Do nice guys finish last?

There's a guy who works at my favorite grocery store who's about the unfriendliest guy in the world. He's not rude or mean, he's just not friendly.

I've been running into him on a fairly regular basis for more than 20 years. He used to work in the store a few blocks from me, and when that closed, they transferred him to another location. He was bagging my groceries today and I knew he'd be carrying them out, so, like usual, I tried to start a casual conversation.

Me: "A lot of great sales today."

Him: nothing

Me: "This is my favorite week of the month to come shopping."

Him: nothing

That's how he always is. He's in his forties, really good looking and works his ass off. If he were a little friendlier, he'd probably be manager by now.

My brother used to work for the same chain. They strung him along for years, always promising that eventually he'd be manager. He had to transfer from town to town, always on short notice, and he worked a lot of nights and weekends. He made it as far as assistant manager then stalled. After a few years at that level, they offered him another horizontal transfer across the state. He turned it down. A few weeks later, they made up an excuse to fire him.

I think this guy's probably in a similar boat.

My new psychiatrist started me on two meds this week and it really seems to be working. One is melatonin for sleep. It doesn't help me get to sleep but once I do, I wake up more rested. The other med is Wellbutrin XL. I've been on it before. He warned me that it might make me manic. I was on it right before I bought my car last winter. I can't remember if I had stopped it before I bought the car or after but I know it was a contributing factor to the mania I was developing then, which was the primary cause of my impulsive decision to buy a car with 200,000 miles on it and the expensive repairs that followed.

But I feel really good right now. I've been waking up around 7:00 every morning full of energy. This morning, I worked on my novel for a couple of hours then went to the recycling center, the flea market and the grocery store and was home by 11:00. That's earlier than I usually get up. I'm not sure if it's the meds but I'm going to enjoy it for awhile.

One thought I had as I was unpacking my groceries: How many places in the world can a person buy a month's supply of food for $60?

Groceries are pretty cheap in Iowa compared to other places. I could live a month off what I bought today. I'll be going back before then, but it's nice knowing I'm ready for the nuclear meltdown.