Glad I Never Worked at a Convenience Store

Actually, I did work at a convenience store: my first job was stocking the cooler everyday at a local fooder, stop and shop, grab and go. I didn’t talk to anyone, though. I just went in, restocked everything in the cooler, swept and mopped the floors, collected my $8 for two hours of work, and left. What do you want? I was only fifteen.

But my lack of interaction with witty store employees makes me wonder about the movie Clerks (1994). I am behind the times, I know, for this is my first time seeing it. I enjoyed the twoKevin Smith movies I have seen—Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997)—but I didn’t love them enough to watch all of his other films. When it came out, everyone told me that Clerks was really boring, and I was on a bit of an independent-hating kick, so I didn’t go see it. But everyone else saw it, so I had no one to watch it with. Now all I can say is that that “everyone” who told me the film wasn’t that great are a bunch of idiots.

Sure, it’s low budget and the acting is sometimes terrible, but the witty banter is excellent! I have blogged about my love of witty dialogue before, so I won’t rehearse that here. But I really liked seeing people discourse about the politics of the Death Star in Return of the Jedi (1983) and the chosen destiny of video store clerking. The character Randall was a terrible actor, but his lines were excellent. He was random and spontaneous but completely purposeful—somewhat like people I knew in college—and I responded to him.

But let’s face it: I’m more like Dante, as I’m sure most of us are. I may not cheat on my girlfriend/wife (I don’t, I swear!), but I’m one of those people who can’t tell anyone no, just like Dante. And his name isn’t coincidental, either—Dante Hicks. He is the purveyor of the hell that is the town where they live. Stating it like that may be making it a bit too austere, but that’s really what he seems to be doing.

He is an observer of everything, not usually a willing participant. While everyone else does whatever they feel like, which seems to be the film's mantra, we don’t see Dante do anything that we judge as completely wrong. He is guided by a set of loose rules that make sense to me. In fact, I would probably do most of what he does (EXCEPT go out with another girl while I’m dating someone else, I swear!). But this guy simply observes everything that goes on around him. He participates in it sometimes, but only because other people goad him into it. They’re always pushing him to do things he doesn’t want to do. And although we only see one day in the life of Dante Hicks, the film leaves us with the idea (NOT the optional ending, mind you) that this is what happens to Dante everyday. The next day will be just like this one, even though he keeps saying that it’s a terrible day unlike any other. We know it’s not.

The real plight of clerks, then, is the monotony. They have to engage in witty banter because that seems to be what their life consists of. Randall may be the foil for Dante, but he’s really no better off, except, as he says, he has come to terms with his monotonous life. Dante, however, is merely an observer, like his namesake. He won’t stay long.

Grade: 8