i realise :

Me thinking : Hol on, what happens if there is like an inspections, would they be in trouble if the inspectors find me starting my shift earlier ?

And so i go ask Leo about this :

Me : Do you think its better that i start at 11am or can i start right now ?

Leo : Well you don’t really need to start your shift now. Honestly you can just go and read or rest for an hour.

Me : Nah i’m gonna help you.

Leo : You don’t need to, im serious, you can just go rest.

Me : I want to do it, i’ve done a mistake.

Leo : Okay.

I helped some people, Leo mostly outrunned me each time so, it was mostly when he was already helping someone that i managed to be able to help peoples.
I was using Mathews Note, till he arrives.
I also explained to Leo what happenned with the Gemma guitar yesterday, he was clearly confused… just like me and Mathew when we experienced this.
When Leo went on lunch break, he let me borrow his note (thank god).
I helped Mathew do the tops like the DVD top the gaming tops and music tops. When we finished we tried to do some re-arrangement in the CDs. After this, Leo came back from his lunch break and it was my turn.

When i arrived in the dining room, i saw that the biscuit box was already half finished. There was nobody in the room. I started to eat my sandwhich and then, Servane arrives. When she sees that the biscuit box has a note saying ‘’thanks for welcoming Alex in your team during those 2 weeks, he doesn’t want to leave’’ she says :

Servane : You made these biscuits ?

Me : Nah, my Mom did those, i didn’t have the time.

Servane : That’s so sweet !

She tries one.

Servane : Hmmmm ! They’re so good !

Me : I’ll tell my mother this.

Servane : And so its your last day ?

Me : Yea it is, sadly.

Servane : Did you enjoy this tryout ?

Me : Oh yeah it was so fun ! I loved how yall welcomed me too !

Servane : Good. And so why did you decide to do this tryout, like was it to prepare anything or just to discover a little bit our world ?

Me : Well my objective is to obtain a Learning contract so i can go in a school where i will be able to learn how to craft my own guitars. Like… Become a Guitar Luthier. The school name is ITEMM in Le Mans.

Servane : Oh thats amazing ! I’ve got an Aunt that repairs accordion and stuff. She goes a lot to Le Mans, i think i see what place you’re talking about.

Then a guy i don’t know the name of arrives (he told me his name after so i’m gonna use his name) :

Lucas : Bonne appetit !

Servane and me : Thanks
*store announcement ring*

Store : Dear customer, we want to remind you that your store is openned till 8pm today, and that [insert writer name] is signing autographs for her new book in the library section. Thank you.

Servane : Oh my, she didn’t even stutter.

Lucas : Phew.

She jokes about how the cashier that did announcements stuttered earlier.

Lucas : What did you use in those ? *he points at the biscuits that were close to Servane*

Servane : Hmm ? I didn’t make these, its Alex mother that made those.

Lucas : Oh its your last day ?

Me : Yea.

Lucas : Oh amazing.

*awkward silent*
*Servane looks at Lucas*
*she burts out of laughter*

Servane : AHHAHA ‘’Yeah i’m leaving today’’ ‘‘AMAZING’’ ! What a weird thing to say.

Lucas : *laughing* Nah what i meant is like, now your moving to go do something new and thats nice.

Me : Yea, i kinda liked it here tho.

Lucas : Anyway what were you doing here ?

Servane does a quick recap about me.

Lucas : Oh nice, and from where did this passion of guitar come from ?

Me : Well…….. thats a hard question hum… I kinda always liked guitar like, really passionate about this instrument.

Lucas : So you play some ?

Me : Yeah obviously.

Lucas : I play some too ! And you play only Electric ?

Me : HM no i play accoustic… Like classical, and electric.

We talk, we talk, its fun to talk.
Lucas tries to guess Servanes age, and he goes with 26. She is 25.

Marine : *walks in the room* Hello, bonne appetit. *she takes a biscuit* Hmm they’re so good, its my third one *she starts walking away*.

Me : Wait.. Third one ?!

Lucas : What ? She said she took 3 of hem ?
*he looks in the direction of the hallway*
Lucas : Marine ! You eating monster !!!

We laugh.

After a while, he goes :

Lucas : Oh funny bitch !! YOU, ARE, FIRED !!!!

Servane : What ?

Lucas : She just threw me a finger right here right now.

*store announcement ring*
*silence in the room*

Store : Dear clients, we want to remind you that your store is open—p- poened till 8pm today, Thank you.

Servane : AHAHAHAHAHHHAHA, SHE STUTTERED !!!
Lucas : And there you can hear Thierry laughing behind her.

We laugh. We then drift into another subject.

Lucas : You like travelling ?

Servane : Oh yea i just came back from japan.

Me : You speak japanese ?

Servane : Yea, i kinda have a decent level of japanese, like i can have a regular converstation with someone in japanese but like, if it goes deeper i can’t really do. SO if i want to order a Matcha Latte i’m good !

Lucas : *laughs*

We start talking about language, I learn that Servane did studies to become a french teacher for foreign countries. Lucas talk a lot about how here in France we judge people way too much and all.

Lucas : And you ? You’d like to travel ?

Me : Well yeah, i kinda want to travel the world on a boat.

Lucas : Thats nice ! Doing this kind of thing alone is pretty good.

Me : Oh i’m not sure about doing this alone. I’m not of the solitary kind.

Lucas : Hmm don’t worry, me too i thought i wasn’t solitary but, you don’t realise how much better it is to travel in another country all by yourself. Like you have to go meet people to ask for directions and you’re like ‘’I’m sorry, my accent is kinda bad’’ and you’ll see, people are always super happy to help a stranger… if you’re not in France. If you like, travel with somebody else, you’re more like ‘’Well, my friend here kinda speaks better their language than me so, i’ll just ask them to talk for me’’, you’re less into exploring all by yourself.

Me : I understand.

Lucas : Being alone is a very important part in your life, like its when you don’t have anybody to worry about, just yourself, and its when you learn the most.

For some reason he started getting really motivational, like ‘’you can do it’’ speech, but i let him talk, i needed these words.

We then start to talk about piercings and tattoos, for some reason, and they ask me if i ever want to get tattooed and all.

Me : Well… I’m not quite sure about getting tattooed, even tho it has a loooot of style.

Lucas : Oof, you don’t just tattoo for style.

He then says he has to go, and he says :

Lucas : Was nice eating with yall, and Alex, remember, you can do it.

Me : Thanks.

And he goes.

I then decide to go read in the resting room, and when its the end of my shift, i go prepare, and i meet Lucas one last time :

Lucas : Well, incase i don’t see ya. Goodbye ! And goodluck !

Me : Thanks, you too.

I think this guy is kinda into spiritual shit just like me, because he mentioned some stuff and stated he strongly believe in that stuff, but i didnt really have the chance to tell him i was kinda like him too. Anyway
And so i go back in the store. Mathew lets me borrow his Note during his lunch break (thanks god again).

There was many interections, but one sticks out.
At some point, when Leo is helping a women choosing a synth, a lady with her daughter comes to me :

Lady : Excuse me sir ? I would like some informations about electric guitars.

Me : Alright, what are your questions.

Lady : Well i got a 12 years old son, and he likes electric guitars, and i wanted to know in terms of size and all if this guitar would do *she points at a dark blue stratocaster*.

Me : Well… What is your son height ?

Lady : Arms raised ? Nah *laughs* im joking, he is about… 1.40m ?

Me : Well, it should maybe do the trick.

Lady : Well it would just be like for him to stay in his bedroom playing guitar.

Me : Oh well it should definitly do the trick.

Lady : Well i also wanted to know, what is the difference between those two *she points at the blue one and a black stratocaster*

Me : Well we got different sets of mics on both, for exemple, on this one we’re gonna have a sound that has more colour, that has….. *clicks my finger 3 times* herm, more nice sounding notes, and on this one you’re gonna have only power.

Lady : Oh okay well, which one do you think is better ?

Me : Well, personally i prefer the dark blue one over the dark one, because it also has more features so its more fun to play, and it has better sounding mics, its also comfortable. So, personally, i recommand this one.

Lady : Okay, well we’ll take this one then.

Daughter : Should i call father ?

Lady : Yea, do.

She looks at the guitars and then she asks me :

Lady : I have one question, do you absolutly need to use an amp on an electric guitar, or can you play like directly ?

Me : Welllllll if you play directly on the guitar without being plugged into an amp, it would do some noise, but….. It won’t be the same at all compared to if you’re plugged in.

Lady : Like……

Me : Wait lemme show you *i take the guitar*
*I pick a string*

Lady : Oh yeah it doesnt do sound at all !!!

Me : Yeah because compared to accoustic guitars, electric guitar won’t have a hollow body to make noise ressonate and become amplificated. I mean it depends the model and type of body, but most of the time, you absolutly need an amp.

Lady : Well, what kind of amp should we buy ? I saw this little one ?

Me : Well we’ve got this one at only 79€, and it got everything you need. It has some gain, volume knobs, it has a jack entry, this should do the work.

Lady : Oh yea that looks nice. And its shiver, the same brand as the guitar, so its kinda better.

Me : Yea, this too.

Lady : Oh but what about this big one, its on promotion at 89€ ? This one has to be better.

Me : Welllllllll…. It is more powerful and its kinda better yes, but you got more control knobs and so its not that beginner friendly.

Lady : Oh yea i didn’t see (there was like 6 control knobs, which isn’t that confusing to me, but she looked very confused). Well this one is way better then.

Me : Yea the little shiver one is way better for starters.

Lady : Well we’ll take this one.

*she looks back at the guitars*

Lady : One question tho, does he needs to have like lessons and music theory knowledge to play electric guitar ?

Me : Well not really, i mean its obviously better to have some knowledge and to learn the posture, finger positions and all, but an electric guitar is an instrument you can easly learn all by yourself.

Lady : Oh nice !!

??? : Psst.

Me : *looks around confused*

??? : Psst psst.

Me : *I see a man walking on the other side of the shelves*

Lady : Oh don’t worry, its my silly husband.

Me : Oh alright.

Husband : So what do we have here.

Lady : We got this electric guitar and this little amp over here.

Husband : Oh yeah ! But… Isn’t this black one the same one ?

Me : This one ? *i point to the full black strat*

Husband : No, this one *he points at a dark grey strat that is the same as the dark blue*

Me : Well yea its kinda the same, but it doesnt have the tremolo bridge, which is gonna make you be able to do some nice and fun stuff.

(Its fake, it had the tremolo bridge, but it didn’t have the whammy bar so… i used this to my advantage, because dark grey and black guitars don’t look special, its just a guitar that looks mass produced and so it doesnt make you want to play it, and i absolutly prefer the dark blue so my objective was to sell this one).

Husband : It looks the same tho…

Lady : This sir said this one was better *points at the dark blue*

Husband : Oh yeah !

Lady : And you know, this is an instrument he will be able to learn all by himself.

Lady : One quick question, about tuning the guitar like, how do you do it, is it this thing *she points at the whammy bar*

Husband : I think it is used to do some cool sound effect right ?

Me : Well this thing will do an effect on the guitar, it will like… in some ways de-tune or over-tune the guitar to do a Waaamaaawaaa noise. To tune the guitar it will be the tuning gears at the top of the guitar. Wait lemme show you. *i take the guitar*

Lady : Oh yea !

Me : To tune the guitar, you’ll just have to turn the gears right here, each assigned to their respective string. *i start tuning but its so de-tuned i give up instantly* Okay i’m not gonna tune the strings because its the display model and string can be fragile on these.

Lady : Oh yea right.

Me : Lemme show you the whammy bar *strums and uses whammy*

Lady : OHHH YOU USE IT LIKE THIS OH NICE !!

Husband : *chuckles* this sounds fun !

Me : Oh yeah it is, its why i recommand you this guitar, because it is really nice to have one of these, it adds so much fun to the guitar playing experience.

Lady : But how do you tune the guitar the right way.

Me : Well you’ll normally have some apps available online to tune the guitar.

Husband : OnLiNe (he might have ADHD)

Lady : Oh well nice then, what do you think ?

Husband : Well go for it !

Lady : Well we’re gonna take this guitar.

Me : Alrighty then ! Herm, LEO PLS ?

Leo : *arrives* Hello.

Husband, lady, daugher : Hello.

Me : They want to buy this guitar so, i don’t really know where they are stored…

Leo : Okay i’ll go prepare one behind the cashiers area.

Me : Thanks.

Lady : Nice. This will get him out of his bedroom, he’s always on his computer.

Husband : *thinks* Well not really if he goes online to learn with tutorials and stuff.

Lady : Oh well… Atleast he’ll do something better. I hope he will like it.

Me : Oh don’t worry he’ll like it. I’m sure of this.

Lady : Anyway, let’s take this little amp. Thank you so much for your help sir.

Husband : Thanks !

Me : You’re welcome, that’s why i’m here.

Lady : Have a nice day !

Me : Thanks, you too.

And so i sold, a guitar with an amp. Approximativly 260€ of revenue. And i managed to make it so i sold articles from the store brand, so the store got even more profit compared to if i sold a Squier.

When Leo comes back, he sees that one of the black strat has its tremolo bridge out of its pocket, and he goes to put it on the table.
He says its classified as broken.
He then says that what is sad about these guitars is that, even if just a replacable thing breaks, they go straight to the wrecking machine.
And so i’m like super sad, and i decide to try tuning the guitar.
I see that each strings is 10 time too high, its almost a miracle they didn’t break.
The low E was a G.
The high E was close to a high A.
Some idiot probably went on a open tuning frenzy, and didn’t realise that you’re not supposed to tune the strings higher than what they are supposed to be on a guitar with a tremolo bridge.
And so i de-tune all the strings and the tremolo bridge starts to settle down.
I tune all the strings and, when i finished, the tremolo bridge doesn’t budge.
I tell Leo that the guitar is fixed now. He says ‘’welll… still it was broken few mins ago’’.
But Mathew said that it was the displayed one so it didn’t really matter.
So i put the guitar back in its stand, happy that i saved it from a certain death (for now).

After this, its 17:00 (5pm) and so Leo goes, i tell him goodbye, he wishes me luck, and he goes.
I continue my day till its 18:00 and so i tell Mathew :

Me : Well i’m gonna have to go now.

Mathew : Alrgiht, follow me.

I follow him, and he leads me in a staff room i never explored. He writes something on a paper :

Mathew : Can you tell me what’s your last name ?

Me : [full legal name]

He writes down and then he says :

Mathew : Here, from Aurora. Its a gift card to thank you for your hard work in the store, i mean i’m kinda spoiling the message inside.

Me : OH ! HOW SWEET !!! THANK YOU !!

I open the gift card and there is written ‘’Value : 60€’’ and right under it, ‘’Thank you for your hard work inside the store’’. It is heart warming.

And so i go to the locker to get my stuff, i ask Mathew where do i put my blue vest, he tells me to put it on a chair, and he thanks me for my motivation inside the store, he said it was nice to have someone this invested into his work, and he wishes me luck.
I thank him and Emma (a girl from the library that came from time to time to ask me how i was doing) passes by the locker room and she says :

Emma : Wait, its your last day ?

Me : Yes it was.

Emma : Ohhh.

Mathew : One quick question, how old are you ?

Me : 17.

Emma : You’re 17 ?!

Mathew : Ah you’re a young fella. And you’re a old girl.

Emma : Uhhh... I’m 17 too.

Mathew : … WELL yeah but its different. Anyway, we wish you goodluck.

(Ngl she is like 2m high so to me, it looked like she was atleast 22 years old, and i think she thought i was older, or younger, i don’t know).

And so, he leads me downstairs. Emma says goodbye to me.
When we go back in the store, i see my mother waiting with my bro around the electric drums. She introduces herself to Mathew, and she thanks him for welcoming me this good.
I say my final goodbye to Mathew, and then on the way, i say goodbye to anybody i know.
When we arrive around the cashier area, i see Aurora (friendly reminder that she is the director)
and she sees me coming.
She comes to talk with us. She thanks me a lot for my hard work and my motivation, that it was a real help in this store, that Mathew and Leo said that they saw i was really into what i was doing… and also that the biscuits were amazing.
I thank her, i tell her it was extremly fun for me, that i loved it, that i thank everybody for welcoming me this good.
Then, my mom ask her about the possibillity of signing a Learning contract.

Aurora : Well we already got an apprentice in the store so its not gonna be possible yet.

Mom : Ah.

Aurora : You know with this contract, i have to keep him for 2 years and its his first year so, for next year, it won’t be possible.

Mom : Well then, what about a recommandation letter, not right now but, do you consider this a possibility.

Aurora : This ? Absolutly ! I will do one for yall.

We thank her, and i say my final goodbyes.
I then realise that, i won’t have the learning contract here….
…
I won’t really see these peoples again…
…
I won’t live this routine again….
…
I already miss everybody….
…
I don’t have my learning contract…
…
I don’t have my entry ticket for the ITEMM…
…
f**k…

I can’t lie, i’m more sad about the fact i won’t see these people again than sad about the learning contract, but at the same time, f**k this.
I’m still glad i had this tryout, it was really fun.

I was sad, and guess what… to cheer me up a little…. I watched 3 hours of downloaded memes on my comp…
I wrote like 2 third of this chapter on the 30th of november. It was 1 am when i finished watching my memes.

I guess goodnight cause its already late as i am writing this.
Goodnight.

Next day : imgflip.com/i/adwx16