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Jack hated going into the freezer. The cold sank into his bones in a weird way, and the thing was laid out in the worst way possible. It was like a maze. Why couldn’t the manager just get the shelves organized like any other place? He knew it needed to be big, but that was no excuse for a lack of organization.
Other hotels he worked for knew the value of proper freezer layout. A few shelves in neat rows, clearly labeled and with everything in a well thought out place. At least, the good ones did that. This one though? If there was an organization system in place, Jack did not know it.
One shelf had vegetables in one corner, and frozen drinks in another. A different shelf was covered with what looked like preserve jars, and was positioned perpendicular to two others, blocking the isle completely. And he did not even want to think about the shelves that were leaning on others. Any OSHA inspectors that came by would have a heart attack seeing those.
Nobody should need a map to navigate a walk-in freezer. Jack was very firm in that belief. What really got to him was that none of the other employees thought it was weird. In fact, none of them seemed to have a problem going into the damn place at all, nor did they have difficulty finding anything. They treated Jack like he was the odd one for not wanting to navigate a freezing cold maze with no labeling.
A particularly cold burst of air hit him. Where in the world were those coming from? There were no vents in the ceiling. And yet, he occasionally got hit by a burst of air that was even colder than normal. He looked around and so nothing but the shelves in their usual state of disorganization.
He turned as another area of cold hit him from the side. This one lingered. Like a bubble of cold air. Jack looked around to see the source, but could not find anything. He just kept going. He grumbled about the faulty cooling system. He grumbled about the poorly arranged shelves. He grumbled about the lack of labels.
Luckily, he was able to find what he was looking for. He was glad it wasn’t anything too heavy, and he was soon on his way back to the kitchen with an armful of frozen meat. The air in the kitchen was blessedly warm, and he felt the cold slowly seep out of his fingers.
“Hey, Jack, you got it?” The head chef, Walter, asked.
“Yeah, I got the meat. But if you need more, send Rick in there. That place sucks.” Jack replied as he set the boxes down.
“Hey, uh, you feeling okay?” Walter asked, giving Jack an odd look. “You didn’t see anything weird in there, did you?”
“Walt, I see weird things in there all the time. I mean, come on, who sets up shelves like that? It’s not normal.”
“That’s it? Just the layout?”
“Uh, yeah? Why? Should I be looking for something else?”
“And you’re feeling okay now? Everything normal?”
“Yeah?” Jack asked slowly.
Walter looked at him and sighed. “Man, Jack, you are one weird guy, you know that?”
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