It's midnight on Tuesday at the Wawa, and a five-foot-five coffee-skinned cashier with wire-rimmed glasses is making plans for Mardi Gras. With a wide grin, he tilts his head to the side and yells to a policeman on the opposite side of the store that he's never been to the New Orleans festival but has always wanted to go.
As a young female customer places her purchases on the counter, the cashier immediately shifts his attention from the policeman to the customer.
"I couldn't tell if you're a college student or not," he tells her, scratching the back of his head. As his eyes dart between the girl and the shopping basket, he asks the girl about University life while he rings up her items.
When the girl leaves, the cashier tells the policeman of his surprise that a newspaper is interested in writing about him. "Can you believe it?" he asks, gesturing dramatically with his left arm. "By 2020, there will be Worldwide Karim!"
Anyone who has ever made a run to 'the Wa' after 11 p.m. knows about Karim Groves, the loquacious cashier who sings to the ambient music and comments on everything from the WWF to meatball subs. Most customers expect to grab a hoagie and leave, but Groves adds a personal touch to the experience from behind the register.
In his six months at Wa, this 20-year-old Princeton resident has struck up countless conversations with students, professors and Princeton Borough residents.
"I don't have much of a life outside here," he said. "Wawa's my only social life."
Groves also makes the Wa social for University students, who look forward to chatting with him when they take breaks from studying or return from parties at 'the Street.'
"I adjust my position in line so that I will be served by Karim," said Matt Foulger '05. "You don't know what to expect next [from him]."
Gabe Doyle '05 likens Groves' verbiage to the prose of William Faulkner: "He's Faulkner-esque in the sense that he takes stream of consciousness to a new level."
A native of Boston, Groves moved to Princeton at age three and has lived here ever since. While his close friends and immediate family also live in the Borough — he has gotten to know many people at Princeton Public Library, where his mother works — Groves does not plan on staying in Princeton in the long run.
"I'm looking to get out," he said. "I want to go to New Orleans. That's party central."
Before coming to Wa, Groves worked as a telemarketer, which he found dull and uninteresting.
"It was like sitting around asking people about aliens all day," he said.
Now, working five days a week on the late shift at the Wa, Groves finds himself in the midst of the constant activity of students. When the students leave for vacation, the Borough is too quiet for his liking.
"Once students get out, it's like turning the volume down," he said. But Groves always turns the volume up at Wa, singing along to the music in the store.
"We keep the music on for him so he can sing," said Donna, assistant manager of Wawa. "He'll sing to anything."
While singing is his forte in the store, once out of Princeton, Groves wants to take performance to a new level through directing or acting. He admires Russell Crowe's acting and hopes to return Princeton one day after playing a major role in a drama.
"I want to be the guy in the limousine in the Armani suit who says 'Here I am, I've arrived,' " Groves said.
But Groves is already famous in the Princeton community for his outgoing personality and humor.
"One time he said to my friend 'Is your name Peaches? Because we could be Peaches and Karim,' " said Merril Hermanson '06. "He's really funny."
Not everyone is so receptive to Groves when he's on the job, however.
"People come in and say 'stop joking,' " Groves said. "There's always some sourpuss."
But Donna says that Groves is just a "very happy person" who works hard.
"I'd rather he be that way than be all depressed," she said. "He's a good kid."
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