I’ve had a love affair w. slurpees from the time I was 8 years old……I remember the first one I had… small Sprite….and the lady behind the counter served it….there was no self serving back then.  I seriously think at that time it was actually open 7 to 11.  Prior to this, it was all about penny candy…after my first sip….there was no turning back.  I found years later as a teenager, that I could have it both ways, when I put the penny candy inside the slurpee.

So I have a close affinity to 7-11′s, they’re like an oasis to me.  And I know they are everywhere, but what makes the one in my neighbourhood so special is that….it’s the scariest in Vancouver.

To me a 7-11 should be slightly scary, back in the burbs there was always bad ass teenagers hanging out.  When I lived in Yaletown, I’d go to the one on Granville late at night and it made me feel like I was on drugs.  This 7-11 has the whole gambit though, scary ass teens, scary ass adults, scary ass seniors…scary ass toddlers.  

One day while buying my Playland pass, I noticed two women outside yelling at each other.  It’s not really an abnormal thing there, but one of the ladies opened the front door, and their screaming continued, so it was impossible to ignore.

        ”OHHHH  You think you’re tough….You’re a rat….a $%&(!%(*# RAT!!!!”        

         “I’ll Kill you, you toothless bitch!!!”  Replied the lady outside.

        ”Look at you,  you can’t fight your own battles, you need your man to help you out, oh you think      BEARSPRAY scares me, why don’t you bring it in here?!?! You *$%*%$( GOOFS!”

I looked up and saw the lady outside with a skinny looking guy on a bmx and I thought….guy doesn’t look like much…wonder why his nickname is BEARSPRAY.

 It’s funny how a comma in a sentence can make the difference between a harmless guy on the outside, and a crazy chick running around the inside of a 7-11 with a can of mace.  Obviously, the guy’s name wasn’t BEARSPRAY, it was probably Derek, or Sky, and crazy outside girl, was about to become crazy inside girl no. 2, and yep, crazy inside girl no. 1 was pretty observant…outside girl clearly had a can of BEARSRAY.  

Sometimes I think I’m that guy…the voice of reason….the hero….In this case though, I was: ‘If you need me, I’m just gonna have my head in this here cooler guy.’  I walked into mace once at Slam City Jam I, I remember that almost more than I remember Kareem Campbell’s epic run.  It hurt dude, so I wasn’t about to even make a run for the door.  

But I guess it was my lucky day, because after chasing each other around the isles a couple times the two took off onto Hastings.  You could tell the girl at the check out had seen this before.  Right after they left she locked the door.  I always wondered why they would need a lock at 7-11, now I know.  

Paying for my Playland pass all I could think about was….”Maybe this is a bad idea….”.  My train of thought was quickly stopped when I saw the look on the face of the check out girl.

        ”Man…You have the worst job in the city.”

        ”Yep….”