As The Station Turns 6/27

 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 later when I actually got to the trash someone, Part Time Woman, didn't attach the bag properly and it was half hanging in there, the trash had been pushed past it and into the trash can. I didn't have time to pull it all out or haul the whole trash can back to the dumpsters so I just put a new bag on top of it and went on with my life. Again, you'd think the woman had worked there long enough that she'd know how to do the basics. btw, I know it was the Part Time Woman because everyone else puts a knot in the bag and they all have their own specific way of doing it. When I change a bag I know exactly who had done it before me. No knot, the Part Time Woman.

A guy couldn't get his card to work at the pump. Then he didn't understand the instructions "hold your chip over the screen". His wife had to explain it to him and then in frustration took his card from him and tapped it properly. Later when they came back in she handled buying the snacks. It's a good thing he has her.

Someone turned in a phone. A while later a guy showed up looking for it. He asked me if it had rung but I never heard it. Seriously people, stop setting your phone down in the restroom.

Early on the place cleared out which would give me an opportunity to do a quick check, however the Air Force Academy glider team showed up. 6 or 7 trucks pulling trailers and they swarm on the place. I don't mind, military guys are always polite.

A woman came in and she was really excited, it was her first visit to the Rockies. She was from the planes and had never seen anything that big before. She was going to Colorado to try hiking. If I hadn't been busy I would have given her some advice such as hydrate and don't overexert herself. A rapid change in altitude can be dangerous.

A couple of guys came in and wanted to know if we still sold fishing licenses. Ummm....we've never sold fishing licenses. They complained about some website. I have to find this thing because it's telling people we do tire repairs, have showers and sell all kinds of stuff.

The guy who runs the pot shop came in, the last time he was there was during the torrential rain. Today he went to the restroom and when he came back he offered to sweep up the paper towels that were everywhere. I told him to not worry about it, it happens all the time plus it was almost dinner time and the place clears out while everyone swarms on McDonalds. When I went in there he wasn't lying, people just couldn't seem to find the big rectangular thing we call a "trash can". Also, again, there were two people on the morning shift, you'd think they could have figured out how to put paper towels in the paper towel dispenser.

A guy couldn't get one of the pumps to go on, I had him move to a different one. The next customer had no trouble with the pump. A couple of hours later it didn't work again. Great, it's going to go out. It could wait until my day off, that would be nice.

A guy wanted to go to a chain station to get cheaper gas. I told him it was a short 90 mile drive. He decided he was going to risk it, I hope he had enough.

HA! I caught a break, ran out and did the trash cans and gave the restrooms a quick once over before the next crowd showed up. Little victories help the day go by.

One of those big Land Yachts showed up. The driver was a very bodyguard looking kind of guy. I figured there was someone famous on board but they weren't going to get out because there was too much of a crowd, and I didn't ask the bodyguard. When I worked the Graveyard we'd ask since nobody was around to hear, and of course, we wouldn't bug them.

A woman was complaining because the diesel wasn't the right color for her. it was too clear and not yellow enough. She was worried it was going to damage her engine. We have a gravel company that comes in and fills up 6 trucks every morning, if there was something wrong with the diesel we would have heard about it long before now. I assured her it was fine but I bet for the rest of her trip she kept saying "What was that?" for every minor sound.

Some grouchy a-hole came in. The pumps cut off at a $100, credit card companies make stations they consider "high risk" do that to prevent fraud. We do so much out of state business they have us on that, it didn't matter when prices were lower but now everyone complains. The Boss says he's going to see about getting that adjusted but so far nothing has happened. Anyhow the grouchy a-hole was acting like it was a personal attack upon him. I told him if he wanted to leave his card I would turn it on for him, and he got an additional $3 in gas, less than a gallon. He knew his tank was full, he just wanted to complain. As he was going on about how his credit card treats him like royalty he realized I was ignoring him and left. I miss covid when those guys had to stay at home.

The wind was trying to suck one of the new trash bags out of the trash can. I needed to go throw a cup of ice in it to weigh it down and just then a guy came up to the register and slowly put his stuff on the counter. Then he forgot his wallet so he had to run outside, meanwhile the bag managed to push the trash can lid off. Finally he was done so I could run out, the bag had twisted itself into a knot, it didn't want to go back in. I got it all done, just in time to run back in and wait on another line of customers. I didn't have any bag problems for the rest of the night.

A trucker came in, his GPS wouldn't give him instructions to where he wanted to go. Good news, you are where you want to go and your GPS is wondering why you keep asking. He had run out of road time and needed to park until it reset. He wasn't happy when I told him the nearest liquor store was a mile away, he didn't want to do a two mile walk for a beer. 

Someone threw their trash at the trash can, they saw it hit the ground and just drove off. So I quickly went out, picked it up and flipped them off before they drove away. Honestly, open your car door, take two steps and properly throw away your trash.

I was doing the last of the outside trash when I noticed that someone had written on one of the diesel pumps. I don't have time to clean them today, and probably not until after the 4th. Plus I brought the bike so I didn't have my graffiti remover, I don't leave it at work because someone would waste it cleaning the sink or something.

And just before the end of the night a large bus showed up, and all the kids on board got off. I didn't mind, it killed time and gave me a good excuse to not have to do one more inspection of the restrooms. 

A guy came in and he was freaked out, he saw the largest animal he had ever seen in his life. As he was describing it I told him it was an elk. He thought they were the size of a deer but I told him they were closer to moose. He said he was from Illinois and never saw an animal that big before, I didn't tell him I've seen them in my back yard. I also didn't tell him about the herds of buffalo in the area.

And then the Weekend Guy came in. The Graveyard Shift Guy had called in sick. The Weekend Guy was super pissed and grumbling the whole time so I closed up fast and got out of there. Thankfully I got most of the work done. Also I didn't see Bigfoot again, I have no idea what time he comes to work.

Also, someone had left a small bucket of dog treats by the trash can. I took them home and they became raccoon treats instead.