People love to make assumptions about your life. They see where you are, and suddenly, they think they know your story. But the truth? It’s deeper than that.
I didn’t leave Circle K because I couldn’t handle it. I left because my Friend walked in one day, stared at me in disbelief, and said, “I can’t believe you—of all people—are working here.” It wasn’t concern—it was judgment. Like I had somehow fallen off track.
What she didn’t understand was this: I was at Circle K for a reason.
I wasn’t just working behind that counter. I was proving exactly who I am— K. Kirton Niner. The same person who worked at Circle K in the ‘90s. Same ID, same strength, same spirit. If you don’t know me as K. Kirton Niner, then you call me Shimmer. But don’t ever call me Krista Kirton or Krista Romero—those names are dead. I don’t live in the past, and I don’t answer to those names anymore.
Circle K wasn’t just a job—it was a reclaiming of my identity. But I wasn’t blind to the environment. I wasn’t just dealing with drunk customers most of the time. I was dealing with people who thought they could walk in and treat me however they wanted. They thought they could take one look at me and label me based on their own narrow views. And when I refused to wear a mask, I became an easy target. I’d hear things like, “So, you’re here by yourself until 10:00, huh?” It wasn’t curiosity—it was intimidation.
Then came Stretch. He walked in with his Local 81 jacket, and on that a patch with a phrase that hit me like a punch: “You can’t trust something that bleeds once a month and never dies.”
I’d heard that before. From Stitch—T. A. Fowler who better loose my number and stop calling me at what is his usual drunk hour. This is why we don’t talk about him. Remember! Because he believes he owned Shimmer and bitch Shimmer is forever free and ACCOUNTABLE for her choices.
That patch was a reminder of why I keep my distance, why I don’t put up with disrespect or abuse. It was time to go.
So when Sue offered me a job at Creeker Boutique, I took it—not because I needed saving, but because I thought it might be a space where I’d be respected for knowing how to develop creekerboutique.com from scratch! A place where I could show my smarts.
But I was wrong.
One day, I was asked to bend over a man’s knee for my spanking. In front of my Friend. And that Friend? She didn’t say stop. She didn’t say this isn’t okay. Instead, she nodded along, bobbing her head like a puppet, saying, “Yeah Krysta, do it.”
I wasn’t going to play into it. I wasn’t going to let someone make a fool of me. I said, “No thank you” and walked away.
That same night, Sue had a Help Wanted sign posted on her door. I never came back. I sent her a message, made it clear to her or not: I don’t work with people like that. People who can’t stand up for others. People who let abuse slide for the sake of appearances. People who don’t respect other people’s dignity.
Since then, I’ve been walking toward something real. Something with integrity. Because I know who I am. I’ve lived through enough to know my worth, and I’m not going to shrink for anyone. Not in my life, not in my work.
I am K. Kirton Niner. I am Shimmer. And I don’t answer to anything or anyone from the past—especially not dead names or dead-end jobs and people dead to me.
I don’t bend for disrespect. I walk away from it—with my head high, and my soul intact. CREEKERS, I AM INVICTUS.
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