Unfiltered Story #245919

Being a senior employee, I’m able to decide where I want to work in the store during a shift with double coverage. The shifts are sometimes staggered, so I’m on register waiting for the next worker to arrive to take over for me so I can work with merchandise.

The next cashier arrives a little early, seemingly her normal, bubbly self. She smiles at me, and heads off towards the break room/bathroom area. The start time for her shift comes and goes, and I’m left standing at the register, getting annoyed. Finally, she arrives at the front, looking half-asleep and dragging her feet. I don’t stop to think about it as I disappear into the aisles.

Being my lucky day, another cashier had also been scheduled, so I wasn’t disturbed until I decide to take my break. I come across my MOD scowling in her office.

Me: Hey, what’s up?

MOD: I just had to send (cashier) home.

Me: Oh?

MOD: A customer had to come find me back here. She said she was checking out and (cashier) was acting weird. She leaned close to the monitor to read something and didn’t move again. The customer waited and was saying “excuse me excuse me.” She stepped around and saw (cashier) was asleep with her face against the screen.

Me: Oh my god…

MOD: You know she’s been spending a lot of time in the bathroom before her shift. She comes in all smiles and bouncing, and then walks out here like a zombie.

I’d been suspecting something was up for a while… There had been a lot of instances where she’d been acting weird or almost keeling over where she stood.

While we never found out truth, the MOD had pulled the cashier into her office and tried gently asking her if she needed to come clean about anything. Had she just admitted that she was on drugs, someone could have helped her, but since she denied it, she had to be let go.
(Yes, I understand it could have been something else, but considering the store was in heroine city, we were fairly used to seeing the effects.)