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Deadhead In Woolworths

Yeah, yeah - it was me, not you,
  but I still blame you.
I toiled until my elbows gave way.

I toiled for myself?
  and you benefited from all I gave.
You only saw another drone.

I shouldn’t have been surprised?
  that the corporate mentality kicked in.
Here where dollars reign.

Demoted to self-service checkout,
  I carved a new little kingdom?
where I let thieves get away.?

Mess with me, I’ll mess with you.?
  I’ll never go back, never see your face again.?
Content that you’re just someone else’s drone.

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Alison A Smith Date: 9/30/2026 3:00:00 PM This free-verse piece channels workplace resentment into a sharp, darkly comic act of rebellion. The repeated “I toiled” gives the speaker’s grievance a weary, physical weight, while the turn to the self-service checkout creates an unexpectedly potent little “kingdom” of defiance "where I let thieves get away." The loose, conversational form—with its hesitations and questions—fits the speaker’s raw, unresolved anger, and the final reversal of “drone” lands especially well: the worker refuses the corporate label only to recognise it in the departing customer.

Alison A Smith

Date: 9/30/2026 3:00:00 PM

This free-verse piece channels workplace resentment into a sharp, darkly comic act of rebellion. The repeated “I toiled” gives the speaker’s grievance a weary, physical weight, while the turn to the self-service checkout creates an unexpectedly potent little “kingdom” of defiance "where I let thieves get away." The loose, conversational form—with its hesitations and questions—fits the speaker’s raw, unresolved anger, and the final reversal of “drone” lands especially well: the worker refuses the corporate label only to recognise it in the departing customer.

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Deadhead In Woolworths

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