The World of Angy Wong

Even though I was in a small nameless town in China, I found a Future Shop. The store itself resembled those one would find in any western city – there were many Caucasian employees and the store (besides being divided into 7 floors) sold the same electronics, computers, and entertainment systems. When I had entered the store, the first floor was incredibly busy with employees and customers buzzing around. This was not what I expected as I recalled feeling rather lethargic and wanting a place to just rest.

I climbed up the stairs to the third floor where the CD’s and stereo systems were sold. As soon as I reached it, all the noise from the floors below vanished. The first thing I noticed about the third floor was that there was a counter to the right of the stairwell and a tall lanky guy standing behind it, dusting off some merchandise. I greeted him with a smile and “hello” before surveying the rest of the area. I could tell that the CD selection was slim for there was only one aisle full of CDs. The CD aisle did not interest me as much as what was at the end of it; there were three leather lounge chairs – each with a blue blanket and a pillow. A feeling of exhaustion swept over me as I gravitated towards the lounge chairs and buried myself deep underneath the blanket.

The sales person didn’t seem to mind that I had decided to take a nap in his department. I slept for two hours before the sound of his voice woke me. I opened my eyes and lifted my head slightly to see what he was rambling on about. Apparently, there was a deal going on with Craig Cardiff albums and if I bought two, I could get the third one for free. I nodded in agreement before resting my head on the soft pillow again. This sales guy who, according to this name tag was named “Bram”, walked towards me with the CDs and sat down on the edge of my lounge chair.

Immediately, I became alert as I wasn’t sure of his intentions. I looked up at him and noticed he had shaggy brown hair, long side burns, blue eyes and patches of facial hair. He looked typical enough at first glance, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew there was something devious about him.

He started talking to me but I didn’t hear a single thing he said. All I wanted was for someone to come up the stairs, interrupt us and provide me with an excuse to leave. Nobody arrived though, and I was stuck with feigning interest. Then out of nowhere, he leans down to kiss me which made me jump and turn my head away.

I moved farther from him and asked angrily, “What do you think you’re doing?”

With the sleaziest look ever, Bram replied, “I thought you were interested…”

“No, I’m not. Isn’t this against store policy – sexually harassing a customer?”

He didn’t seem to hear me as he asked, “Well, why can’t we?”

I replied firmly, “Because I don’t like you. I have a boyfriend. Don’t you dare try anything.”

Bram turned towards me quickly and looked as if he was going to deny my wishes outright, but just when it seemed like he was going attack me, he got up, turned towards me and said with a smirk, “who’s going to believe you anyway?”

He leaves and I follow. When we reached the first floor, I was so enraged and promptly approached the young dark-skinned with platinum white hair cashier  to make a complaint against Bram. She looked at me with disgust and said, “Who do you think you are? Bram would never do that. You are so lying.” As soon as she said that, Bram smiled deviously before giving me a wink that I took as his way of saying, “I told you so.”

Not one to give up so easily, I found the manager walking towards me. He was a stout bald man and was named “Don” which I learned when we made our introductions. I explained to him my situation and he apologized profusely for what happened. HOWEVER, he could not reprimand Bram until the whole staff believed my side of the story; thus, he had to hold a staff meeting.

He told me to wait outside of the staff room as they held the meeting. By this point, the store had already closed. The cashier glared at me and said underneath her breath, “this is so typical of middle-class status.” I was infuriated by her comment (even though I did not know exactly what she meant), went up to her, gave her my meanest glare and said, “I don’t know what your problem is, but my behavior in wanting justice is not ‘typical of middle-class status’ but is typical of my character!” She rolled her eyes at me, but I could tell she was going to keep her comments to herself from then on.

Everyone disappeared behind the door for the meeting and I waited nervously outside. I had a feeling that the manager had absolutely no control over his employees and sure enough, the manager rejoined me after 10 minutes. Apparently, he was not allowed to vote and I knew right then and there that I was not going to get any justice.

Right before I woke up I remembered feeling so angry about the situation. I was angry at Bram for his actions, at the unfair process of deciding whether or not he was guilty, and at my general feeling of helplessness. My dreams will never actualize into reality but somehow, I have an inkling that I may be faced with a situation which could stir up similar emotions. If there’s one thing I learned from the dream, however, is that it is “my character” to always fight for what’s right and I intend to keep doing just that.