“No,” Basil said. “A job is what a guy in a gas station has. People at Orsk have work. It’s a calling. A responsibility to something bigger than yourself. Work gives you a goal. It lets you build something that lives on after you’re gone. Work has a purpose beyond making money.”

“I am begging you to stop,” Amy said.

“There’s nothing wrong with being serious,” Ruth Anne said.

“She can’t take anything seriously,” Basil said. “That’s her problem.”

“I do my job,” Amy said. “I punch the clock, I work my shop, I sell people their desks, I cash my check. That’s what Orsk pays me to do: my job. I’m not planning on being in retail for the rest of my life.”

“Really? What are you going to do?”

“I’m …” Amy suddenly realized that in fact she didn’t have any plans. “I’ve got plans. They’re none of your business.”

“You have to see the big picture,” Basil said.

“You know what I see? I see you dedicating your life to a store that’s a knockoff of a better store with better furniture and better management. That’s the big picture I see.”

“Maybe we should start our first sweep,” Ruth Anne said.

“I have serious responsibilities and I take them seriously,” Basil said.

“What responsibilities?” Amy asked. “Seriously. This is retail. What is such a big deal?”

“Safety,” Basil said. “I’m responsible for the safety of you and everybody else in this location. I take that very seriously.”

“I can make it through my day without your protection,” Amy said. “I’m not going to get lost and starve to death somewhere on the Showroom floor.”

“I don’t get your attitude,” Basil said. “You want a promotion, but you don’t study for the test. You don’t want to work retail the rest of your life, but you dropped out of college. Do you really have some big plan, or are you just making it up as you go along?”

Amy stood up.

“Where are you going?” Basil asked.

She headed out the door. “To the bathroom.”

“You just went!” he called after her.

Amy crashed through the door of the women’s restroom. It was the only place Basil wouldn’t follow her, yapping about a bunch of crap and trying to make her feel bad. Didn’t he understand she was humiliated enough without him piling on? Eighty percent of applicants passed the Shop Responsible test. Eighty percent! Amy turned on the sink. The pipes made an obscene grunting sound that rattled the porcelain, and then they spat rusty water into the basin. Amy turned off the taps and shook her head. This whole place is going to hell.