ocularnervosa

 When I walked in the Weekend Guy was there. The Late Guy was trying to get the system up at the West Side Station so the Weekend Guy was covering at the Haunted Station in the morning and then came over to the Truck Stop for the afternoon. Later in the day a real computer repair guy showed up and put in a new screen at the West Side Station and the system is back up, for now. So the Weekend Guy will be back over there tomorrow. There was an Earth Wanderer at the station next door, he had a bucket on a dolly, you gotta wonder what was in it, he decided to cross the street, into oncoming traffic, he was almost hit by a box truck. I didn't see him again, or an ambulance, so I guess he got a ride north. The outside trash can filled up so naturally people kept trying to jam more in instead of using any of the other 9 cans on the lot. I decided to run out and dump it but that's when the tag teamers showed up. I often talk about it but today I decided to keep track: First was the fam...

 The weather apps (multiple) said the weather was going to be nice all day so I took the electric trike, aka my Hawg, to work. I was going to time myself but I forgot to look when I got to work. No problem, I would check it on the time clock app, except it won't let me log in, says my password is wrong, says my phone number is wrong, says my email is wrong. I think they don't want me using the app anymore. It's a total pain in the ass. Anyhow the Manager really likes my Hawg and now she wants to get one. It would be funny if half of town started buzzing around everywhere on electric bikes.  Two women came in and took their trash, old chicken bones, to the restroom to throw them away. There are 10 trashcans outside plus three dumpsters and they had to bring them in and throw them in the restroom, making the place smell even worse. And of course I got busy so I couldn't go dump the trash can for a while. Every woman who went to the restroom got to enjoy the smell of old c...

 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...

 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...

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 ...

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...

 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...

 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...

 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...

 It was my first day back after being sick and actually getting two days in a row off, Gas went up 30¢ a gallon in that time, despite the maga crowd keep claiming that it's coming down any day now. Skippy dropped by and lowered it 10¢ a gallon. I had no idea what that was all about. And it screws up the truck cards because you have to keep updating the processors on the prices. Thankfully I didn't have to do any today. Today was "vans full of people" day. Instead of making individual trips people are back to renting large vans and packing as many people in as possible for one big trip. Also I've been getting a lot more damaged coins, people are taking the ones they had tossed into their coin jars and spending them. Just more indications of the current economy. There's a guy who shows up every six months, sets up camp near the station and sticks around until he becomes a major nuisance and then finally leaves. The last time I worked at the Truck Stop the owners...

 So I woke still sick and I really didn't want to go to work. But thanks to several firings and the short sightedness of the management I don't have anyone to cover my shift, so off to work I went. And if you get infected because you came in, not my problem. Anyhow I did consider asking Mrs. Late Guy if she could cover tomorrow afternoon so I could take a day off however she had some news for me, it seems the Dyslexic woman, who has been working Down Town wants Friday off to go to high school graduation. So I get Monday, and Tuesday off (an actual two day weekend) and then I'll be covering there on Friday. I don't know how that is going to work, I don't have numbers for the register or the safe and I don't have keys to lock up the building, But at least I get a sick day. A woman didn't want to hand me her bottle of water, she just wanted to pay for it. How am I suppose to scan it if she doesn't hand it to me? I could have charged her whatever I wanted bu...

 So yesterday I took my new hawg (electric trike) out for a spin on the road, screw gas prices, and stopped at the Haunted Station to get copies of my report sheets for the Truck Stop. Their report sheets the have are crap that they've run through the old fax machine too many times so there are huge streaks and it's crooked on the page and so forth. Back when I worked there the first time I made up new, better sheets but the Crazy Lady didn't like them and threw them away, so these are just for me. Anyhow I was chatting with the Random Woman and she's super pissed, Skippy told her off about the coffee pot, the Late Guy said it hadn't been cleaned. Plus he keeps complaining at her about this and that. Instead of just saying "Hey, can you be sure this is done when you leave?" he's being the boss and barking orders. I really think she's going to quit before the end of the month. I told her she could let me know and I wouldn't tell anyone, and I wo...

The Bad Seed This episode premiered on March 18th, 1985. The lead in show was Scarecrow And Mrs. King and was followed by Newhart. It ran opposite movies on ABC (This Wife For Hire) and NBC (Private Sessions) Jen's new friend  Carter is causing a clash between Jen and Allie. Carter talks Jen into getting her ears pierced but tells Allie it was Jen's idea then tries to get her to smoke, Allie catches them in the act. Emma tells Kate that Jen and Carter are cutting school but she doesn't want to tell Allie. Carter steals a scarf and stuffs it into Jen's bag, but it sets off the security alarm and she gets arrested for shoplifting. The officer releases Jen to Allie since it's her first offense. Jen confesses that she's been skipping school, Allie says she got it from her father.  Dated References Kate gets a letter from Ed McMahon and American Family Publishers saying she might have won $2 million dollars. The company went defunct in 1999. (For a while people were ...

 When I tried to log on the second computer someone was already on there. It turns out Skippy is trying to learn the system since the Graveyard Shift has become unreliable and perhaps one night he'll have to run the place. Although I don't see that happening due to his limited English, I can't see him running a truck card. The Big Boss comes around once a month for an inspection and I fully expect a lecture about responsibility.  Thursday was weirdo day. one guy came in and was looking for tamales. I mean what the heck.  A family was holding a reunion in the middle of the parking lot. Cars kept showing up, people kept getting out, there were lots of hugs and so forth. What a strange place to meet up. The reunion was followed by a large van, I don't know how they got all those people in there but the place filled up and they probably spent $200 on stuff, mostly instant soup. And then they all piled back in the van and the place cleared out. The West Side Station has been...

 When I got to work the Manager told me the Homeless Millionaire has now turned to shoplifting. He came in, threw a bunch of garbage on the floor, grabbed several items and ran off. She called the cops and they immediately did...nothing. So from now on he has a "call the cops upon first siting" status. I fully expect that guy to end up in jail within the next two weeks, or worse, face down in a ditch on the edge of town. The Late Guy told me the West Side Station is back up and running. He fully expected it to be down until they installed new software but the guy got it to work. I kind of expected to be working with the Weekend Guy on Saturday and Sunday but he'll be over there instead. I need a good spot to park my bike so I was going to go outside and look around and as soon as I got to the door and that's when the tag teamers started coming in, one at a time. All I have to do is think about doing something and people show up. btw, I figure I can put the chain aroun...

 The thing about Mondays is I work with Mrs. Late Guy for four hours. So I don't have to rush to get in. I don't have to do any of the stocking. Unfortunately I have to work the register that is right under the air conditioner so I had to wear my jacket all day. I was also stuck listening to the Top 40 radio for half the day and...I can't tell the difference between songs, they all sound the same. Same rhythm, same manufactured music, same general lyrics. Maybe I'm getting old but I just wanted something in which the singer was actually interested in the lyrics rather than just singing them, some anger, some sorrow, some passion, not just singing the lyrics. I guess I got old somewhere along the way. Anyhow the Random Woman showed up to work early across the street. It turns out Mr. and Mrs. Late Guy had to go to a school meeting in the afternoon. Pretty soon I'm gonna have to buy raffle tickets, I hope they have good prizes. There's a crackhead that comes aroun...

 My first customer of the day was complaining because the pumps cut off at a $100, it's a credit card thing. Anyhow I let him leave his card and finish filling up, but he couldn't get the pump on. I tried to tell him to hang it up and let the screen clear out but he wouldn't shut up and walked out the door, he figured it out. He finished and came in but then he tried to walk out without scanning his card, then ran the magnetic strip instead of using the chip (hello, 21st Century here) and then tried to walk out without signing. That's the kind of guy who will end up driving into the back of a school bus. Mrs. Late Guy told me the Doofus had come in first thing in the morning to buy cigarettes. He asked her how it's going and she replied "You know, work work work", and then realized he had been out of work for three weeks and can't seem to get a job. I started laughing, I know it's horrible but the look on her face when she was telling me what happe...