EPISODE I: The Promotion

Scene: The cash register/main entrance at Digital Depot. Cara and Curtis are standing behind the greeter’s podium and chatting.

Cara: [To entering customer] “Hi, welcome to Digital Depot … [to Curtis] So, did you hear that Sylvia got into the management training program at corporate?”

Curtis: “Yeah. It was kind of hard to miss with her screaming ‘I win! I win!’ [background replay of woman shouting “I win! I win!” and laughing] and dancing all around the store. I think the customers thought we were having a sale or something. People kept asking me all day how they could win.”

Cara: [laughs] “What’d you tell them?”

Curtis: “Oh, I told them that they could win by going to school, getting a degree in a hot field, working their butts off, and then reaching for a brighter future.”

Cara: “No way.”

Curtis: “Nah… I told ‘em she’d scored tickets for Death Cab for Cutie. Then some kid told me he didn’t know that people my age even knew who Death Cab was.”

Cara: “Harsh. So why didn’t you apply for that program? [To entering customer] Hi, welcome to Digital Depot…”

Curtis: “Well, not tough to figure out really. I’ve got drive. I’ve got ambition. I’ve got skills. I even auditioned for American Idol. But I don’t have a degree. [calls down the line…] Hey, Rich, open up on register eight and tell Noreen to go on break.”

Cara: “Yeah, but you would be a really good manager. Everybody likes you. You know everything there is to know about this place.”

Curtis: “Without a degree, head cashier is about all I’m gonna get around here.”

[Theo comes up wheeling a hand truck with boxes on it.]

Theo: “Yo, what’s up? You guys hear about Sylvia? [background replay of woman shouting “I win! I win!” and laughing] It’s like a nightmare, but a nightmare about how you have to work for the Teletubbies or the Wiggles. Which reminds me, if I wind up getting my teaching degree and start talking to my students like they’re all two-years old, feel free to slap me upside the head.”

Curtis & Cara together: “We will.”

[To entering customer] “Hi, welcome to Digital Depot…”

Theo to Curtis: [ignoring them] “I’m telling you man, you should have applied for that gig. You’re like the King of the Cashiers. What gives?”

Curtis: “No degree. I’ve been working since I got out of high school.”

Theo: “So? I’m doing an associate degree and I’ve been working the whole time. Community and technical colleges are totally flexible. You can take classes pretty much whenever – even online if that’s your thing.”

Cara: “Yeah, my dad went to a technical college after he got laid off. It totally helped him out. Especially the career service stuff. He’s a manager at Boeing now.” [To entering customer] “Hi, welcome to Digital Depot …”

Theo: “Think of it though… if you don’t go get a degree, then you have a lifetime ahead of you of working for people like Sylvia [background replay of woman shouting “I win! I win!” and laughing] and waiting around until you’re so old Sir Mix-a-Lot is in the easy listening section.”

[Theo starts to walk off.]

Curtis: [Thoughtfully] “Hmmm… you’re right. It’s time to do something. Heck, there’s a community college like two miles from where I live.”

Cara: “Now you’re talkin’!”

Theo: [Sticks head in] [excited voice] “Yo guys! Check it – the sun’s out!”

[All of the people who entered the store leave in a big crowd – excited crowd noise over footfall stampede sound.]

[Pause]

[Sylvia character follows crowd out of store with “I win! I win!” sound in background.]

Cara and Curtis look at each other and blink.

[Fade out]