how would you like your meat sliced?

the girl

in a hair net

and apron,

working the deli department

at the grocery store,

cutting

meat,

and scooping coleslaw

into cups,

yells out to a young man

walking

by with a bucket

of grey water 

and a wet mop,

hey Jimmy, she says.

do me a favor, would you?

could you take care

of  the toilets

that are backed up

in the rest rooms?

then she asks me 

how i'd like my Virginia baked

ham sliced,

thick or thin?

the line behind me suddenly

disperses.