It was high time for Dani to start dressing like an adult. Despite looking at turning thirty in the near future, she still dressed like a teenager, with thick hoodies, jeans and Converse sneakers comprising most of her wardrobe. Combined with her petite stature and childlike face, she really looked like a fresh undergraduate and not an experienced postdoc looking for more permanent positions. After putting it off for months, she finally forced herself to donate a large part of the contents of her closet and go out shopping for nicer, more formal things. After the initial stress of having to figure out what actually looks good on her and what doesn't, she actually learned to enjoy shopping. There was something very theraupetic about trying on blouses, jackets, skirts and dresses. Luckily, being very frugal in the past, she'd saved up enough to be able to drop a good amount on nice things. It turned out to be a form of self-care, something that's very scarce in most academics' life.

For several weeks now she had been going to malls to spend hours carefully choosing the pieces of her renewed wardrobe. Today it was the shoe shopping day. She walked into "Mocy's" half an hour ago and spent most of that time in an aisle with some formal pumps. Both comfort and style mattered to Dani, and as such she'd already tried like seven pairs. The assistant, a brown-haired girl called Faith, had to run back and forth several times now to get Dani's size out; however, she didn't seem to mind, staying cheerful, friendly and helpful. She seemed knowledgeable too: she mentioned specifics of some particular brands and models. There was an air of confidence around her. Dani originally didn't mean to buy several pairs, but Faith was very convincing.

Still, there were more things to try on.

"These, these and these", Dani pointed. "That'll be the last of it, I think. Thanks again, sorry if I am being too picky..."
"No problem at all! We'd rather our customers leave as satisfied as possible", Faith smiled. "Besides, it's nice to have an occasional workout".

Someone peeked at them around the corner. Another lady: this one tall and olive-skinned, with free-flowing dark hair and thick-rimmed glasses. Her badge identified her as Felicia, the store manager. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she was about to say something. There was a brief pause, then she gave Faith a brisk nod. The assistant walked away to add more boxes to the growing pile around Dani.

It was at that moment that Dani realized that from the opposite corner of the store, where the men's aisles were located, she could hear a noise; mostly laughing and unintellible speech. Probably multiple people at once. Her logical mind immediately connected the points.

"Busy day?" she smiled at the store's manager. "Am I keeping her for too long? We're almost done here".

"No problem at all", Felicia replied. There was something impeccably business-like about her: her fitted jacket was devoid of stray hairs or lint, her hair was in exquisite order considering she didn't tie it down, and she was wearing just the right amount of jewellery - a golden glint here and there, but not enough to look tacky or outshine a potential rich client. Dani blushed a bit: the entire reason she started to update her style was because of women like Felicia. She wanted to give off this same air of cold, polite confidence. In her field, professionalism wasn't fostered; any time she interacted with ladies like Felicia she'd be reminded of just how casual she is. She wanted to change that. Her gaze involuntarily wandered towards Felicia's office pumps and in that moment she decided for sure to get at least one of the pairs she'd already looked at.

"She's been very helpful", Dani said quietly. "It's rare that you get so much advice from an assistant. Makes me want to come back here".

"We take pride in training our assistants well", Felicia beamed. "I'll make a note of your feedback. Now, if you will excuse me..."

"FASTER, BITCH!" - a manly voice roared across the store. Rolling laughter followed. Dani almost jumped; Felicia momentarily frowned before smiling again and turning around on her heels.

"What the..." Dani stood up.

"Please, don't worry about that", Felicia noted calmly before walking off, her heels clacking against the floor. Dani, unable to resist, walked over to the same corner and looked around, still aghast at what she'd just heard. She knew in the back of her mind that retail can be quite a nightmare, but this? In the middle of the day, in a classy store at the mall? Some enraged asshole just screaming profanities in a store? She could barely believe it. She just had to see the person who was insane enough to pull a stunt like this.

Whom did she see?