ocularnervosa

 As this blog gains followers, up to 12 on my last post, I realized that if anyone wanders into this thing they won't know what is going on, so I figured I should do a quick overview, an explanation of location and characters. So, here it is. Halfway between here and there is a street, about two miles long. On this street is a series of restaurants, fast food places, motels, a few scattered gift shops and of course, gas stations. Overall more people visit this two mile strip that live within a hundred miles. And on this strip there are three gas stations, all owned by the same company, plus another one in he downtown area, they are all owned by the same company and ironically enough within two blocks of each other, one is directly across the street from the other one. I've said that you could set up cameras in this place and make a reality show about it, and these are the calm years, it use to be a lot worse. And this is where I work. Anyhow, let's start with the stations. ...

 It's still the holiday busy season so I walked in to a crowd. The Manager was in her usual grumpy mood but she was in a hurry, she had already counted down her drawer and rushed through her paperwork, and left. So I had that going for me.  Mrs. Late Guy works a split shift on Monday so it gave me the opportunity to ask her about the shoplifting incident. She said the guy was checking out stuff on the oil rack and looked confused. She asked him if he needed help and that was when he grabbed the antifreeze and ran out. I figure he couldn't tell the difference between the gas and diesel engine formulas. And here's the crazy part, she tried to chase him. They were out on the lot shouting at each other when he was running off. When she found out the guy was a crazy carjacker she had a little panic attack. Here's the rule, don't chase them, just call the cops Pump 7 is still acting up, yesterday I put a "Please Prepay Inside" sign on it but I took it off at the...

I'm getting ready for work and my phone starts ringing, oh gawd, what now. The Late Guy was calling because he's pretty sure one of his fuel tanks is at the point where it's too low to pump but he can't tell which one. He wanted to know which pumps were hooked up to which tank but I have no idea, I never knew when I was over there. And if he's out of fuel that means I'm gonna get mobbed this afternoon. I'm also pretty sure one of the tanks isn't hooked up to anything anymore. Later when I was at work I saw the truck show up so that situation was resolved. It was another pre holiday weekend and the place was mobbed. Mrs. Late Guy wasn't happy about not getting to the trash and bagging ice so she ran around and did that before she left. No matter how many times I tell her it doesn't matter and I'll get to it later she still insists on doing it. Oh well, at least one person has a work ethic. The Weekend Guy had to work the graveyard shift and I ...

 The weekend before a holiday is always a mob scene so I wasn't surprised to walk in on a crowd. Cigarettes have gone up in price so the Late Guy needed to come over to change the bar codes in the register and Mrs. Late Guy was going to run across the street to cover over there, so she was out of her drawer really quickly. As the Part Time Woman was trying to get out of her drawer she discovered she had a prepay and the people had driven off without their fuel, and nobody had pulled up and pumped it. And, she's worked there for years but didn't know how to void the sale I got tired of hearing her go on about it so three seconds later I rang it out. Honestly, do people look out the window? If you have a prepay sitting there for a long time, two hours, look out the window! That wasn't my only complaint, there were two of them on shift and the restrooms were a mess, the trash was overflowing and the soda machines needed ice, and I was busy for hours. Not only that but late...

 I took the Jeep over to the Truck Stop this morning to see if I could jump start the pickup. The idea was get it to fire up, drive home, walk back and get the Jeep. However it wouldn't spark over. I'm thinking it's something to do with the distributor. I called my brother and he's going to help me get it to the house tomorrow and I'll get up under the hood. If I can't get it started I'll have to call the mechanic. Meanwhile the Manager's granddaughter is saving can pop tops for the Ronald McDonald house. I haven't seen that in a long time. The have water jugs full of them, and no idea what to do next. I didn't tell her "toss them, that was an original internet hoax". At least they aren't sending money to a Nigerian Prince. When I got to work it was a mob scene, people who are taking a week off for the 4th are setting off early. I'm glad I'm not working on Friday because around 5 PM the people who took a half day off start s...

 The Manager said she went by the liquor store this weekend to get beer for the game. As she was walking in an angry woman was walking out, she apologized for almost hitting the Manager with the door and then complained about the drunken idiot behind the register. If you read these on a regular basis you won't be surprised, it was the Doofus. The general consensus is that if you run a liquor store you shouldn't hire an alcoholic. The supply truck usually shows up around 5 AM. Today it showed up at 1:30 PM so when I walked in there was stuff everywhere. I rushed to get into my drawer and then helped her put stuff away, in between customers. I don't mind, it killed the first two hours and I got free donuts because the bag was damaged. About a month ago I bought a book of raffle tickets from the Late Guy to help fund a school trip. Today the Manager told me her granddaughter still had a book left over, so yes, I bought them. I don't care if I win, heck I don't need to ...

 Before he left for NYC the Boss told me he wanted me to cover the Downtown station today. But then he realized that I had to work at the Truck Stop today so he said he would make up his mind, and then I never heard anything. Well, I went in to work at the Truck Stop and Mrs. Late Guy was across the street. I'm guessing the Random Woman ended up covering Downtown, oh well, she likes it and wants to work full time there. The Manager was in her usual bad mood but was taking it out on a customer who got the wrong cup for a slushie, so I got to avoid that. Then the old Guitar Player showed up, he was No Trespassed from the Truck Stop after the new owners took over. The Manager told him to leave and not come back. Again, her bad Monday mood was channeled to someone else and I didn't have to deal with it. A guy looked at everything in the store at least three times, and then bough the Kit Kat he had been carrying around. Meanwhile his friends were waiting outside, they probably wante...

 I walked in to a mob scene. Mrs. Late Guy was apologizing for not having checked the restrooms but I keep telling her that it's not a big deal. I've have a huge crowd at shift change and I know that you can't check it every five minutes. A woman says she wants $20 on pump one and hands me $40. It's a good thing I'm honest.  A woman told me the restroom was out of paper towels and it was the perfect time, the place was empty, except for the U-Haul on pump six. Were they in the restroom? Were they going to come running in while I tried to change the roll? So I waited. And then I seen them, walking over from the station next door. And the crowd showed up. So it was a while before I put paper towels in the restroom. The good thing is there is an old hand dryer that still works. Also when I checked the Mens room needed toilet paper. I wanted to do something evil to the Late Guy that would be anonymous and bug him at the Haunted Station, however I got a crowd. Perhaps th...

 I was trying to figure out if I should take my Bad Hawg (electric trike) to work today. Some of the apps said all sunny, some said partly cloudy, some said "Might rain, might not, who am I to say?" The wind was blowing and there were clouds on the horizon so I figured I didn't want to take the risk so I fired up the truck instead. It never rained. The Part Time Woman actually showed up and I had to wait for her drawer. They know I'm coming, they could close one drawer and I could just come in, count it and go to work, but nope, both drawers still open. And the Part Time Woman counted her drawer wrong, she was $10 short. That's what happens when you rush. But I only have to see her once a week so I can live with that. She was also "sick" because she wanted to take Thursday and Friday off. I'm pretty sure she wants to take off the weekend of the 4th but hasn't told the Boss yet, this should be fun. Mrs. Late Guy told me when she came in at 6 AM th...

 Since I'm tired of hearing the Late Guy tell me how much better everything is after he took over I decided to buy my weekly lottery ticket a day early, while the Weekend Guy was there. He told me that the place has been a mess and now one of the toilets was loose. I said he could contact the Boss to get the handy man to fix it but he said he's just going to pretend he never saw it. Sounds like a plan. I also noticed the Late Guy had ordered a lot of crackers, which don't sell. I tossed a bunch of stale ones when I worked there. And there's an inch of dust on top of the coffee maker. I considered writing the date in it but I didn't want the Weekend Guy to catch me. Oh well, I'm not in charge anymore. Also while I was hanging out the phone rang and it was the Manager of the Truck Stop. She wanted me to come in early. How did she know I was there? Also when I got home there was no call on my phone. It was her first try.  It turns out the Manager had a dental appoi...

 The Manager was complaining about how busy she was, customers, the delivery truck and Red Bull all showed up at the same time. I don't miss that. There were a few things for me to do but she got the bulk of it finished. I would suggest she leave some of it for me but there is no way I'd even hint at telling her what to do. Skippy was there, he was changing the fuel prices, it went down a whole 10¢. He wanted to call the Late Guy to change the sign across the street but didn't have his number, and the Manager didn't have his number. I have his number but nobody asked me so I kept quiet about it. Also the Manager set the price of unleaded 80¢ too high, I got a good laugh about that and let her know, she had to re-change the sign but I never checked the pumps.  There were four cars parked out on the lot, and four people sitting behind the wheel playing on their phones. I miss when we left our communication devices at home. The Tire Shop Guy came in and we were talking abo...

 The manager had gotten pissed at me yesterday because she had somewhere to go and I didn't come in at my usual time. Then Mrs. Late Guy came in, a little late, and she found out that I was off. It's OK, I never know what days I'm going to work.  Speaking of which the Boss called, he said that the Downtown Manager had to go to court next Monday and he needed to know what my day off was. I told him I was normally off on Tuesday but just working today since Mrs. Late Guy needed the day off. He was thinking I could cover Downtown and she could work the afternoon. I told him I hated working Downtown so now he's thinking she could cover Downtown and I'd work my normal shift, but I don't know what the final decision is going to be, I hope they tell someone before Tuesday.  So, there was a little plastic Jesus sitting on the place where we keep credit cards when people are filling up, then it disappeared. Then I found it and put it back. Then another Jesus showed up. A...

 I've come to the conclusion that the New Guy isn't being properly trained. Yesterday he left a dollar in quarters in the drawer so I had to drop a roll from the safe right away. Today, he left a $100 bill, which I had to cash out for small bills right away. Also every night when he comes in one of the other people are doing the cigarette count. He's not going to know anything, let's hope he doesn't have to work alone. Honestly, he needs to have to do everything the first week. This is a pending disaster and I hope I don't have to deal with it. I was trying to tell a customer where the lids for the cold cups were, simple instructions. I told him three time while pointing and he didn't listen to a word I said. I finally stormed over and pointed "there they are". Listen, look, pay attention. Those round plastic things next to the cups, yes, they are "lids" At the first of the shift I have to do the cigarette count, all the loose packs of sm...