Inheritance and the Conformity Effect

Instead of working a part-time job on fixed days every week, I occasionally did one-off shifts at factories and warehouses. At that time, I was into heavy metal and had long hair, so I could only really do that kind of day-labor manual work.
However, the state of the world seemed to be changing. I didn't really understand it, but it seemed the economy was getting worse.
I had thought that a recession wouldn't really affect someone at the bottom of the social ladder like me, but then the one-off jobs disappeared. The part-time job magazines also became significantly thinner. I see, so this is what a recession is, I thought, and it really hit home.

Since it seemed difficult to get by on one-off jobs, I decided to apply to a CD shop, even though I didn't think I'd get it. I applied without really checking the location, and it turned out to be further away than I had expected. However, it was right near the station, so I was able to get to the interview without getting lost. It was a small shop in a shopping district.
When I said at the counter, "I'm here for the part-time job interview," a tall man appeared from the back and told me to go outside and around to the back.
As instructed, I went outside and opened the back door to find a small office space. Although, it was just a desk and chair in a cramped space, and it was clearly visible from inside the shop. I didn't see any reason why I had to go all the way around from the outside.
I had my interview there. I've already forgotten what I was asked.
About three days later, I got a call saying I was hired. I had been rejected from these kinds of jobs until then, so it was a huge surprise. I wondered what on earth the shop owner was thinking, but there's no point in complaining about being hired. I silently accepted the job.

On my first day of work, a person with aggressive eyes reached out and said, "I'm Yamane." Not knowing what was going on, I said, "I'm Hyaku," and shook his hand, to which Yamane-san laughed and said, "This is my last day, though." I didn't know what that handshake was for.
Later, I heard from Kawano-san that Yamane-san was a punk. Perhaps this shop had a hiring quota for band members, and the handshake was a ritual to pass that on. When I mentioned it to Kawano-san, he said, "Oh, yeah, that's right." I figured he was probably wrong.

I was grateful to be hired, but the shop owner was an extremely unpleasant person. As it turned out, all the other part-timers hated him too.
"Oh, we really have to make sure we sell those Tube albums," Kawano-san said, mimicking the shop owner's muffled voice. Then he added, "That guy is an idiot."
At one point, that shop owner told us to sell Mariya Takeuchi's CDs thoroughly. He said, "If you guys sell X number of these this month, I'll treat you all to a barbecue at my villa."
Even if he told us to sell them, we were just ringing up what the customers brought to the register, so whether they sold or not was beyond our control.
Besides, while a barbecue would be nice, a villa is a hassle. And if the shop owner were to be there for that barbecue, it would be a hassle as well.
At first, I rang up the register with a sour face, praying they wouldn't sell too well, but I soon realized that if I were invited, I could just decline.
In the end, we weren't invited, so I suppose they didn't sell very well.

Looking back on it now, it's not at all clear why that shop owner was so hateful. It seems that because everyone around me said he was a jerk, I ended up with that mindset as well.