#retail clerk Jensen
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Sweet as a Hot Cocoa Bomb (Factory Boys, 5/?)
Jared wakes up at 4:15pm on Christmas Eve. He stayed up all night after he left Gilliganâs so he doesnât get totally off his night shift schedule. Heâs meeting Jensen at the house he rents in Hummelstown, not far from Jaredâs own condo just outside the Hummelstown Borough line. Heâs dropping his stuff off there so he can spend Christmas Eve night and Christmas Day with Jensen. Jensenâs taking him to the 7:00pm church service, and then theyâre going to have hot cocoa and watch a movie. Where it goes after thatâŠwell, Jared has a few ideas that will definitely land him on the naughty list.Â
Jared showers and packs up some comfy clothes for Christmas Day: red plaid flannel pants and his ugly sweater, which looks like an elf outfit and has actual bells hanging from the collar. He also packs a regular black t-shirt for underneath. Then he packs the shorts and Penn State t-shirt he sleeps in, as well as the phone charger he keeps on the nightstand. He washed everything overnight, since he had to do something with his time. He gathers together his toothbrush, razor, hairbrush, and deodorant, figuring he can just use whatever toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, and shaving cream is at Jensenâs house. Then heâll smell like Jensenâand Jensen always smells amazing, so clearly he has good taste.Â
Jared eats a frozen burrito bowl for dinner and brushes his teeth. Then he puts all his bathroom stuff in his gym bag. Thereâs still about half an hour until he has to leave for Jensenâs house. Jensen only lives about 10 minutes away from him. He lives across the street from the Hummelstown library, which is down by the railroad tracks. Itâs a little annoying to get to from Jaredâs end of town because of the one-way streets around it. But thatâs a small town for you.Â
Jared doesnât know why heâs feeling a little anxious. Itâs not like he has to impress Jensenâs parents or anything. Heâs just spending the night with the man heâs head over heels for. Jared guesses heâs just nervous because he hasnât been with anyone in a couple years. He dated a fellow plant worker, Genevieve, for a while, but she broke up with him to pursue a security guard that sheâs now engaged to.Â
Jared has the impression that Jensen hasnât had much luck in the romance department either. Heâs never said anything, but heâs awfully shy, and he hasnât mentioned any recent relationships. Jared wonders whether his strict religious upbringing, which probably required him to at least act straight, is responsible for that. He did mention that the church ladies were trying to fix him up, but he didnât say that any of them were successful. So Jensenâs probably at least as nervous as Jared is, maybe more.
Finally, Jared gets to leave for Jensenâs house. When he arrives, the street is nearly parked full already. He ends up parking a couple of houses away. He wonders which car is Jensenâs.
He knocks on the door of Jensenâs house. Jensen answers almost instantly. âJared! Hey, Iâm glad you found me.â He steps aside to let Jared in and closes the door behind him. The living room is small and neat, with two overstuffed gray couches and a black leather recliner facing the adjacent wall, where the TV is.Â
Jensen motions to Jaredâs bag. âYou can put your stuff in the bedroom.â He gestures for Jared to follow him upstairs. There are two bedrooms with a bathroom in between, and Jensen points into the one on the left. Jared sets his bag on the bench at the end of Jensenâs bed. The room is medium size but sparsely furnished, and thereâs a blue plaid comforter on the king-sized bed that takes up fully half of the room.Â
They go back downstairs, and itâs clear that Jensenâs pretty nervous too. âDo you want a drink or anything?â he asks.Â
âSome water would be great, thanks,â says Jared, just to give him something to do.
Jensen pulls a pint glass out of the cupboard. It has a Rubber Soul logo, which is the craft brewery in town. He fills it with ice and water from the dispenser on the fridge and hands it to Jared. âYou look really nice, by the way,â he says with a small smile.
Jaredâs wearing the best church clothes he could find: a gray v-neck sweater over a black button-down, and gray checked trousers he last wore when he interviewed for his current job. He smiles and sips the water.Â
âThank you. You look really great too.â Jensenâs wearing a dark green patterned shirt that makes his eyes look gorgeous, with neatly pressed black trousers and shiny black boots.Â
Jensenâs cheeks color. âThanks. And thanks for agreeing to come with me. I hope you donât feel like I pressured you.â
Jared reaches out and squeezes Jensenâs shoulder. âI donât, at all. I know itâs important to you, and I want to support you.âÂ
Jensen nods, but he doesnât seem convinced. Jared smiles widely and takes Jensenâs hand in his. âI promise you, itâs okay. Iâm not offended, and I donât feel pressured. I want to share this with you.â Jared takes a deep breath. âYouâre not the same as your family. I know your intention is pure. Please stop worrying.â
âYouâre right,â Jensen replies softly. âThank you. I justâI guess itâs just habit.â He glances at the clock. âWe should go.â
âAfter you,â says Jared, letting go of Jensenâs hand.Â
Jared follows Jensen to his car, a green Subaru Forester, which is parked halfway between his house and the neighboring one. It doesnât take long to warm up, and they head toward Hershey.
The church parking lot is full when they get there, so they park in the municipal lot next to it. Jensen leads Jared through the back door of the church and up the stairs to the sanctuary entrance. They hang their coats in the coatroom first, and Jensen is warmly greeted by several parishioners. A couple of kids are darting about, weaving through the small crowd, but no one seems to mind.Â
A petite elderly lady walks up to them and says hello to Jensen.
âHi, Kathie,â Jensen replies warmly. âJared, this is Kathie. I used to work with her at the museum.â
âNice to meet you,â says Jared.Â
âShe sings in the 8 oâclock choir,â Jensen tells Jared. âThey did a really nice job at the early service.â
Kathie smiles. âThank you.â She gestures to the doorway, where ushers are waiting with programs. âWe should go in. I think Gregâs about to start the prelude.â
Jared follows Jensen and Kathie to the sanctuary. He accepts a program and a candle from the elderly usher. He and Jensen sit in an empty pew several rows back from the altar. The middle-aged woman at the other end greets Jensen. Sheâs sitting with her teenage daughter, who appears to have some sort of developmental delay and is wearing pink Christmas pajamas.Â
The organist starts playing, and Jared glances through the program. There are prayers written down on both pages, and there are hymns listed with page numbers. Jared canât sing to save his life, so he hopes Jensen isnât expecting him to sing along. There are prompts for the audience to stand in a couple places.Â
The pastor steps up to the altar and asks everyone to stand. She reads a prayer, and the audience recites the response lines printed in the program. Jared joins in and tries not to feel awkward.Â
Immediately afterward, everyone starts singing âO Come, All Ye Faithful.â Jensen gets out the hymnal and tilts it toward Jared so he can see. Jensenâs singing voice is pretty damn good, which just makes Jared feel more out of place than ever. He sings along as quietly as he dares, following the tune as best he can. After that, thereâs another communal prayer.Â
The pastor asks them to sit, and then thereâs a lot of music and kidsâ pageant stuff. Jensen rests a hand on Jaredâs knee and gently nudges Jaredâs shoulder with his own. Jared looks over to see Jensen smiling encouragingly. âYouâre doing fine,â he whispers as a group of young girls in angel costumes recites Scripture.
After the pageant and the sermon, the whole church prays the Lordâs Prayer, the offering is taken, and then the lighters come out to light the candles they each hold. An usher lights the candle of the person sitting on the aisle, and then the parishioners pass the flames to one another. Jensen lights Jaredâs candle with a small smile. Thereâs another call and response prayer, and then the lights go down. The whole assembly sings âSilent Night,â and itâs rather moving. Jared finally feels at ease, like he actually belongs here. Jensen sings beautifully next to him, and heâs content to just listen to him and feel the love that seems to fill the darkened sanctuary.Â
After that, the lights come up and the praise band plays another song. They all stand, and Jensen presses himself into Jaredâs side. His fingers lightly brush Jaredâs, and Jared grins. Jared intertwines his fingers with Jensenâs for a brief moment. After that, the pastor bids them farewell, and the organist starts the postlude.Â
âSee, that wasnât so bad, was it?â asks Jensen.
âNo, it wasnât.â Jared follows Jensen to the aisle. âItâs just been a really long time since Iâve done any of this.â
âYou did great,â replies Jensen with a smile. He takes Jaredâs hand as they walk down the aisle to the back of the sanctuary. The pastor is speaking to an elderly couple, but she waves to Jensen as they pass. Jensen waves back and grins.Â
They retrieve their coats from the coatroom. Jensen waves to Kathie but doesnât stop to talk, for which Jared is grateful. Itâs clear that everyone really likes Jensen, and heâs happy that Jensen fits in so well here. Jared just doesnât think he ever will.Â
Itâs really cold as they walk to their car, and it takes forever for the heat to warm up. âThank you for being such a good sport,â says Jensen as they head down Chocolate Avenue. âIâm sorry it was so awkward for you.â
âNo, itâs not your fault,â Jared assures him. âI mean, I went to church as a kid, but I didnât go to one that was soâŠinteractive. Thatâs just not my thing.â
âWell, I appreciate you making the best of it.â Jensen grasps Jaredâs hand and squeezes it. âI promise I wonât make you sing for the rest of the weekend.â
Jared chuckles. âI guess I should have warned you that I canât carry a tune in a bucket.â
âGod doesnât mind,â Jensen assures him. âAnd the rest of us donât, either.â He smiles.Â
When they pull up to Jensenâs house, his parking spot is still open. Jaredâs a little surprised. They get out and go into Jensenâs house, which is fully dark. Jensen takes him into the kitchen, where he puts some milk on the stove to warm up. He grabs a Hershey Company tote bag from one of the dining chairs and takes two hot chocolate bombs out of it. âThey handed these bags out last week with all this free candy. Itâs a pretty decent selection.â He sets a bag of Christmas Rolos and a Reeseâs Pieces filled candy cane on the table. âHelp yourself.â
Jaredâs not really hungry, but he takes a couple of Rolos anyway. Jared knows they were run in September, but he doesnât mind. Some of the line workers refuse to eat any candy unless they can get it straight off the line, but thatâs pretty hard to do. The stuff in the candy store comes from the warehouse, not straight off the line, even though that doesnât make a whole lot of sense.Â
Once the milk is heated, Jensen pours them each a mug and drops a chocolate bomb in. The bombs have mini marshmallows in the middle, which bob up to the top. Jensen hands a navy blue mug with writing on it to Jared. He glances at it, but he canât understand what the words say. Jensen chuckles. âItâs a Shakespearian insult mug,â he explains. âThe English honor society sold them as a fundraiser.â
âWere you an English major?â
Jensen shakes his head. âNo. One of my roommates was. I majored in occupational therapy and minored in religion.â
âInteresting. Why didnât you get a job in that?â
âI did,â replies Jensen. âI worked as an in-home OT therapist. But I kinda burned out, and I stopped working full-time. I applied at the museum because it was a nonprofit and I was trying to get my student loans forgiven, but they didnât give me enough hours. And the church doesnât either, but at least it pays better.â
Jared notices that Jensen looks uncomfortable, like thereâs more to the story that he doesnât want to talk about. So he decides to change the subject. âSo, you said we were going to watch a movie. What have you got in mind?â
Jensen motions for Jared to follow him to the living room. They sit down on one of the couches and Jensen turns on the TV. He pulls up Netflix and turns on The Christmas Chronicles. Jared doesnât really plan to watch the movie, and he hopes Jensen doesnât either.
They finish their cocoa by the fifteen-minute mark, and Jensen takes their empty mugs to the kitchen. When he comes back, he runs a hand through his hair a little nervously before he sits down.
âLook, we donât have to do anything you donât want to do,â Jared assures him. Once Jensen sits down, Jared reaches over and rests a hand on his knee. âIâm happy just to spend time with you.â
Jensen leans back against the couch cushion and takes a deep breath. âI justâI havenât done this since college. And it wasnât exactly romantic.â
âMan, Christian colleges are a lot different than I imagined,â says Jared, mostly to break the tension.
âHey, Iâll have you know that I played Rocky in the Rocky Horror shadow cast four years running,â says Jensen with a smirk. âMy roommate was Eddie and he dragged me into it. I sort of accidentally stole Riff Raffâs corset.â
Jared frowns. Heâs seen RHPS, of course, and he knows that Riff Riff never wears a corset.Â
Jensen clocks his confusion and chuckles. âEtown has a 75% female student body. Riff Raff and Frank were girls. And Brad was a girl once too. We were very progressive for a Christian school. But actually, the administration was really supportive. Except for the time they tried to put a transmasc prospie in a girls dorm. But then, it was the early aughts.â
âYeah, thatâs not cool,â Jared agrees. âBut I love that you were in a Rocky Horror shadow cast. I went to all the midnight showings in University Park and I knew all the lines, but I was never brave enough to join the shadow cast because I canât sing for shit.â
âYou coulda been a Transylvanian,â says Jensen. âOr donât you like drag makeup?â
âI act about as well as I sing,â replies Jared. âThatâs why I did debate instead of theater.â
âSo you were a nerd and I was the lead in West Side Story.â Jensen grins. âI donât think weâd have been friends in high school.â
âI was a mathlete too,â says Jared. âAnd Science Olympiad. I donât think weâd have been in the same social circle.â
âI mean, I was a male cheerleader,â admits Jensen. âBut I played baseball, so that helped.â
âSee? You were a jock and I was a nerd.â Jared chuckles. âIâm man enough to admit that.â
Jensen laughs, and the corners of his eyes crinkle up in the cutest way. âDoes it help if I learned to knit so I could help with the LGBT Allies fundraiser? We used to knit scarves and sell them at Homecoming, and the Residence Life admin who taught us to knit would give us stuff to raffle off at Rocky Horror.â
âThatâs fucking adorable,â says Jared with a huge grin. He canât help himself, Jensen looks so relaxed and happy that Jared surges forward and kisses him. Jensen seems taken aback for a split second, but then he relaxes into the kiss. Jared stretches one arm across Jensenâs back and uses his other hand to card Jensenâs hair. The corners of Jensenâs mouth turn up, giving Jared tacit permission to go deeper. He thrusts his tongue deep into Jensenâs mouth, pressing against Jensenâs own, and Jensen hesitates for a second before responding.Â
Jared runs his hand down Jensenâs neck to his shoulder and pushes him down onto his back. He swings one leg over Jensenâs and straddles him. He can feel Jensenâs half-hard cock pressing against his thigh. Jaredâs almost completely hard already.Â
They kiss for another long moment before Jensen pushes him up. âNot here,â he breathes, gesturing at the front window and the open blinds. âUpstairs.â
âLead the way,â murmurs Jared.Â
They go up to Jensenâs bedroom and shed their good clothes. Jensen makes sure to neatly lay Jaredâs nice clothes flat on top of the dresser before covering them with his own. Then he pushes the comforter down to the end of the bed, revealing light blue sheets. Jared decides to show off a little. He scoops Jensen up in a bridal carry and lays him out prone on the unmade bed.Â
âHoly shit,â gasps Jensen, now flat on his back and fully hard. âI didnât know you had enough free time to work out.â
âI donât,â says Jared, smirking. âThatâs just from lifting machine parts on the floor.â He nods at Jensenâs nightstand. âYou got stuff in there?â
Jensen nods. âYeah, lube and condoms are in there.â He gives Jared a coy smirk of his own. âI stocked up yesterday on the way home from work.â
âWell, safety first, you know,â purrs Jared. He pulls a condom and the bottle of lube out of the drawer. Heâs achingly hard and already leaking. Jensen looks really fucking good naked. Heâs slim, but he doesnât have a six-pack or anything. Jared really doesnât give a shit. Heâs an office worker most of the timeâheâs allowed to not be built. Itâs kind of adorable, actually.Â
Jensenâs face falls. âJared?â
âIâm sorry, I was staring,â Jared explains. âSorry, Iâve just been dreaming of this moment, and nowâŠitâs actually happening. You are so fucking gorgeous I canât even think, baby.â
Jensenâs cheeks color, and he slowly breaks out into a smile that lights up the whole room. Jared is awesome. He rolls the condom over his cock and flips open the top of the bottle of lube. He coats his fingers with it and delicately slides his index finger into Jensenâs hole. âThis is all about you.â
Jensenâs breath catches. âShit, I havenât done this inâŠGod, like a decade.âÂ
âIâll be gentle,â Jared assures him, and gently starts to open Jensen up. When Jensen seems relaxed, Jared adds a second finger and starts to scissor ever so slightly. He slides his other hand up Jensenâs belly to his chest, and circles one finger around his nipple. Teasing it into hardness, he bends down and grazes his teeth over it as he adds the third finger. Jensen moans, deep and throaty, and it goes straight to Jaredâs cock.Â
âJesus fuck,â groans Jensen, his voice ragged and guttural. He drops his head back, and Jared takes the opportunity to lick a stripe up from his nipple to the hollow of his throat. He gently sucks the soft skin in between his teeth, not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough that his hole tightens against Jaredâs fingers.
âRelax,â Jared murmurs. âThis is all about you.â
âThen fuckinâ do it,,â Jensen urges him.Â
Jared slicks up the Latex and does just that. Jensen hisses when Jared enters him, but Jared searches for approval in his eyes. Jensen nods and makes a sincere effort to relax. Jared runs one hand through his damp bangs and rubs his thumb down Jensenâs jaw. âYou are so fuckinâ hot, you have no idea.â
Jensen just moans in reply, pressing both hands to Jaredâs sweat-slick shoulders. Jared presses his lips to Jensenâs and plunders his mouth, mirroring the way his cock is currently sinking deep into Jensenâs hole. Jensen breaks the kiss a moment later and sucks in his breath sharply as Jared starts to thrust. âJesus fuck,â he gasps. âYouâre a fuckinâ animal.â
âI aim to misbehave,â Jared murmurs, grinning.Â
âYou are a nerd,â replies Jensen.
âHey, you recognized it,â Jared points out, thrusting a little bit deeper. Jensen lets out a low, guttural moan and drops his head back. Jared takes the opportunity to kiss the cords standing out from Jensenâs neck.
âIâm so close,â breathes Jensen, and Jared can tell. He hits home once, twice, and on the third time he buries his cock as deep in Jensenâs hole as he dares. Jensen comes with a bitten-off shout and shoots ropes all over Jaredâs belly. Jared thrusts a few more times to achieve his own release, and pulls out just as Jensen goes completely limp underneath him. Jared pulls off the condom and ties it off, tossing it into the trash can on the other side of Jensenâs nightstand. Then he gives Jensen a short, sweet kiss on the cheek.Â
âOh my God,â Jensen gasps. âYouâre fuckinâ amazing, you know that?â
âYou make it easy,â replies Jared, and he means it completely. He lies down next to Jensen, pressing his side into Jensenâs and throwing one arm over his chest. âI wanted to make you feel good.â
âYou made me feel God,â Jensen replies, still breathing rapidly. He folds himself into Jared and tries to catch his breath. âHoly fuck. That wasâŠI donât even have words.â
Jared laughs soundlessly. He doesnât care if itâs too soon, he just wants to fucking say it. âI love you.â
Jensen pushes himself up on one elbow and looks Jared straight in the eye. âI love you too,â he replies, and kisses Jared.Â
âWell, look at that,â murmurs Jared. âItâs a Christmas miracle.â
Jensen rolls his eyes, but heâs grinning ear to ear. âSap.â
âI learned from the best.âÂ
Jensen canât argue with that. âYouâre the best Christmas present I ever got.â
âLikewise,â Jared replies, and drifts off to sleep.
#365daysofj2#j2 au#j2 fanfic#engineer jared#retail clerk Jensen#church secretary jensen#church#christmas smut#christmas eve
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Sweet as Chocolate Kisses
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Ys4Jpon
by sinnerforhire
Jared works at a chocolate factory. Sparks fly when he meets Jensen, who's filling in for the normal store clerk one morning before Christmas.
Words: 898, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
Series: Part 1 of Kisses verse
Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: M/M
Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki
Relationships: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Additional Tags: Engineers, Alternate Universe - Retail, Alternate Universe - Candy Shop, Churches & Cathedrals
read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/Ys4Jpon
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40 Questions â Meme for Fic Writers! 3, 4, 5, 20 and 23! GO!
3-Is there a trope you wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole? UhâŠ. not really? I mean. Coffee-shop AU is not really my thing but I have in the past written a fic with a rich character coming to âsaveâ the retail clerk character from humdrum life, lol, and isn't that the same thing? I have written genderswap before but⊠eh. Would I do it again, probably not. For various reasons...4-How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them? SO MANY. Literally can't count them all. My j2 Bb for 2018 is exciting for me thoughâŠ. Jensen âwinsâ Jared in a game of poker from Stephen Amell who claims that he is a well trained submissive. It's gonna be a total departure for me, but I'm excited to work on it.5-Share one of your strengths. I think I'm pretty well versed in realism, especially with love scenes. Cause the way I write is to picture the scenario and describe it, so if I can't âseeâ it in my head, I can't write it.20- Describe your perfect writing conditions. Quiet. Coffee. Comfy chair. Full charge on my laptop. And finally inspiration, lol.23- If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why? http://archiveofourown.org/works/9610172What ended up getting posted was not what was originally in my head. I wanted it to be longer, more in depth. I wanted it to have a lot more substance. In the end, I wanted it posted and away from me, lol.
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View: Millennials Face Second Age Of Underemployment In 2020
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View: Millennials Face Second Age Of Underemployment In 2020
In a matter of weeks, the financial hit from the coronavirus has actually erased a yearsâs worth of work gains.
On Thursday, a report revealed United States unemployed claims increased by another 4.4 million, bringing the five-week overall to more than 26 million.
Thatâs the steepest recession for the American labor market considering that the Great Depression. More unpleasant for any long-lasting healing, nevertheless, might be those who keep their tasks however view their professions stall.
Hereâs where a lesson from 2008 may be useful.For lots of millennials, the Great Recession wasnââ t a crisis of joblessness even task stagnancy and underemployment ââ putting in less hours than wanted, or not tapping oneââ s complete variety of abilities and efficiency.
I lived my own variation of this, having actually begun my very first genuine task a month after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Grateful just to be utilized, I looked past the unglamorous job of composing profits headings from news release, which are now cranked out by algorithms.
I was generating a mid-five-figure wage and seemed like a millionaire.My thankfulness gradually calcified into aggravation as I discovered myself stuck at the exact same desk for 4 years.
I wasnât alone. For every single story like mine there was a sales agent too dissuaded to look for that regional-manager function, a part-time retail clerk who couldnât get a routine weekday shift, or perhaps that sorry banking expert who couldnââ t development beyond plugging information into Excel.
All this has an expense: While the United States shed more than 30 million tasks and $10 trillion in home wealth throughout the monetary crisis, the stack of profits lost to underemployment reached $148 billion in the last 3 months of 2009, by some estimates.
The effect from the coronavirus will be even worse.
The International Labour Organization anticipates 195 million full-time task losses internationally, and anticipates a â considerable increaseâ in underemployment.
As aggravating as it might be for white-collar specialists to get stuck, the hardest struck will consist of low-wage employees and the less-educated, who never ever actually discovered their feet after 2008.
That fractured bedrock indicates weâre a lot more susceptible entering into the Covid-19 decline than we were simply over a years ago.
This may look like a vigorous turn of occasions.
As just recently as February, the U.S. taped its most affordable joblessness rate in half a century.
Dig one level much deeper, however, and youâll see why that 3.5% doesnât inform the complete story.
A more holistic gauge of labor-market health might be the so-called U-6 classification, that includes those who arenât working however show that they desire a task, along with those who desire full-time work however need to choose less hours.
Even in February, that figure was double the main level ââ at 7%. If thereâs something to enjoy, itâs the space in between these 2 numbers, states Torsten Slok, primary financial expert at Deutsche Bank Securities.
That might show the strength of any healing. Remember, however, even the U-6 classification does not catch task stagnancy amongst the completely employed.
The concept that underemployment is underappreciated isnât brand-new. In 2019, Dartmouth College teacher David Blanchflower released the book, Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?â
He utilizes the U.S. and U.K. workforce to show the puzzle of very little wage development and record low joblessness. Economics 101 informs us it ought to be simply the opposite ââ a tight task market need to increase salary.
The catch, he states, is underemployment.
Consider Hank, the part-time employee whoâs too downbeat to use to a full-time gig.
He snaps on the news and sees motivating headings about the task market. Stirred to dust off his resume, he feels fortunate to land a deal reasonably rapidly.
Since heâs been running at half-speed for so long, Hank has extremely little bargaining power when it comes to income settlements.
While itâs heartening that heâs been included to the labor force, Hankâs not contributing much to greater typical wages.
Other research study reveals simply how pernicious working listed below capacity can be.
In 2014, Tim Slack of Louisiana State University and Leif Jensen of Pennsylvania State University mentioned that underemployment continued long after the healing from the worldwide monetary crisis: After balancing 15.5% from 2002 to 2008, the rate increased to approximately 22.4% from 2009 to 2012.
Itâs totally possible that we see a fairly fast rebound in joblessness once the coronavirus subsides: Deutsche Bank anticipates the figure to increase to 12% in the 2nd quarter and approximately cut in half by the end of the year.
Underemployment, nevertheless, might haunt the labor market for several years to come.
The knee-jerk policy reaction has actually been to increase welfare, including $600 to the weekly quantity provided by states, a minimum of briefly.
Comparable procedures have actually worked in the past: Every dollar of costs on the extension of such help produced $1.61 of financial activity in the very first quarter of 2009, according to the Brookings Institution.
One watershed part of the U.S.âs coronavirus relief expense was consisting of protection for gig-economy and part-time employees.
The latter might correspond to more than 25 million Americans, if not more.
Yet joblessness workplaces around the nation are so overloaded with demands ââ and besieged by ancient innovation ââ that thereâs little time, cash or political will to dedicate resources towards opening more chances for individuals whoâve currently got tasks.
Numerous states are rapidly lacking funds.
In Connecticut, the 40-year old computer system that processes welfare can t manage four-digit payments: Adding the additional $600 will press the greatest qualified payment to $1,249, the Wall Street Journal noted.
For the out of work, the response is larger stimulus checks.
The $1,200 handout numerous Americans will get appearance generous in the beginning; if you think about a typical weekly wage of approximately $900, nevertheless, that expense purchases bit more than a week or more for numerous families, Slok notes.
For the underemployed, who have the advantage of time, an easy option would be to make job-search costs tax deductible once again ââ a step that ended with the passage of the Trump administration tax cuts in 2017.
There are lots of eulogies drifting around for millennials nowadays. Now sandwiched in between 2 financial disasters, weâve acquired a great deal of financial obligation, conserved really little and flooded into casual tasks with couple of employee securities, such as paid authorized leave and retirement advantages.
The Atlantic is calling us the â lost generation,â while the Journal has actually recorded the results of economic downturn anxiety.
By mishap of birth, I had access to an education thatâs opened doorsâ and Iâve definitely handled to discover my method.
Even with this golden passport, it took me a number of years and moving throughout continents to get where I desired.
Countless other Americans arenât so fortunate.
 Original Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Curated On: https://www.cashadvancepaydayloansonline.com/
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Increase in Female Inmates Linked to Opioid Crisis, Poverty
Lee Hays waited three hours in a holding cell deep inside the century-old Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greenburg, Pa., before being brought into a first-floor courtroom.
Hays wore a white long-sleeved shirt under her dark-blue jail uniform as she sat next to her attorney in front of the courtroom railing. It was a week before Christmas.
The 57-year-old woman renewed the plea she had made for 22 months: Get me out.
The room inside the downtown Greensburg landmark had mostly cleared when her name was finally called. Hays stood before the judge. Her straight, light-brown hair fell to her lower back. A rose and vine tattoo marked her wrist. A few friends and her sonâs girlfriend sat in the first and second rows, listening intently.
Her attorney suggested that the judge reduce the $500,000 bail that had kept her in the county jail on accusations of being part of a heroin trafficking ring.
âYouâll be heard in February,â the judge said.
Hays broke into tears.
âLove you,â her friends said as a sheriffâs deputy escorted her out in handcuffs. âHang in there a little bit longer.â
Hays is part of a trend of more women being arrested and jailed in Westmoreland County and across the country.
Nationwide, the female jail population has swelled dramatically since 2000, when about 70,000 women were incarcerated at the mid-year mark, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
By mid-year 2014, that population had grown to nearly 109,000 women locked up in county or municipal jails.
Two years later, according to the most recent data available from BJS, the figure had decreased slightly to 102,000; but that tally was from the end of 2016 when a prison population is typically lower than during the middle of the year.
The Westmoreland County Prison has seen a similar influx.
In 2008, the county lockup in Hempfield saw 824 commitments of women. By 2017, jail officials took in 1,269 â a 54 percent increase. During the same time period, the number of men committed increased 3.5 percent, from 3,440 to 3,560.
âThe fact that thereâs a 50 percent increase of females is very concerning,â said Judge Christopher Feliciani, who hears criminal cases and helps run the county drug court that started in 2015.
Many county officials were hesitant to point to a specific reason driving such a sharp increase in the number of women locked up locally, citing a lack of hard data. The Westmoreland County Clerk of Courts office does not track the types of offenses charged against female inmates, and the county Prison Board does not break down annual figures on top charges for jail inmates by gender.
Some speculate the increase is the result of the ongoing drug epidemic, whether women are getting hooked or engaging in criminal activity to support their habit.
Since 2015, retail theft and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia were the top three most common charges for which an inmate was committed to the jail, according to prison board reports.
People who are addicted to prescription opioids or heroin are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system, according to a study published last year in JAMA Network Open. As the personâs addiction progressed, so did their involvement, researchers found.
âItâs been going up,â said jail Warden John Walton. âI attribute it to the drugs.â
Lower Pay, Higher Burden
About half of incarcerated women in the United States are in local jails. Sixty percent of women in local jails in 2018 were there pretrial, meaning they had not been convicted, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
One reason could be the fact that women earn less than men, making it less likely they can afford to post bail, said Wanda Bertram, a spokeswoman for the group based in Northampton, Mass.
A woman in jail who is unable to make bail has an average annual salary of about $11,000 prior to incarceration, initiative research shows.
âWhen a man is in trouble, itâs common for women to rally around them,â Bertram said. âBut for women, itâs the opposite.â
Itâs unusual for a woman to have bail set as high as Hays, who was one of eight people police arrested in 2017 and accused of being part of a large-scale distribution ring that brought at least 20 bricks of heroin into the county.
Only one other woman arrested in Westmoreland County in 2017 had a bail set equal to Haysâ bail.
âI didnât know what to think,â she said of when a district judge set her bail at $500,000 â an amount she could never afford.
Being jailed has been a financial struggle. Friends and family are helping Hays pay bills and taxes and keep the heat on at her childhood home in Youngwood, Pa. Her business that once provided pressure washing and painting services is gone.
âIâm from right here, and I have a house and I have a business,â Hays said. âItâs not like I was going to take off.â
Many women remain behind bars because they cannot afford bail â even ones set at low amounts.
County records show that many women remain behind bars because they cannot afford bail â even ones set at low amounts.
Of all women jailed in Westmoreland County in 2017, 426 â or about a third â couldnât post bail at the time of their arraignment, a Tribune-Review analysis showed. Of those, approximately 300 received a bail amount of $10,000 or less for mostly nonviolent offenses â including half who were accused of possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia.
Regardless of bail amount, three-quarters of them remained behind bars because they couldnât afford to post bail, records show.
Experts said low bail amounts can be out of reach for some who get arrested.
â$10,000 might be like $5 million,â said Brittnie Aiello, an associate professor in the department of criminology and criminal justice at Merrimack College in Massachusetts. She researches maternal incarceration and punishment by gender.
Mothers Behind Bars
In addition to earning less than men, many women also have added burdens of providing for children.
âA lot of these women are single parents; they donât have expendable cash,â chief public defender Wayne McGrew said. âThese could be women that are just coming into their first time of being involved in the criminal justice system just because of the drugs.â
Experts say the majority of women in jails are mothers, and many have experienced some kind of trauma or abuse and mental illness, more so than male offenders, according to Bureau of Justice Statistics research.
âWomen are required to go back and be mothers,â said Tom Plaitano, member of the Westmoreland County Criminal Justice Advisory Board.
âThatâs an added burden on them.â
An estimated 80 percent of woman jailed in 2018 to be mothers, with U.S. jails expected to house 150,000 pregnant women last year, the Prison Policy Initiative estimated.
From Jan. 1, 2016, to Oct. 30, 2018, there were 13 instances in which a child was transferred to custody of the county Childrenâs Bureau after the mother was incarcerated, according to bureau statistics. Between 2013 and 2018, the jail housed 190 pregnant women, many of them addicted to heroin, Walton said.
Incarcerated mothers have fewer resources than male counterparts and can face a tougher road when they get out, Aiello said.
âYou have to rebuild your life, which is a huge uphill battle ⊠and the kidâs life, too,â she said.
Jillian Jensen knows what thatâs like.
The 31-year-old mother was once an inmate at Westmoreland County Prison. She later worked there as a certified recovery specialist, visiting the jail for 18 months to hold group sessions for men and women.
While everything changes when you wind up in jail, Jensen said the negative experience can be used as an opportunity to reach women while the burdens of daily life â kids, work, home â are on hold and feelings that may have been repressed flood in.
Her time behind bars forced Jensen to address her drug addiction and start to get clean.
âBeing incarcerated saved my life. Having that fear of going to prison for five, 10 years scared me,â said Jensen, now a stay-at-home mother of three. âI think women need empowered ⊠to know that theyâre worth more than this lifestyle.â
Breaking the Cycle
During her prolonged stay at the county jail, Hays has seen the same women cycle in and out.
âTheyâre in here, they seem like they want to do good,â but when they get out, they run from drug rehabilitation or donât finish it and end up back in jail, Hays said.
âI donât know that these people have the structure of a job and going to work and feeling good about themselves.â
The county would like to start a re-entry program for inmates, though officials continue to search for funding after being denied for an earlier grant. Such a program could offer services â vocational training, transportation, drug and alcohol treatment and life skills â to select inmates inside the jail and after they are released.
The idea would be to reduce rates of people being incarcerated again and help them better their lives, said Plaitano, who is on the steering committee for the Pennsylvania Re-entry Council.
An easy way to reduce prison population is by changing the cash bail system for certain offenses, such as misdemeanors and other nonviolent charges, advocates say. There are people who can be released and others who are violent and should be jailed, said Cherise Fanno Burdeen, executive director of the Pretrial Justice Institute.
âThereâs nothing about sitting in jail ⊠that improves your life outcome.â
âThereâs nothing about sitting in jail ⊠that improves your life outcome,â she said.
The countyâs drug treatment court has succeeded in getting high-risk, high-need people out of jail while they work through the program, coordinator Eric Leydig said. Between September 2015 and November 2018, 190 men and 147 women applied to the program â with 66 men and 50 women accepted, Leydig said.
âWe try to make jail priority cases,â he said.
Hays tries to stay busy while awaiting her Feb. 25 plea hearing.
She works at the library once a week and mends clothes, sheets and blankets for a couple of hours each day. She attends a nondenominational Bible study and church service every week. While inside, she earned a high school equivalency certificate â even though she said she already had one from the 1970s.
Prior to her drug arrest two years ago, Hays spent time in jail on work release in the early 2000s on a drunken-driving charge and a couple of years before that in a state prison for an aggravated assault charge, according to court records and her recollection.
Renatta Signorini
Now, she just wants to see her two children and three grandchildren again.
âI miss them a lot,â she said, crying.
This is a slightly edited version of an article written by Renatta Signorini, a staff writer for the Tribune-Review, as part of her project for a 2018 John Jay Rural Justice Reporting Fellowship. Read the full article here.Â
Increase in Female Inmates Linked to Opioid Crisis, Poverty syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/
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Sweet as a Pomegranate Margarita (Factory Boys, 4/?)
The last day before a holiday always seems to drag. Jared has a lot to do during his shift, but itâs all routine stuff that he could do with his eyes closed. Thereâs a little bit of excitement when he gets pulled into fixing a Kiss depositor, but even that doesnât take him more than an hour.Â
Jared checks his watch for what feels like the 300th time since his shift started. âThatâs not gonna help,â says Jim, who helped him dismantle the sealer theyâre currently working on.Â
âYou got a hot date or something?â jokes Briana, the line worker theyâve displaced.
âAs a matter of fact, I do,â replies Jared with a smirk.
âAnybody I know?â
âDepends. You been into the candy store lately?â
Brianaâs jaw drops. âYou mean, that really hot guy who just started?â
âHis nameâs Jensen,â says Jared. âHeâs filling in until the holidays are over. He usually just works Thursday afternoon. And yes, I mean him.â
âYou are so lucky.â Briana crosses her arms and leans against the safety railing. âHeâs amazing. I know a lot of girls who go in just to see him.â
Jared chuckles. âI donât think heâs noticed.â He finishes screwing the cover back onto the machine and puts his screwdriver back in the toolbox. âWeâre gonna do a test run. You want to load it up?âÂ
Jim loads the empty bags back into the machine and turns it on. They run a few bags of Miniatures before stopping the machine to check the seals. All of the bags are fully sealed with no gaps, and the glue seems to be holding, so it looks like he and Jared fixed the problem. âLet us know if there are any more problems,â Jim tells Briana. âBut I think youâre back in business.â
âWell, thanks for the break,â says Briana as Jim and Jared pack up their tools. Jim signs the work order and hands it to Jared so he can sign it also. âAnd have fun on your date.â
âI plan to,â Jared replies. âThanks.â
Jared and Jim take their tools back to the shed before they go to the electriciansâ office to file the work order. The interns are off, so the office is empty. Jim checks the computer, but nothingâs come in since they left. âAllâs quiet on the western front,â he tells Jared.
They both sit down in cubicles. Jared checks his watch again and is pleased to see that thereâs only 20 minutes left in his shift. He wishes he could text Jensen, but the storeâs closed today so itâs too early to bother him. He knows Jensen starts at the church office at 9:00, but itâs not even 7:00 now so he assumes Jensenâs still asleep.Â
Jared just kills time on his phone until itâs time to clock out. They both go up to the locker room and change. When they go out to the parking lot, they see it rained overnight. Theyâre both parked way in the back of the lot, but in different directions. The lot is pretty empty now since first shift is off today.Â
When Jared gets home, itâs just starting to get light. It sucks that itâs dark when he gets to work and itâs still dark when he leaves. Winter isnât Jaredâs favorite season by any means. When he gets home, he drinks a bottle of water and eats a protein bar before he goes to sleep.Â
When he wakes up, itâs just after 4:00 pm. He drinks some water and shaves before he texts Jensen. How was your day?
Busy. How was your shift? Jensen writes back.
Long. It seemed to take forever. I couldnât stop thinking about you.
Jensen texts back the blushing smiley. Thatâs so sweet. Wish I could say the same, but I didnât really have a minute to myself the whole time. Too much to do and too little time.
Iâm sorry, Jared replies. But I hope I can take your mind off it later. He finishes with a winking face.
Sounds fantastic to me, says Jensen. I canât wait to see you. Itâs been too long.
It has been pretty long. Jared stopped by the store on his way out on Wednesday, but Jensen was busy ringing out retirees with huge baskets full of candy, so they didnât get to talk. And Jared wasnât willing to go to work an hour and a half early to see Jensen before the store closed yesterday.Â
It really has. Iâm glad we have the whole weekend to be together, Jared writes back. Heâs especially glad that the shift he was supposed to work tonight got cancelled. Jared still doesnât want to get up early to go to the 2:00 pm church service tomorrow with Jensen, but luckily Jensen understands and is willing to go to the evening service instead.
Me too, Jensen replies with a red heart.Â
Their reservations are at 6:00, so Jared has to start getting ready. Iâm gonna go shower and get dressed. See you soon.Â
Canât wait, Jensen replies.Â
Jared sends the heart smiley back and gets into the shower. He shaves when heâs done and gets dressed in a black button-down shirt, dark jeans, and a metallic black leather jacket. He doesnât want to get super dressed up and hopes Jensen wonât either. He combs his hair and pops a candy cane Ice Breaker that he bought from the candy store on Monday.Â
When he gets to the restaurant, Jensenâs waiting inside the vestibule. Heâs wearing a gorgeous green suede jacket, a patterned button-down shirt, and black trousers, and he looks so good it takes Jaredâs breath away.
âHoly shit, you look amazing,â breathes Jared.Â
Jensenâs cheeks go pink immediately. âThanks,â he says, smiling self-consciously.Â
Jared wraps an arm around Jensenâs shoulder and kisses him on the cheek. âApparently all the girls at work would kill to be me right now,â he murmurs into Jensenâs ear, and that has the desired effect.Â
Jensen chuckles softly. âWell, I only have eyes for you,â he replies, stepping back from Jared. âAnd you donât look half bad yourself.â
Jared opens the door to the restaurant and theyâre shown to their booth in the dining room. There are a lot of tables pushed together to accommodate large groups, and all the booths along the wall are full. Theyâre seated by the window, which is nice.
âDo you want a drink?â asks Jared, glancing at the Christmas drink specials.
âAre you getting one?â
âI might.â Jared hands Jensen the drink specials.Â
âSorry, I just wasnât allowed to drink for so long that I donât want to overdo it, you know?â Jensen looks over the card. âThis pomegranate margarita sounds amazing.â
âThatâs the one that caught my eye, too,â replies Jared. âIâm not going to judge you for having a cocktail or two at dinner. Iâm not like that.â
Jensen nods. âI know. Itâs justâŠold habits die hard, I guess.â
âYour church doesnât give you a hard time about drinking, do they?â
âNo, no, not at all,â Jensen assures him. âItâs more my family and the church I grew up in. It was insanely strict. To the point that Pastor Kim calls it religious trauma.â
âOh my God, I had no idea,â says Jared. He reaches over and covers Jensenâs hand with his own.Â
Jensen shrugs. âItâs not a big deal or anything. I just have weird reactions to completely normal things sometimes.â
âIâll keep that in mind,â Jared says, not really knowing what else to say. This is something thatâs completely outside of his experience. âYouâre completely safe with meâyou know that, right? I like you just the way you are.â
Jensen grins. âThanks, Billy Joel.â
Jared hadnât even thought of that. âI swear Iâm not actually a Boomer in disguise.â
That prompts a laugh from Jensen that diffuses the tension. He opens his mouth to say something, but the server arrives then. They both order pomegranate margaritas, and Jensen orders a glass of ice water as well. Then they both end up laughing again when it turns out they both want the prime rib special, medium, with mashed potatoes and asparagus.Â
âHey, you can take the man out of Texas, but you canât take the Texas out of the man,â says Jared once the server leaves.Â
âI guess not,â replies Jensen. âI was ready to leave it behind, though.â
âThereâs a lot I donât miss,â admits Jared. âLike the hundred-degree summers and the tornadoes.â
Jensen nods. âYeah, I thought I was getting away from humidity when I came here. Then I found out this place is even worse.â
âI donât notice it as much since I donât go out during the day,â says Jared. âThat definitely helps.â
âI bet it would.â Their drinks come then, and Jared holds his up to toast. âMerry Christmas, Jensen.â
Jensen clinks his glass against Jaredâs. âMerry Christmas, Jared. You definitely made it a happy holiday.â
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If You Like Piña Coladas (Factory Boys, 3/?)
Jared canât wait for his shift to end Friday morning so he can go see Jensen in the store. Jared texted Jensen after his shift ended, but Jensen was too tired to talk much.Â
The last hour of Jaredâs shift seems to last all day. Heâs not doing much, which doesnât help. Production is slowed down in anticipation of the break, so there arenât too many repairs to do. Jared ends up hanging out in the engineering office with the interns and his boss Mark. One of the interns, Osric, seems pretty cool. Heâs from Penn State as well, but he goes to the campus in Middletown, two towns away from Hershey. He wants to go to main campus for grad school, so Jared shares about his experience up there.Â
Finally, itâs time to clock out. Jared punches out and changes his clothes in the locker room. Itâs really cold, and the sun wonât rise for nearly an hour. This isnât Jaredâs favorite time of year. But all that falls out of his head when he walks into the store and sees Jensen. Heâs ringing up a customerâs order, and Jared recognizes him as one of the deaf employees. At the end of the transaction, Jensen signs âthank you,â and the man smiles.Â
âHey, Jensen,â Jared says once the customer is gone. âHowâs it going?â
âItâs picked up,â replies Jensen. âGood to see you. Sorry I couldnât talk last night. Yesterday was brutal.â
âWhat happened?â
âNot only did they send Valentineâs, they mixed our regular order in with it,â says Jensen, scowling. âSo we had four skids to sort through, on the floor, to find our weekly order.â
âYikes.â Jared glances at the gum and mints on the shelf near the counter.Â
âYeah, dodging forklifts isnât my idea of a good time.â Jensen opens up his stapler and starts loading new staples into it. âWe brought two carts up and it took us about an hour to put it all out. And then we had a big delivery from 19 East to deal with as well.â
âSorry you had such a crappy day.â Jared brings two bottle packs of grape gum to the counter. As Jensen reaches for one, Jared clasps his hand and squeezes it. Jensenâs cheeks color and he smiles shyly. âAt least the busy season is almost over.â
âThatâs true,â replies Jensen as he scans Jaredâs gum. âIâm ready for it to slow down. We keep running out of handle bags because people are buying so much.â
âMan, yâall canât catch a break.â Jared waves off Jensen when he pulls out a small paper bag. âI donât need a bag. Iâll just stick them in here.â He sets his lunch cooler on the counter.
Jensen sticks the paper bag back under the counter. âNo problem. Thatâll be $5.34.â
Jared pulls out his debit card and taps it on the credit card machine. âMan, this is so much better than the old one.â
âTell me about it,â says Jensen. âI donât miss that piece of crap at all.â He hands Jared the two bottle packs and the receipt. âAre you going straight home, orâŠ?â
âI can stick around,â Jared answers with a grin. âKeep you company.â
Jensen smiles, clearly pleased. âI wonât pass that up.â
Another customer comes in then, but she goes straight to the baking chips and comes to the counter with an armload of peanut butter and chocolate chips and two cocoa tins. Jensen rings it up and bags it for her with a practiced efficiency borne of experience. She pays and is off in just a couple minutes.Â
âAre you still working this shift after Christmas?â asks Jared.
âYeah, up until New Yearâs,â replies Jensen. âThen Ruth comes back and I get to stop being late to my other job.â He smiles to take the sting out of the words.
âSo, I have to ask,â says Jared. âHow do you go from being a candy store clerk to a church secretary?â
âI used to work at the museum,â says Jensen. âThe church is right across the street, and one of my coworkers sings in the choir there. She mentioned that they were looking for an administrative assistant, and she recommended me. I worked in the development office at Etown, so I had experience. And once I got the job, I started going to services. Itâs a great church. I think youâd like it.â
Jared nods. âWell, if you like it, thatâs good enough for me.â Jensen smiles. âHowâd you end up here, then?â
âI wanted to start paying more on my student loans,â says Jensen. âSo I applied to Chocolate World, but they wanted too many shifts. They recommended I apply to the employee store because itâs more flexible. So I did, and here I am. Originally I worked Tuesdays and Thursdays both, but I stopped Tuesdays because our boss changed the start time to 11:00 AM and that conflicted with my church hours. So I cover this shift when I can instead.â
âYou donât mind getting up early?â
Jensen chuckles. âGetting up at 4:30 isnât my idea of a good time, especially in the winter, but Iâve learned to go to bed early.âboth before and after.â
âWell, Iâm glad you do, because I wouldnât have met you otherwise,â says Jared.
Jensen grins. âYeah, youâre definitely the best perk of this job.â
Another customer comes in then, so Jared moves away from the counter. But she doesnât seem to know what she wants, so he goes back to talking to Jensen. âSo, youâre off next Friday, right?â
Jensen nods. âYeah, yâall are too, right?â
âWell, I work my normal shift Thursday night, but then Iâm off Friday night,â replies Jared. âSo do you want to do something Friday night?â
Jensen smiles. âWhat do you have in mind?â
âHow about dinner?â
âThat sounds great. You have a place in mind?â
âWell, what do you like?â
âJust about anything,â answers Jensen. âPretty much anywhere outside of Hershey is fine.â
Jared chuckles. âYeah, good call. How about Gilliganâs, the one on Jonestown Road? I could make a reservation.â
âThat sounds fantastic,â says Jensen. âI havenât been there in ages.â
âWell, then, itâs a date.â
The woman comes up to the counter with a bunch of Twizzlers, so Jensen rings her out and gets her on her way quickly.Â
âI havenât been on a date in years,â Jensen says quietly.
âI wonât hold that against you, I promise.â Jared smiles encouragingly.Â
Jensen glances at the clock. âCrap, my boss will be here any minute. I didnât realize it was so late.â
âNo problem. Iâll get out of your hair.â Jared hoists his lunch cooler onto his shoulder.
âYou probably want to get home, anyway.â
Jared shrugs. âIâm not that tired. But youâve got to go, so Iâll text you when I get up tonight.â
âSounds good to me.â Jensen smiles, that thousand-watt smile that makes Jaredâs knees go weak.Â
âHave a good day at the office,â says Jared with a big smile of his own.
âIâll try.â Jensen opens the register and sticks an envelope in the bottom of the cash drawer. âThanks for sticking around. You made the time go faster.â
âMy pleasure.âÂ
Jensen reaches across the counter and grasps Jaredâs wrist. He pulls Jared in and leans over the counter to give him a soft, sweet kiss. Jensen tastes like piña colada Ice Breakers, which are Jaredâs favorite. Jensen must have a pack stashed behind the counter. âGood night, sweet dreams.â
Jared grins so wide he feels the stretch in his cheeks. âThey will be now.â
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Sweet as Chocolate Kisses (Factory Boys, 1/?)
Itâs the last week of normal work before the Christmas holidays, and Jared canât wait for the break. Heâs been running himself ragged fixing problems on the chocolate factoryâs production line 5. He really hopes heâs not the one who gets assigned the overtime to replace components while the lines are shut down over Christmas weekend.Â
He puts his tools back in the toolbox and heads back to the electriciansâ shed. Heâs got to stop by the employee store on the way out to get more miniature Reeseâs peanut butter cups for his sister to make cookies with. He got her a 2-pound bag of them a week ago and sheâs already out. Sheâs promised Jared a dozen for helping out.Â
Jared clocks out, changes out of his uniform in the locker room, and heads toward the employee candy store at the main entrance. When he walks in, he expects to see Ruth, the tiny redhead who works on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, when the store is open from 6:00-9:00 AM for the end of third shift and the 12-hour overnight shift that runs from 6:00 PM-6:00 AM.Â
But instead, thereâs a younger man standing behind the counter, and when Jared rounds the corner and gets a look at his face, his breath catches. The man is stunning. Heâs got huge green eyes framed by the longest and most luscious eyelashes Jared has ever seen on a man. He has perfect pink cocksucking lips, a chiseled male-model jawline, and freckles dusted across his nose and cheeks like the chocolate cookie pieces in the Cookies & Creme bar. Jared canât believe his luck.Â
The guy clears his throat, and Jared realizes that heâs staring. âSorry, man, long night.â
âNot a problem,â he says, and his deep, throaty voice makes Jaredâs cock twitch. Itâs the kind of voice that would sound really fucking hot talking dirty.Â
Jared stops at the counter. âI havenât seen you in here before,â he says, happy that his voice doesnât betray the lust he feels for the gorgeous guy in front of him.
âThatâs because I work Thursday afternoons,â the guy replies. âIâm Jensen. Iâm just filling in for Ruth while sheâs in Scotland.â
Jared smiles. âNice to meet you, Jensen. Iâm Jared.â
âAre you on third shift?â
Jared nods. âYeah, at least until summer. Then I might have a chance to move to second.â
âThen Iâd see you more often,â says Jensen, and the tone of his voice seems to imply that he would like that. âI only work this shift when Ruth is off.â
âThat is a shame,â says Jared. He takes a deep breath and decides to press his luck. âBecause Iâd definitely like to see more of you.â
Jensenâs cheeks turn slightly pink, and he grins. âThe feeling is mutual.â
Jared pulls his phone out of his pocket. âI donât want to be a cliche, or harass you, but would you mind giving me your phone number?â
Jensen grins wider. âYouâre not harassing me. You <I>are</I> a cliche, though. Canât help you there.â He recites his phone number, and Jared adds it to his contacts.
âI usually get up around 3:00 or 4:00,â says Jared. âIâll text you.â
âWell, I usually get off from my other job at noon, so thatâs fine.â
âOh, where else do you work?â
âA church downtown,â says Jensen. âIâm the administrative assistant.â
Jared canât help but chuckle. âYou donât strike me as the church secretary type.â
âItâs not that kind of church,â Jensen assures him. âThe last AA had tattoos and purple hair and demon stickers on her car.â
âSounds cool,â replies Jared.Â
âI wouldnât go there if it wasnât,â says Jensen. âI promise, Iâm not a Jesus freak or anything.â
âGood to know,â says Jared. âBut hey, I grew up watching Veggie Tales and I was in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in high school. I just never really found a church to join when I moved here.â
âI think youâd like mine,â says Jensen. âBut I donât want to pressure you.â
âYouâre not,â Jared tells him. âI mean, if it would let me see you more, Iâd be willing to do just about anything.â
Jensenâs cheeks color.Â
Jared looks down at his watch. âCrap, I gotta run if I want to catch my sister before she leaves for work.â He glances over at the Christmas candy shelves and locates the big bag of Reeseâs miniatures. He takes it to the counter for Jensen to ring up.
âYouâre leaving, right?â asks Jensen.
Jared nods. âYeah, you donât have to staple it.â Bags from the candy store need to be stapled shut if theyâre going back into the plant.Â
Jensen puts the bag into a paper sack and hands it to Jared. âHave a nice day.â
âI bet you say that to all your customers.â
Jensen smirks. âActually, I donât. Youâre just that special.â
âIâm flattered,â Jared replies with a grin. âI really have to go. But Iâll text you later.â
âIâll be waiting.â Jensen winks at him, and Jaredâs knees go slightly weak. Jensen is really, really cute. Jared doesnât want to leave him, but Megan will kill him if she doesnât get her candy. âTalk to you later.â
âDefinitely.â Jared grabs the paper bag and heads out to the parking lot. He doesnât stop smiling until heâs halfway home.Â
#spn rpf#365daysofj2#j2 au#j2 fanfic#kisses verse#engineer jared#retail clerk Jensen#church secretary jensen
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