Rocking Chair Reflections on "A Shar That Flummoxes"
Good morning to all:
Queen of Spades here, returning with another Rocking Chair Reflections. This closer look is inspired by the soon to be anniversary of the release of A Scribe's Sentiments.
Today I give an in-depth look on the story "A Shar That Flummoxes".
I know some of you are inquiring, "What does flummox mean?" It's not as if it's an every day word, although it does look and sound kind of cool. Flummox is just a fancy way of saying "bewilder" or "confuse". So, in essence, the title is "A Shar That Bewilders".
The next question perhaps would be, "What is it about Shar that is bewildering?"
To answer this would mean going back into history. The history of a story I released in another anthology, entitled Continuous Drips. In this book, I contributed a total of three stories. One of them was entitled "Util".
Without giving away too much, the synopsis of Util is as follows:
A new person takes over the Util Corporation, and there is job uncertainty brewing at the organization. One of the people who works for Util is a female named Shar. Shar's presentation in this story is one who is brash, has a love for the finer things in life, and is obsessed with the color pink. I leave it up to the reader to determine if Shar is "real", a person one "loves to hate", or a person who is "hated".
In "A Shar That Flummoxes", it shows how Shar is living after her Util experience, which is entirely different from before:
When Shar and Útil Enterprises parted association, Shar thought the flamboyant lifestyle could be sustained. With her education plus experience, Shar believed she would be on her feet in a jiffy. Many companies were impressed by Shar’s credentials and requested interviews. The answers Shar gave to the interview questions were received warmly.
However, her phone and inbox were not blessed with offers of employment or entry into additional rounds of interviews.
When months went by and unemployment began dwindling, Shar started downsizing.
First, it was swapping out the exuberant cable bundle. After all, who had time to watch over five hundred channels? Besides, this wasn’t a huge sacrifice; Shar mainly watched Netflix and Hulu.
Then, Shar debated whether she needed unlimited everything on her phone. The final decision: just talk and text. Not that she received a lot of calls or messages after the Útil situation. Shar would keep both, just in case.
The chops in the cable package and her phone data plan weren’t enough. Shar looked at other bills she could eliminate or trim.
Her paid music subscriptions were cancelled—all tended to repeat the same songs anyway. That was annoying, commercial free or not.
Despite the downgrade in services and things, Shar's brashness still comes out in full force with this exchange with one of her co-workers:
Latrice frowned. She wasn’t assigned to that section tonight. The new girl was. Latrice prayed the newbie wouldn’t do anything to have one of the restaurant’s most loyal customers running for the hills.
Latrice went to the kitchen area to locate Shar. Shar was doing her usual, telling jokes to the cooks in the back when she was supposed to finish drying the dishes.
“Shar, quit your shenanigans. You’ve got a customer. Don’t mess this up.”
“Latrice, why do you keep telling me that? When have I messed up?”
“Well, there was that old lady you insulted-”
“Telling that lady blue lipstick was a bad idea counts as an insult? I was helping her not make a further fool out of herself, Latrice.”
“Shar, our goal is to serve the customer what they ask for, or even suggest dishes they may like. You aren’t their Mary Kay consultant.”
“Latrice, Mary Kay is so outdated. It’s Ulta and Sephora now, don’t you know?”
While at work, Shar waits on a gentleman who matches the work environment of her old life, as well as the type of man she'd crush on. He is one who is used to routine and very cautious to branch out of his comfort zone. When Shar's cuisine suggestions impress him, it makes him interested to get to know her even more.
What happens with the guy and Shar? Will Shar and Latrice come to blows? Will being a waitress at Full of Flavor be Shar's lot in life forever? Discover the answers to all in "A Scribe's Sentiments".
