The day I went to college I thought I had cleaned my last floor. Washed my last dish. Scrubbed my last toilet. I left home after five years too many of flipping burgers and dealing with other people's shit. I was done trying to make a bunch of assholes happy.
It took all of one day in a frat to realize I was wrong. The world was filled with unhappy assholes, and they were all my problem.
"Pledge Needledick! Make sure the floor shines." Beko was the frat vice president. He was about as funny as a cold sore. But he was also a linebacker, so people generally felt obligated to laugh.
"It's Cam." I said.
"It's Cam what?"
"It's Cam, Sir." I said. I did not sigh. It was difficult.
"It's pledge Needledick now." Beko woofed. Like a dog. A retarded dog. "We are getting fucked up!"
Shaun slid himself between Beko and me, smooth as anyone I had ever seen.
"What Beko is trying to say is that today is your night on the chore rota Cam. All pledges take a turn." Shaun was the frat president. And he was probably going to be a senator.
"No. I get it. Shit needs cleaning." I said.
"Right. Spirit of brotherhood. Don't wait up." Shaun said. "Beko! What have I told you about pissing on the floor?"
And, with the sloppy zip of a zipper, I was alone. I had the place to myself, piles of shit to clean up, and a fresh puddle of piss to mop.
"I am so fucking stupid." I said.
I pledged the frat because Alpha Nu Alpha Lambda was the place for business majors.Just this chapter alone had produced three Fortune 500 CEOs, a couple of Silicon valley royalty, and so many millionaires they stopped keeping track. And business is all about who you know. A poor boy from the shit end of the city who does not know anyone needs to change that. And so I did. And now I was picking up empties while the future leaders of the free world were getting shitfaced and laid. You would think that with so many rich bastards they would have a maid.
I was well into the second hour and elbow deep in the world's most disgusting toilet when the doorbell rang.
I didn't get up. I just kept scrubbing. Whoever they were here for it certainly was not me.
The bell rang again.
And again.
And then someone starting pressing it like they'd been duct taped to the damn button and then had a seizure.
I ripped off my yellow gloves, jogged to the door and opened it.
"What the fu-" I started. I did not end that sentence. I saw where it was going, flagged it down, and gave it directions to a new and better place.
"How can I help you?" I said.
Is this because I am a good person? The kind of person who does not tear people's heads off for no reason? Of course not. I worked in fast food. It was because, on the other side of the door, stood a very pretty young asian girl in heels, a knit skirt, and a sorority sweater so tight that it had to have been drawn on her.
The girl blinked the blink of the slightly high, or the very dumb.
"I'm here for Beko." she said.
Dumb it is.
"He's out right now. I can tell him you called." I said.
She blinked again.
"I didn't call. I walked."
"Right. No. Totally get that. Do you want to leave a message?"
"Nope. I want to see Beko."
"Tell you what. Come on in. We'll call him." I said. "Let me just wash my hands."