Gem

David Teitel has worked as a cashier at health food stores since the mid-1980s. He enjoys sharing history facts, baseball statistics, and arithmetic with customers - he’s famous for his numbers knowledge. David lives alone in a messy apartment; handwritten notes cover his walls, appliances, and kitchen cupboards. They serve as to-do lists, schedules, appointments, and reminders of interesting people, places, and stuff. David has been living with hepatitis C for 39 years, and is waiting to be accepted into a new clinical trial. Waiting for treatment, David reflects on his life: his relationship with his parents, his painful adolescence, and a period of isolation in his early 20's. After dropping out of school and struggling with mental illness, David began his career in customer service at an independent Kensington Market cheese store in Toronto. He’s spent more than thirty years as a cashier and entertainer at health food stores. After years of wrestling with personal demons, David found an environment that’s a perfect fit for his playful nature.