From your good friends down @ The Food Barn

This is a revision of an Awkward Moment Story I had to write for class. 

It seemed to Carl that discomfort and awkwardness formed a vital aspect of the so-called relationship he was attempting with Carol. 

Even their first meeting was scarred by hideous misfortune—a few months back when he was still a new employee, Carl had come into work a little late one day and was in a rush to use the restroom before his shift started. Being the upstanding, proprietary gentleman that he was, Carl implicitly followed the directions of the nearly scratched off sign on the bathroom mirror: ALL EMPLOYEES MUST WASH HANDS BEFORE RETURNING TO WORK. 

And so he had.

Only to his extreme disagreement, the paper-towel dispenser was absent of its namesake and Carl was left with no choice but to hurriedly dry his sopping hands on the front of the new khaki trousers he'd been required to purchase as a condition of employment at The Food Barn. And of course the pattern of the water on his crotch was glaringly obvious and seemed indicative of some-sort of gross misfortune on his part. Carl tried desperately to smooth the stain but he really only ended up spreading it around and increasing his overall appearance of slovenliness.

It shouldn't have surprised Carl at all that he should encounter Carol coming out of the break-room as he went back to punch-in. As of course this was the first time they'd met, Carl saw that he really only had two choices: be a dick and ignore her or stop and introduce himself.

And he probably would have gotten away scott-free too had he not inexplicably felt the urge to bring attention to his trouser stain by looking at it, shuffling about, and trying to non-chalantly cover his crotch region with his hand. 

For her part, Carol was intrigued by the shuffling, stuttering mess of a man before her. “How do you like The Food Barn so far?”

“Oh—it's great! I love it here! I mean—I love having a job, you know. Money is important. Plus it's nice to—you know, have something to do all the time. It took me forever just to get this one. Like five months almost. It was awful...”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Well...”

“I better punch in, I'm almost late.”

“Right, see you later Gary.”

“Um, it's actually Carl.”

“Right! Sorry.”

“No your fine...I think I like Gary better anyways. Haha!”