As The Station Turns, An Overview

 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.

The Downtown Station

It's near the Downtown area, about two miles away from the other stations. It mostly services the locals, so the price is cheaper there, it's where I go to get gas. It doesn't feature in the stories much, although occasionally it does pop up, kind of like that one reoccurring character on a show that you know but ins't a regular, Gunther from Friends if you will

The West Side Station

I call it that because it's on the west side of the interstate, see how clever I am. It's small, it mostly gets the overflow traffic from the other stations. And with a pending bridge construction project it's in danger of being closed down for the duration. Years ago I worked there but then I got sideways with the manager and got bumped to the Truck Stop.

The Truck Stop.

This place has the big pumps for the semis so it's called the Truck Stop. It's not some major Super Slab with a dozen diesel pumps and a restaurant. It's pretty much an ordinary gas station, with the big nozzle diesel pumps. 

The Haunted Station.

This is the oldest continuously operating station in town without any major overhauls. It use to have an attached restaurant but when the last operator died the place shut down, now the space is a big empty storage area. The place got it's name because at one time it was the only 24 hour station and restaurant in town so the buses would stop there because it is 200 miles to three major cities, the station was right in the middle of the hub. The drivers would show up in one bus, trade with the driver of the other bus and then drive back to where they came from, with a new group of passengers. There was a short pitstop and if you weren't on the bus when they got back on the road, you were left behind. The station had 5 separate restrooms, seriously, and when the employees went to clean them, and found a locked door they just moved on and would come back to check it later. Well one busy holiday weekend the buses came, did their exchange and then left. About a day later someone checking the restroom noticed a terrible smell and no answer when they knocked on the door, they got the key and there was one of the bus passengers, dead. Some people said he died of a brain aneurism, others say he had a needle hanging out of his arm. Either way he's still there and occasionally makes his presence known. I use to manage the place but they wanted one of the other employees to get some management training, and they fired a couple of people at the Truck Stop so they moved me over there. 

The Cast

The Narrator.

That would be me. I'm the perfect employee who makes no mistakes and everybody loves me. Aha, I'm really a bit of a grouch, people hate me but won't say it to my face because they aren't sure how stable I am and occasionally just for fun I piss off customers by telling them the truth. And yet somehow the owners trust me to work on my own, to run the place, on my own. I will say this, if I hit the lottery tomorrow I'd be so gone.

The Boss.

A new company bought the stations and took over last January. The Boss was dumped here and I don't think he likes it. He's from New York City and is use to running stores that are surrounded by thousands of people and they have a massive turnover. Now he's in rural America where the traffic is seasonal, some weeks they empty out the shelves and some months thing grind to a halt. On a regular basis he goes back to visit his family that still lives in NYC. He wants his wife to move here but she'd probably hate it even more.

Skippy.

He's the Boss's cousin and got the job because it's a family business. My father always said don't do business with your family. Skippy barely speaks English so communication is fun. I don't think he likes me so he avoids me which works in my favor. When the Boss is out of town he's in charge. One day he was on a long phone conversation where the Big Boss told him off for not being more of a manager and he became a pain in the butt to prove he could do the job. Thankfully he's someone else's pain the butt and I don't have to deal with him, in fact I rarely see him anymore. 

The Truck Stop Manager

She runs the Truck Stop. She's been there almost since Day One. And she's unstable. Do not talk to her on Monday morning because she will bite your head off and then demand you go back to work. And on a regular basis she'll be on the other side of the station, loudly mumbling to herself about something, I tell people she has Tourette's.  I've known her for 20 years and every day she threatens to quit. But I get the job done so she leaves me alone.

The Late Guy

Back in the day the Truck Stop had three people per shift, with alternating days off. On Friday everyone's schedule overlapped so there would be three people on shift but only two registers so someone wouldn't be working the counter. And the Late Guy was always, well, late. He would come up with great excuses like the time he was late when there was a police standoff and he couldn't get around it. Just so you know it's a small town and it takes 10 minutes to get from one side to the other, but he was still always late. Now he's the manager of the Haunted Station and hating every minute of it. The people do everything wrong, the supply companies are always shorting him and the credit card scanners all crashed so they have to use a separate back up system that doesn't link up to the registers. He got just what he asked for. He also pisses me off because he's always bragging about how much better it is since he took over, from me. The place was a filth pit when I took over and half the shelves were empty. As soon as I got it back up and running, and cleaned out the storage area, I was out, he was in and now I laugh every time he complains.

Mrs. Late Guy

In case you didn't figure it out she is married to the Late Guy. She works the morning shift and I'm pretty sure they are grooming her to take over if the Manager actually quits. She's probably the hardest working person at the company. Every Monday she has an overlapping shift so I work with her for four hours. She does not talk much.

The Crazy Lady

She is a short, angry older woman who wears a gun. One time the place was robbed, she chased the guys out of the store and took a shot at their fleeing car, the cops took her gun but she had a back up. She goes out and yells at people who park by the dumpsters even though the trucks won't show up unit the middle of the morning. I hate dealing with her because she hates the world and wants everyone to be as miserable as she is. The Boss wants to fire her but he can't come up with a good excuse.

The Graveyard Shift Guy

He works on the graveyard shift and covers Friday afternoon when I'm off. He has the personality of a glass of water, I mean beyond him being a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, and sneaking off to the parking lot so spark up, I don't know anything about him. He talks in monotone and I don't think I've ever seen him display an emotion. He spends the majority of the night staring at his cell phone and is at the top of the "next to be fired" list.

Bigfoot

He's the new guy who was hired after they fired a previous employee on the graveyard shift, I'll get to him later. I call him Bigfoot because he's been working there for several weeks and I've seen him twice. I know he's been there at night, I see the evidence but I never see him, he's as elusive as Bigfoot. In fact I don't even know what his real name is, but then again I don't get to know their names until they've worked for more than two paychecks.

Now for the people at the other stations.

The Downtown Manager

I occasionally see her or talk to her on the phone. And I know that she's very short but if you crossed her she's pull your heart out and show it to you before you dropped dead. Really, that's it, that's all I know about her

The Dyslexic Woman

I call her that because she told me she was Dyslexic, I figure that was a good choice for someone running a register at a busy station. She use to work the morning shift at the Truck Stop but during the big shuffle the Boss moved her to the Downtown station and one day a week at the Haunted Station. She is very loud and likes to talk a lot. And she routinely gets into huge fights with her boyfriend. I haven't had to deal with her for a while and I don't mind. The Late Guy complains about the one day she works at the Haunted Station by the way.

The West Side Station Manager

I use to get along with her. I worked at the station for years and everything was fine, then she developed a martyr complex, she did everything, nobody else did anything and so forth. It started to get on my nerves because she was insulting me on a daily basis. After not being able to travel I finally got to take a vacation and when I came back the place was a mess. I knew how the place really was so I didn't get mad but the next day when I walked in it was a mess again, and she started going off about the "mess" she found when she went in. I snapped and chewed her butt. She tried to get me fired but that didn't work. Eventually they had an afternoon opening at the Truck Stop and I got forced over there. Then she went through a series of really crappy people covering the afternoon. The new owners decided to only have the place open for eight hours a day and she got her wish, she has to do everything. She's nicer to me now.

The Weekend Guy

Originally he worked the weekend shifts at the West Side Station. Friday afternoon and doubles on Saturday and Sunday. Now he works three days at the West Side Station and one and a half days at the Haunted Station. He grew up in an ultra religious family and his father was a drug addict, then became a reformed drug addict who found Jesus, I don't know what happened to his mother. Needless to say he hates his family and is a contrarian, whatever you say he takes the opposite position. There was a time when I avoided the guy like the plague but he mellowed out and now I get the gossip about the stations from him. 

The Haunted Station

Along with the Late Guy there is also the Random Woman. They hired her after I became the manager and I stared calling her that because every day was a surprise. Some days she showed up on time, some days she was late, some days she called to say she was on the road and would be a couple of hours late. Some days I walked in and the place was ready to go. Some days I walked in and the trashes were overflowing some days the restrooms really needed a good once over and some days there was empty shelves but plenty of stuff in the back room. The Late Guy complains about her all the time because she isn't random anymore, she's always late and always leaving the place a mess. And she hates the Late Guy. He's really learning how to be a great manager.

The Part Time Woman

When I was running the Haunted Station she worked over there three days a week, and she hated me because she was good friends with the previous manager and wanted the Boss to hire her back. She would move stuff around at random and then I'd have to go move it all back. She didn't like anything I did and constantly complained. I almost got her fired, almost. The Boss decided to have her work at the Haunted Station one day a week and at the Truck Stop two days a week. And sometimes she covers at the West Side Station. The Boss is bouncing her around in hopes she becomes frustrated and quits. I hope so too.

Former cast members that sometimes come up in the stories

The Older Lady

She's gotta be in her 80's. She originally worked at the Haunted Station, probably for decades, maybe even longer than the Manager has worked at the Truck Stop. The Boss had her working the afternoons at the West Side Station for a while and on Friday at the Truck Stop. Then she got bronchitis and was off for a long time. She wound up on oxygen and couldn't spend 8 hours a day behind a register anymore, heck she could barely do it before she got sick. Every now and then she contacts the Boss to see if there is an opening but she's not coming back.

The Doofus

When I had to go to the Truck Stop the first time I had to work with The Doofus. The guy is a narcissist but doesn't really have anything to brag about. He's also an alcoholic and one day the cops pulled him over across the street, we got to watch him get tested for DUI, cuffed and his car towed off. The judge put him on a year's probation, he had to have the interlock installed and go through the program. He actually made it for the full year, then jumped off the wagon and started getting drunk again. Worse, he started stealing from the Truck Stop, on camera, he didn't even try to hide it. The Boss had enough and fired him, and then did the Big Shuffle where I wound up working the afternoon shift by myself. He kept trying to get his job back, he even told the Boss that it was unfair that he got fired when so many other people showed up stoned, he was talking about the Late Guy and the Graveyard Shift Guy. Today he works at a liquor store, yep, great idea, hire an alcoholic with a shoplifting problem at a place that only sells alcohol.

Stinky

Stinky is the Doofus's brother and only got the job because the Doofus vouched for him. He originally worked at the West Side Station and drove the Manager over there crazy, which I enjoyed but then they moved him to the Graveyard Shift at the Truck Stop. Personally I think the guy had a learning disability. Also I called him Stinky because I don't think he's familiar with the concept of soap and water, either for personal use or laundry purposes. His smell would precede him. He got fired because he kept calling in "sick" and then the Boss caught him at work drunk, followed by showing up drunk the next day. You'd think two people who were one paycheck away from being homeless would do what it took to hold onto a job I don't know if he's employed now or not.

The Regular Customers

The Tow Truck Driver

I've known the Tow Truck Driver since he was a small kid running around his father's garage. I see him on a regular basis and give him a discount on coffee. He has great stories about his tow jobs or local gossip I didn't hear from other sources.

The Tire Shop Guy

I've only known him for a few years. He has great stories about when he has to go out and rescue stranded tourists. His last one was a family didn't have enough room for all their suitcases so they took the spare out. 

The Storyteller

This is an older retired guy who comes in for coffee and perhaps a snack, that his wife won't let him normally have. He gets away with it because he goes to the motel where his son works, watches sports in the lobby and enjoys his snack. He has about 20 stories and when he asks people if he had told it to them before they always say yes, I on the other hand tell him I never heard it before and he tells me the same story I heard a dozen times before, it makes him happy. I see him three times a week. 

The Unstable Guy

This guy had an accident which caused him a bit of brain damage, plus drug abuse, although I think he's sober these days. I'm always nice to him because I worry that one day he's gonna go off the deep end and I want him to think of me as a guy who always treated him nicely. Maybe when it all goes down he'll go somewhere else.

Frankie The Cop

Frankie's wife doesn't like him smoking so he would come around and bum a cigarette off the Late Guy. He was pretty disappointed when they moved the Late Guy to the other station. I didn't see him for a long time but he likes to tell stories and most people are afraid of a 6'2" in guy in a full uniform with a big gun. So now he comes by to tell me stories about local goings on. 

There are other people but they don't come in on a regular enough basis for me to call them by a name. I still tell stories about them but I just call them "customers".

Also they are about to start a bridge project less than a block from the station, which should cause a major disruption in traffic and the company is possibly going to remodel the stations at that time. Who knows, I might get a week's unpaid vacation. There's also a rumor that the West Side Station Manager might be retiring and the company will move me over there. The future is unknown so stay tuned.