As The Station Turn 5/1

 I went to the store and then stopped at the West Side Station to say hi to the Weekend Guy. He confirmed that the Manager of the Truck Stop is planning on retiring in June. He can't believe that she is doing it just as the summer really gets geared up. I said it makes perfect sense, get out before things get bad.

I also told him about the Homeless Millionaire, he said the guy had been talking erratic for a few days and he too was wonder when the crash was coming. He said the same thing everyone else had "I'm surprised the Crazy Lady didn't shoot him". Also they are moving everything around at the West Side Station, I told him it was so they could set up to sell hot foods, which won't work at that station since it's right across the street from McDonalds and they don't get the semis.

The Weekend Guy told me that the Boss has been in talks with the owner of the old warehouse next to the Haunted Station. Gotta wonder what plans they have for that place. I expect everything to be completely different next year. 

I then dropped by the Haunted Station but the Late Guy wasn't there. Someone had been sick, I'm guessing at the Downtown Station and the Random Woman had gone in to cover and so Mrs. Late Guy was doing the morning shift at the Haunted Station and the Late Guy would be covering the afternoon. Today the Part Time Woman is suppose to be working her first shift at the Truck Stop and Mrs. Late Guy (who hates her) was going to have to work a couple of hours with her but she got out of it. But it also means that the Part Time Woman will be doing her shift with The Graveyard Shift guy and he doesn't care, he won't show her anything or teach her anything so this should be a disaster. The Boss is bouncing the Part Time Woman around in hopes of pissing her off and getting her to quit. This should be interesting. 

I told Mrs. Late Guy about the Homeless Millionaire. I guess he had been in earlier in the morning and got pissed because his debit card has been cut off. He claimed he could buy a new pin but I'm pretty sure that is just something in his mind. He got angry and left. I told her if he came back to just call the cops, it's reached that point and who knows what he is going to do. Later I saw him out in the middle of the street yelling at cars. I'm worried about the guy and I hope they pick him up soon. 

I went back to the Haunted Station in the afternoon because the Late Guy was having problems with the lottery. However when I got there the problem had cleared up, oh well I had to go for a walk anyhow so it worked out. He told me they are going to gut the station and redo it all so they can set up a walk up counter service where the old restaurant use to be, he even had to go take a class. I figure they are going to put him in charge of it once they have it up and running.

And for the first time I knew something he didn't, he hadn't heard about the construction company wanting to rent the lower lot. I was telling him how it would work out for the boss, but he was going to be selling a lot of coffee first thing in the morning. Then I came home. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

As The Station Turns 4/30

 It's raining today, which means the floor will be tracked up the whole time. But at least I have a good excuse for not mopping. And the weirdos mostly stay home. 

They changed the price of fuel again which meant that the Late Guy was going to have to go in and do the sign. I had to laugh because he wanted to be the manager. I also realized that he's change the sign more times in a week than I did all last year. 

The touch screen on the credit card wasn't working, I had no idea how long it had been like that but people were having to use the touch wand. So, I got under the counter, unplugged it, plugged it back in again and it worked. No wonder they always tell you that stuff when you call the help line.

A bus pulled into the Haunted Station but then left and went to the Chevron. The Weekend Guy is working across the street today so I had to wonder if he rushed over, locked the door and put up the Closed sign and then hid until they were gone. I wouldn't put it past him.

A woman came in, used the restroom, wandered around the station and finally bought some stuff. As she was standing there I realized she was wearing a company shirt from a rival station. I don't think she was spying but I had to wonder why she didn't go to the station for the company she worked for. Odd.

The Part Time Woman was going to be working across the street and I wanted to see what time she showed up. However some guy in a big rental truck, and towing an overpacked pickup on a trailer, blocked my view. No problem, he'll probably leave before she gets there, but he hung around outside, not getting gas. Then he brought his young son inside and headed to the restroom, for 20 minutes. Then he came back out and finally started pumping gas. Then he came in and they looked all around for snacks. Then hung out in the parking lot, then he and the kid came back in to use the restroom again. He was parked out there for 45 minutes and when he finally left the Part Time Woman was across the street and I never saw when she got there. It's as if they know what I'm doing. 

It was so cloudy and dark that I turned the canopy lights early. The Weekend Guy didn't and he looked closed all afternoon. The lights went on after the Part Time Woman went to work. I know he did that intentionally.

The Boss came by and was telling me the Manager is thinking about retiring in June. She could live off her husband's retirement, and she's talked about it for the past 20 years. I believe her this time. There is also a theory that the Manager of the West Side Station may also be leaving which would explain the rumor of my potential moving over there. But that means they'll have a whole new staff at the Truck Stop in the next 6 months. The future has never been this unknown. 

They just finished repairing the pumps and the #10 pump stopped working. The bosses get mad when you mark a pump out of order and I didn't have a lot of diesel customers so I just kept telling them to move to a different pump and left the problem for someone else. And then #11 started rejecting all the cards, I didn't tell anyone about that either. And I'm off on Friday so it's really someone else's problem.

I went to do a last minute check on the restroom and there was hair on the floor of the men's room. And not loose strands but wads of hair. Are they undergoing some kind of medical thing and losing chunks? It was odd. 

A guy came in and it took me a minute and I suddenly realized, I had worked with that guy a long time ago. He was a bit of a goofball and had started getting into drugs, which caused him schizophrenic episodes. Things got really bad for him. I didn't ask what happened and I kind of hoped he didn't recognize me. 

It was the end of the night, I was out of my drawer, finished my paperwork and was ready to leave. Stinky was slowly counting in his drawer and the Crazy Lady, who had opened her drawer, had wandered off to who knows where. Some woman was asking about cigarettes and didn't know what the brands were. I told her that there was regular Marlboro so she was going to go out and ask if that was good enough. I told the Crazy Lady that there were all kinds of red flags on that one and to be sure to check an ID. Or the woman was Canadian.

Anyhow, for the big news of the day, the Random Millionaire has been acting more and more erratic for the past week. He's been losing his temper over nothing, riding out into traffic and mumbling to himself. I figured if he was going to go over the edge I hoped he did it down at the Conoco. Well, on Wednesday night he came in to the Truck Stop and got into a huge fight with the Crazy Lady and in the end he punched her, in the chest. I don't think it was that hard but none the less there is a zero tolerance on physical violence so he now has a No Trespass notice on him. Everyone said the same thing "I'm surprised she didn't shoot him" (yes the Crazy Lady is always armed). So, this is going to be interesting.

The Lottery Experiment April

Week 15

 For the first Saturday of the month I had $22.68 in the Tip Jar. Since I've bought all the available tickets it was time to start over. I was planning on buying one of two $10 tickets for their color so I could use them in my project. I spun my lucky coin and it landed on the one with the potential $50000 jackpot. The coin was right, I won, $10. I'm starting out the month on another push. It would be nice to come out ahead but walking away with what I spent isn't bad.

Week 16

Like every other Sunday there was another temptation. This time it was game 666 which is in space 13 and the ticket was #007. Once again I decided to stick to the rules and ignore the numbers. Someone came in on Monday and bought it but they didn't come back so I don't know if it was a winner or a loser. And it means when Saturday rolls around I won't buy it.

Saturday rolled around and I had $14.03 in the Tip Jar. There were two new tickets, one for five dollars and one for 10. I decided to go with the $10 ticket because I liked the color. It had a potential jackpot of $20 thousand. And it was a loser. Oh well. 

Later on Saturday I found another lottery ticket outside, it was the same game as I had lost on. It wasn't a winner either. But I have two tickets towards my project. I really need to get busy on it. 

Week 17

This week I had $6.51 in the Tip Jar. I had a choice between a ticket that was going to run out or the new game. I went with the new $5 ticket, it has a potential jackpot of $25k. It wasn't a winner but it's a second chance drawing and the overall ticket is black which is good for my art project.

The scanner for people to check their own tickets quit working so I had to do a hard reboot of the system. I needed to check it but the only old draw ticket I had was a winner and the scanner ignores those since it had already been cashed out. I needed a loser so I was tempted to buy one for the afternoon draw and test it out. However a guy came in to check tickets and one of his draw ticket was a loser so I could check it on the scanner and it was working. So, that saved me a dollar.

Week 18

And then everything went sideways. There was a firing at one of the other stations at the company where I work and the boss wants me to go over and run the afternoon shift. The problem is they don't sell lottery tickets so I can't buy my own anymore. I can go by once a week and keep the thing going but do I want to is the question. If I quit now I end it down. I have 5 days to think about it. Also I'll have to shift my purchase day to Friday.

I've been on my new job for 24 hours and have had to go to the old station two days in a row. I ended up having to cover for an hour so I figured what the heck, I'd buy the last April ticket. I had an even $7 in the Tip Jar and there is a game that will be ending soon so since we have a few left I figured I would buy it while I had the chance. It is a $5 ticket with a potential jackpot of $200. It doesn't have the best of color for my project but I can make it work. Anyhow it wasn't a winner so I'm ending the month down. I have no idea what will happen at work for the next few months. The good news is since I won't be around the tickets all day I won't be making stupid decisions based on lucky numbers or the week being just right, or the Fates telling me "buy this, buy this now!" Perhaps I can get a better grip on the whole experiment. It also means I won't buy a ticket for a week and a half.

My April Total

I spent $92 on scratch tickets.

$14 on Powerball tickets.

 Won $79

Found a ticket good for a free $2 ticket

Was tipped a $5 ticket.

Got a $4 lottery tip. 

I entered 16 Second Chance tickets on line

At the end of the month I am down $23 in the regular lottery experiment. 

I also have $180.00 in the Alternate Fund

The Art Project

I spent $20 on tickets.

I got one free ticket

I won $3

I'm down $17 but it's for art so....

So overall I'm down a total of $39 thanks to art.