Posts

The Lottery Experiment, May

 Week 19 Since I'm not working at the station that sells lottery anymore I wasn't tempted by any good numbers or the perfect calendar date or someone just bought a lot of losing tickets so this game is going to hit, all the normal pitfalls of gambling. So perhaps I can finally take control of the experiment.  New beginnings. Since I was moved to a different station I am no longer selling myself a ticket, instead I have to buy it from someone else. Thankfully I know the guy and told him about my experiment. I had $9.27 in the Tip Jar so I decided to go with a $5 ticket. I had my choice between four games but which one? I figured I would give the old Lucky Coin a spin and it landed on the one I least wanted but I bought it anyhow. The ticket has a potential jackpot of $5000 and, it was a $10 winner! So to start this month I'm up $5, down overall but still up. Oh, and since Friday is my day off I shifted my buying day too. Maybe next week I'll hit something big. Week 20 Th...

As The Station Turn 5/27

 Wednesday is supply truck day and thanks to the management not hiring new people the Manager is working alone, she has to put everything away and wait on customers. When I came in she was mostly done but the outside trashes needed to be dumped so as soon as the place had cleared out I ran out to do it so she wouldn't get stuck with it. I told her in the future to not worry about it, I would get it done within the next 8 hours. She was stuck at the station for the next hour and a half redoing prices in the register and straightening out the walk in cooler. They could hire two new people so this didn't happen but, who am I to tell the management how to run their business. Also the Manager is planning on quitting soon but I don't think the Boss knows that.  When I worked across the street I cut some barcodes off the boxes of the DEF because they are a pain to scan at the register. However at the Truck Stop they have a sheet of barcodes for that, but they are old, worn out, an...

As The Station Turns 5/26

I forgot to mention this yesterday but the Late Guy told me another film production company came around to take shots of the Haunted Station. They are looking for spots to shoot a horror movie and liked the creepy vibe of the place. Gee, I wonder why.... Today started in a way I hate, the floor mats were hanging outside on he handicap rails, and it was raining so they were all wet. Plus everyone who came in had wet and muddy shoes, that they would have wiped on the mats but instead they tracked up the floor. So I had to wait for the rain to stop, mop the floor and haul them in. I hate that. A guy pulled forward, but hadn't taken the nozzle out of his tank, and pulled it off the pump. Mrs. Late Guy went out to reconnect it and since it wasn't busy I figured I might as well learn how. So, now I know that even though I don't want to because every time you learn something the bosses think you should know even more, so they can do even less.  Yesterday I got the day off because ...

As The Station Turns 5/24-25

I walked in on another holiday rush but it was one of those wave days so the place cleared out just as fast, and it would go that way for the next 8 hours. A guy came in looking for a knife. I wasn't sure if he was wanting to buy one or borrow one but we don't have any for sale and I wasn't going to loan him mine so he was out of luck.  It was windy and raining, plus everyone was in a hurry so I didn't have to deal with a lot of angry people, they were too eager to get back on the road to fight with me over stupid stuff. So overall a good day. The credit card reader crashed but I got lucky, the woman had just gotten a cup of ice so I didn't charge her for it and the next customer paid cash. I did the classic, unplugged and plugged it back in and thankfully I didn't get another customer until it fully rebooted, and it worked for the rest of the day. The Invisible Man came in, I call him that because he had a failed suicide attempt that resulted in a large chunk o...

As The Station Turns 5/23

 Back to the Truck Stop. Today was another holiday weekend mob scene. And I swear they were all out to piss me off. I had to get a tank reading and a group decided that they had to stand right where I was walking. This is the middle of the road, that over there is not the middle of the road, why not go stand over there to have your personal conversation instead of The Middle Of The Road. Then, and I'm not trying to be mean here but who tries to buy rolling papers with an EBT card? The guy trying to buy rolling papers with an EBT card started bitching about the price increase. Here's an idea pal, Get A Job! And trust me, I know the guy, he's just a slug, no health problems, no mental problems, just a mooch. EBT are for people who need help, not sponges. The next person dumped all their stuff at the register and then decided they needed something else and wandered off leaving it all there. If you're coming to the register on a busy day, be ready to pay. Then a guy was jus...

As The Station Turns 5/22 The Downtown Edition

 Due to the local High School graduation and the whole company being short staffed I got stuck covering a shift at the Down Town station. What a pain in the butt. Their register is different than the ones up by the highway so I had to stumble my way though that, I'm sure I made several important mistakes but I don't care. Their card reader isn't working because they need to update the entire system so all credit purchases have to be made on a separate scanner and then rung out on the register as a cash payment, meaning your paperwork is always off. The day was a mess, but it was only one day so I don't care. A woman prepaid, started pumping, shut off, tried to restart it and of course it didn't work. So I had to figure out how to ring out a refund and reset the pump. The whole thing was a lot of fun. And at the exact same time another woman prepaid $40 and drove off. Thankfully I noticed before someone else pulled in to the pump but I had to figure out how to do a v...

As The Station Turns 5/21

 When I walked in the door it was a mob scene and the Manager was outside trying to dump the trash, so as soon as I clocked in I was waiting on customers, I hadn't even counted in my own drawer. And the price of fuel has changed again. Today was Wave Day, the place would be swarmed, then empty, then swarmed again. I spent half the day standing at the register and the other half running to check stuff like ice or the restrooms. Come to think of it I might not have bagged up ice, the Graveyard Shift was probably pissed that I left them 5 minutes of work. Some guy's card wouldn't work at the pump. He bitched that he's been coming here for 44 years, the station has only been here 30 years, and every time he goes to that pump, which has only been there 5 years, it doesn't work. Well here's an idea, go to a different pump, or a different station. I mean if over the course of 44 years things haven't worked it's time to consider a change. I know the truth, he pr...