Dan was halfway across the store when she heard a soft beep come from her badge. A buzz soon after came from her phone in her pocket. She pulled it out. A notification had popped onto her main screen, letting her know that the employee she'd been helping had left the premises. All the changes the girl had made to her were now permanent until a different customer changed her.
Dan's heart sank. How was she going to do her job like this?
In denial, Dan continued to hurry towards the registers. One of the employees working checkout, Kyle, knew who Dan was talking about when asked.
"Yeah, they left about five, ten minutes ago," Kyle confirmed. Dan felt her eyes well up with tears. "Hey, chin up. You're not the first person to get stuck in a bad shape and you won't be the last. Just ask Lazlo. He got stuck as a cat for like, a week."
"At least you're human," piped up the employee in question, Lazlo, who was bagging groceries in the next lane over. "Being a cat sucked."
"I- I guess," Dan mumbled.
"And it sounds like you're still mentally yourself," Kyle added. "My second month working the floor, phew! A customer broke the rules hardcore. He turned me into his perfect woman and then made me think I was his girlfriend. Luckily, he got caught after a few days. They fixed up the app so you can't get rid of memories now. You can still make people think like whatever they were turned into, but it's not a full memory erase, and it wears off once the customer leaves the store. It's the only change that can't be permanent."
"Good to know," Dan mumbled. Her bowels rumbled. Then, they immediately emptied into her diaper. "Speaking of changes..."
"Oh, geez, man, that reeks!" Kyle laughed as the smell from Dan's diaper reached him. Dan blushed a bit, but smiled. Even though she was stuck as a toddler girl in a dirty diaper, she was feeling better thanks to Kyle and Lazlo being so casual.
"I guess the only upside to being a cat over a toddler is being litter box trained," Lazlo joked. "I'm about to go on break anyways, Kyle, so I can help Dan out."
"Thanks," Kyle said. Lazlo put a sign on the register saying the lane was closed and then headed over to Dan.
"C'mon, stinky butt," Lazlo said. "Let's make you less stinky."