It was Hitch’s job to remove and replace the full trash bin liners with empty ones. Every day he got to the mall at eleven o’clock and he worked faithfully until two-thirty, when most of the lunch rush had come and gone. Annie was there from nine until he took over for her, and then Chuck the janitor took over for him and managed the entire building until it was closing time. It was a good job, and Hitch was very proud of it. When he went to club meeting on Saturday afternoons he always had funny or interesting stories to tell his friends. He told them about the mommys who came and let their kids run around like little wild animals, or the little old ladies who had book club, or the homeless people looking for some relief from the outside.
Hitch always hated it when something sharp got wedged in the trash the wrong way and then ripped the bin liners. He tried double bagging for a while but the janitor said it was a waste of resources, so he went back to having to deal with the trouble. Usually there was a sludge of soda and sauce dripping all down the side and pooling in the bottom of the can. Over the years, Hitch had learned the tricks of the trade. He always brought out an extra can so that he could take the dirty one to the back and rinse it out. He learned his lesson after the first time, when some people walked by and laughed at him for trying to clean it out right in the food court by putting his body halfway in.
By the time Hitch made his way all the way around the food court, he usually had only a few minutes to chat with some regulars before having to go all the way around again. When it was lunchtime it didn’t take long for the trash to start overflowing. People came from the many office buildings in the surrounding area, and the mall’s food court offered many options. Hitch’s favorite was Dragon King II. He got fried rice for lunch every single day. It was really great that he was able to spend his own money that he earned on his own lunch to eat during his own break. After he was done eating every single grain of sticky, savory rice he would go back to his job, removing and replacing the full bin liners with empty ones.
