PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I've recently met a girl at my job and I've discovered something she'd never want me to know. She was a nice girl, but though she is 25 she looks as though she were 12. She is one of my coworkers and I have never known her to badmouth anyone else. I'd always known her to head into the break room over a half an hour before her shift ended. I never knew the reason why, I thought she was just lazy and didn't think she'd get caught.

Then yesterday another coworker was yelling at her about being back there so early. I laughed along with her because I did not understand the truth of the situation. The girl argued back and I could sense her agitation. I couldn't understand why she was getting so worked up. Then another of my coworkers clocked out.... so did the girl. They both got out at six. I laughingly said she'd been back there for almost 45 minutes. The girl looked on the verge of tears as she rushed out of the break room.

I couldn't comprehend why she was being so childish. My coworker looked me and the other girl in our faces and told us something I wish I'd known earlier. Her lips parted and she whispered on a breath "She sits back here because she can't read the clock. Even though it's digital she doesn't know when to clock out. That's why she always works 12-6... then she can watch and wait for someone to clock out because she knows its time to go home." My heart dropped to the soles of my shoes as we stared in shock. She had to be joking, for the girl was much older than I. Then I remembered something....

We were told to take a survey at work months earlier and she and I were in the same room. She asked me to help her type out an answer. Then she procedded to ask me how to spell very simple words. Fitting, room, and clean. I thought to myself, why do you need me to spell these? And then I asked her. With a sad look in her eyes she shrugged and said "I'm too tired to think hard." And now it all made sense.

She asked me how to spell those words because she couldn't on her own, not because she was tired....

And she didn't sit in the break room because she was lazy.... but because she couldn't tell the time so she had to wait for someone to tell her it was time to go home....