One would think that after all the effort and energy I have put into complaining about how much I loathe working as a cashier that my last day would bring unrelenting relief, yet as I punched out for the last time a strange sense of sadness came over me. The stability and comfort this job has brought me is now officially eradicated from my life. I'm not sorry I quit, I didn't go home and cry, but my parting with the familiarity of that store confirms the sneaking suspicion I've had that this small town no longer has much to offer me. I worked at that store when I found out I got a scholarship to the college I now attend. I did homework there, I wrote poems during my break; I used my time on register to think about whatever measly problem I deemed important at the time. Whether I like it or not, that store has been a very big part of my life and as much as I moaned about the toils of cashiering, I can't say it was all bad. I did learn how to deal with the public and I sharpened my mental math. Most importantly, I learned that I never wanted to be stuck in a place like that for the rest of my life. I learned the value of education.

As my friends and I sat on the cliff last night I found that I could not bring myself to throw that hideous black smock which had sat in a clump in my backseat for two years over the edge. Sick and twisted as it may be, I had grown attached to it and to the rectangular white name tag which was required to be pinned on the smock at all times. Silly me and my contradictory emotions. I had fantasized wildly about the day when I could walk out the automatic doors knowing I'd never have to come back and now that I have reached that landmark I'm disappointed in myself for not being happier. I am certain that my time there is done but now I've got to get my act together so I can acquire a real job. Sitting on the cliff last night I looked out at all the lights of buildings I didn't know. My future is like that overlook; I know it's there but I just can't make it out. I let myself become alright with the fact that life doesn't follow any certain plan, rhyme or reason. Then, with some prodding of my friends, I picked up the black smock and threw it into the abyss. I hope someone finds it and wonders who I am.