[i]94011...4626...4633...4138...[/i]

The codes for the produce ran quickly through his head as he absentmindedly dropped the groceries onto the scale and just as quickly take them off and bag them. He had been working at SaveGreen for three years and a bit and it hadn't changed in all that time. All the codes were the same, the coworkers cycled out as quickly as they came but there was never anyone interesting hired and never anything interesting that happened. In that time, he had cycled through four different of his "projects". The first had been a standard garage punk band with a few of the buddies he had made at American University, but they quickly moved on when their schooling became progressively harder and he became progressively more distanced from the institution. From there came a solo breakbeat project that never took off, a never-did-anything-but-jam post-rock band he stumbled into. Now, Generic Burger was his pride and joy. It had been the longest-running one, and by far the most successful as well. There were people who legitimately called themselves "fans" of the band, something that was very much foreign to Elias.

As he cashed out the customer, a mid-40's housewife with a cheery smile, his foot tapped the beat to a song they had just finished writing and would be debuting tonight at some local bar. He had played most of the pubs in this city but this place had always struck him as a little too stuck-up or high class for a band like his. He'd take whatever gig he could get though, and playing at a spot like this could only boost Generic Burger's street cred.

"That'll be $47.21, ma'am" he spat out. The most superficial, sincere smile hung on his face and the housewife paid him the same insincere courtesy as she smiled and handed him her credit card. He handed her machine and again started tapping the beat to their new song, now also humming the melody to it. He had been caught doing this before, but he had been there too long for him to be fired. He had seniority over all of the supervisors and it'd be too costly for them to hire any new replacements and train them.

The woman handed him back the machine and he instinctively ripped the receipt that spat out of it and handed it to her without looking.

"Have a nice day." he said, this time genuine. She had been his last customer of the day and as she picked up her bags to leave, he clicked off his lane's light and started a brisk walk to the back of the store to change out of his uniform and get his stuff. He was meeting the rest of Generic Burger at the bar before the gig to practice quickly and do a soundtest. He checked his e-mail on his smartphone as he passed the chips.

[i]"Bar None"[/i] he thought as he read the confirmation e-mail from their manager, his mom. [i]"At least it's clever."[/i]