ocularnervosa

 I woke up to a Ping on my iPad. I figured it was the Late Guy asking me to show up at the Haunted Station to help him with the pump hose. He has asked me and the Weekend Guy to come help last week but had gotten the wrong hose, it was one for a high volume diesel pump not a regular gas pump. I considered ignoring it and saying I didn't see it until I was heading out the door for work, but I went ahead and checked. It was the Boss asking me to cover the afternoon shift Downtown. That's gonna suck and be good at the same time because I don't have to put up with the moody crowd at the Truck Stop. I had to find out what my drawer number is for there. I did my shift opening paperwork and then the Downtown Manager decided to double check my cigarette count numbers. She changed a few, which would have been fine, but at the end of the night none of my numbers matched up with my sales, and since she had scratched out and written over my numbers I didn't know what the original o...

 Yesterday the Weekend Guy called me to tell me I had gotten a letter from the Justice Department, it had been delivered to the West Side Station. When I worked there I was robbed at gunpoint. Thanks to a series of coincidences the guy was arrested within 24 hours after a shootout with the State Police. He was wanted in several states so they shipped him off to Oklahoma on several federal warrants and locked him up. Every now and the the Justice Department sends me updates. This letter was a case number I can check on their web site to see whats' going on with him, I'm not to worried because he won't be getting out on his current arrests for another 14 years and after that he will be transferred to Colorado to serve his time there. That guy won't be getting out ever.  The weather was going to be nice so I was going to take the Bad Hawg to work however the power cord from the engine to the motor kept coming detached. I don't know what's going on there but I'm...

 The Part Time Woman works at the Truck Stop on Saturday morning and every week it's the same thing, the restrooms need attention, the trash cans are overflowing and so forth. Today the women's room trash can was in the hall and the small cans next to the toilets were overflowing. The trash can in the mens room was under the hand dryer and had anyone used it the blast of air would have blown the garbage all over the floor. It doesn't happen the rest of the week, sure one or two things may need done but not all of them. I'm willing to bet the Part Time Woman tells Mrs. Late Guy she's going to check and then doesn't do any of it. I'd be happy if they came up with a good excuse to fire her. Also if the Random Woman takes next weekend off the Part Time Woman will be covering over there, fingers crossed. I got a call from the Weekend Guy, the mailman dropped off a letter for me from the Justice Department. I told him I would drop by on Sunday morning and pick it ...

 I've been doing a lottery experiment, once a week I buy a scratch ticket then I keep track of how much I spent versus how much I won. I'm down fifty bucks by the way. Anyhow I was dropping by the Haunted Station on Friday to buy one but the Late Guy, who is the manger over there now, has been bugging me when he boasts and brags about what a great job he does, so I go on Thursday morning when the Weekend Guy is there. Plus this Friday I have a big package showing up and I have to be home when it arrives. Anyhow I went and bought my ticket this morning, and I lost again. The Weekend Guy is pissed at the Dyslexic Woman because she called him and asked him to go to work early yesterday. It seems her daughter's boyfriend is abusing her and the Dyslexic Woman had to take her to the hospital yesterday, what a mess.  The back room at the Haunted Station is a mess. There is all kinds of new equipment being stored for their future restaurant, but that's not what I was looking at...

 When I got to work the Manager was in a bad mood, she had been dealing with grouchy customers plus the safe had stopped working after Skippy did something to it. She tried turning it off and on again and it started working. She wanted to know what I had done but it had rebooted on its own. It worked the rest of the night. I've noticed a car parked on the edge of the lot for a few days but nobody said anything about it. Is it broke down? Is it an auction car they are coming back for? Is it abandon? If it's still there when the Boss comes back he'll have it towed. Last week the #5 pump wouldn't authorize, it would take cards or prepays but the contact buttons won't engage. I had bagged it out and planned to unbag it at the end of my shift, but I forgot. When I went in it was operating again. Today it was bagged out again, it must be doing the same thing and if the Boss complains I can say I didn't do it. I did put another "Please Pay Inside" note on pum...

I got up early and went to the Haunted Station, the Late Guy had asked for help replacing a hose on a pump and needed two people, he had contacted me and The Weekend Guy to come by. I hopped on my Bad Hawg and headed to the station. When I got there the Late Guy wanted to know what I was doing, I said "well it's Monday..." I guess he was having a problem with his weekly supply order and had forgotten, he left his tools at home so I was watching the register while he ran and got them. On the way back he picked up the Weekend Guy since he walks everywhere.  So the Late Guy gets back, pulls out the hose and...it's the wrong one, it was a heavy duty short hose for a diesel pump, not a regular dispenser hose. He went across the street to the Truck Stop to see if they had some regular hoses in the storage shed but they didn't. So he has to order one, the morning was a waste of time, plus I'll have to go back next Monday and do it all over again. While I was at the H...

 When I woke up my phone was ringing. My first thought was "Great, what do they want at work now?" but it turned out to be my brother. He was hauling the flatbed trailer out to my other brother's house, he's rebuilding his deck and needs to get a load of wood. I hadn't seen both my brothers at the same time in a while so I went along, however it turned into a two hour chat session which put me behind for the day. So I didn't post my daily blog. Sorry. When I got to work there was a guy cutting the grass in the green area in front of the station. The rain over the past couple of weeks really caused it to grow.  There was a car parked at the diesel pump, they weren't getting fuel and it's one of the quickest ways to piss me off. They got out and were screwing around under the hood so I figured they were having car trouble, but I also noticed that it was the Old Guitar Player who has been told on multiple occasions to stay away from the place. They finall...

It was a normal Saturday, the place was swarming with tourists and the Part Time Woman hadn't closed her drawer before I got there so I could count it in and go to work. When I finally did count it she was $4 off, she had shorted me a dollar bill but hadn't counted one of the two rolls of dimes she left in the drawer, there is no need to leave that many dimes by the way. Mrs. Late Guy was telling me about a restroom disaster, someone had plugged up the men's room toilet and then every customer that came in after kept flushing it, until it overflowed and flooded the place. Thankfully there is a floor drain but they still had to unclog the toilet and mop the floor, all in between crowds of pissers. Thankfully I didn't have any problems for the rest of the day, but I did keep an eye on it. I noticed a new seat on the men's room toilet. I bet there's a story there but nobody said anything. Maybe I'll ask later. My first customers was a swarm of Scouts, four vans...

 It's lottery ticket day, part of my year long experiment, and I'm still avoiding the Late Guy because I don't want to hear what a great job he's doing. I dropped by the Haunted Station in the morning when the Weekend Guy is working instead, and boy did he have complaints. The Haunted Station has run out of plastic bags, I use to order two cases at a time when we started to run low just to make sure. Also all the pumps are working like crap and they still haven't fixed the credit card problem. And now they're getting a pizza oven and a burger grill, I'm not sure how that's going to work out, is it self service, are the employees suppose to handle it, are they going to install a proper sink for cleanup or are they going to use the utility sink? I'm pretty sure the health department would have a word to say about that. I think it's just another pending disaster waiting to happen. Another thing that bugs me when I chat with the Weekend Guy is that h...

 When I was leaving for work it was pouring rain so I took the Jeep instead of the Bad Hawg. Later the Unbalanced Guy came in and once again saw it, perhaps he's confused since it isn't always there. Anyhow I walked in to chaos, a group of bikers were taking shelter from the storm, a construction company was passing through and a trucker wanted to use a fleet card but he wasn't authorized for the station, in the end he paid off his own card. Anyhow it was a fun start to the day. On my first customer the credit card printer ran out of paper, whoever was working the register last (The Graveyard Shift Guy) knew it was almost empty and left it, it takes three seconds to put in a new roll and is a curtsey to the person who is coming in after you. So I had to get a roll, reload it and print out a duplicate for them. Honestly. Two, two people came in with their wet dogs. I enjoyed cleaning up those stinky puddles. You know you don't have to bring your dog into someone else...

Week 24 Through a strange twist I ended up with $14.09 in the Tip Jar.  I could have bought a $10 ticket but I decided to go with another $5 Second Chance ticket. I didn't win so now it's time to enter it on line and hope I win the $25,000 jackpot. Wish me luck. Week 25 I was tempted to buy a ticket on 6/6, possibly the Lots Of Cash since it is game #666. However there was a last minute firing where I work and I ended up having to cover the Graveyard Shift. I slept in today and by the time I got up an employee that I don't like was probably covering the shift where I buy lottery tickets so I figured that was the Fates way of telling me to not waste my money. I'm still tempted to buy a ticket on 6/26/26 but that's a couple of weeks away and who knows what will be going on then. It was a good week, I ended up with $24.46 in the Tip Jar. The place I go has a $20 ticket but do I want to lose that much money at one time? I decided no so instead I went for a new $2 ticket...

 Monday can be a dangerous day because I never know what kind of mood the Manager is in. My basic rule is if she doesn't say anything I don't talk to her. But thankfully she was in a hurry and rushed out. That's a good start to the day.  Since I work a half shift with Mrs. Late Guy I took advantage of it and asked her about the visit from the police, sure enough it was a subpoena to testify about the shoplifter/car thief. She said he showed up on Friday when the place was crowded and she was kind of embarrassed. She has to call in to find out if she has to appear in person or are they going to do it over the internet. All she has to do is say the guy came in, she didn't really see his face, he stole antifreeze and ran out. I told her that since they had him on video and he was wanted on a whole series of charges elsewhere they'd probably cut a deal since he won't be serving any time in New Mexico, he'll be sent to Colorado where he has several federal warran...

 I could see the rain rolling in before I went to work so I took the Jeep. I beat it by minutes, because I had stoped to take a photo of a deer, Mrs. Late Guy was in a big hurry, it seems her husband left a window at open and she was trying to rush so she could go home and close it. But then she stuck around for an extra 10 minutes doing side work, that I kept telling her she could just leave. I guess I'll find out how that turned out today. Also I didn't get a chance to ask her how the cop thing turned out. We sell scorpion suckers, even though they are expensive we sell a lot. Anyhow some guy wouldn't believe that they were real bugs in the sucker. He kept trying to argue with me about what they were made of while reading the label. I even pointed at the word "Real" on the display. I still think he didn't believe me. I saw a truck with two large Mexican flags. It took me a minute and then I realized it was for FIFA. I hope some grouchy maga saw it. A guy was...

 Happy Fourth Of July! I never know what to expect, will it be dead, will it be busy? Who knows. Anyhow when I got there I started my paperwork and two vans full of senior citizens rolled in. They take forever, they want to talk, they don't buy anything, and they make a mess in the restroom. It took me three times as long to get all my numbers than usual. And I had to dump the trash in the restroom right away. Great way to celebrate independence. Mrs. Late Guy needs a day off at the end of the month so she wanted to switch days. I got confused and thought she was offering to cover on a day I was already off because of my screwed up schedule. But, it turns out I'll get two full days in a row off. It's a miracle. I'm not going to make plans because I know what happens then.  There are out of control wildfires in Colorado and we are catching the smoke so I was coughing throughout the day. Also it mixed with the nearby clouds and an unpredicted rainstorm hit. Of course I ha...

 I've been doing the Lottery Experiment and Friday was my ticket buying day but I wanted to avoid the holiday crowd so I went for a walk this morning. However the Boss and Big Boss were hanging out at the Haunted Station so I had to keep going. When I went by the West Side Station it was closed, hmmm. However the Truck Stop Manager drove by so she must have had to go do something and had the West Side Manager covering. When I came back the West Side Station was open again.  When I got back the Boss was gone so I dropped in at the Haunted Station to say Hi to the Weekend Guy and buy my weekly lottery ticket. He was in a bad mood, the Random Woman had left a mess, again. And she wants Saturday off to run her burrito stand during the Forth party downtown, so he has to work the afternoon at the Haunted Station. It's good news for me because I don't have to do it. I wonder why they didn't get the Part Time Woman to cover? I'm sure she has some excuse. The Boss is also re...

 The supply truck was late again and the Manager was pissed at the new driver. She's hoping the other guy comes back. They also sent her a massive amount of the nicotine pouches, she didn't order them they just showed up. She had no idea what she was going to do with them. I suggested hauling them across the street and dumping on The Late Guy but she didn't.  The Manager was complaining about Bigfoot. She says the guy has been showing up after midnight, sometimes at one in the morning. He actually showed up on time for once. I'm starting to wonder how much longer he'll be around. Also, I saw Bigfoot! I was non stop busy for the first hour. When I wasn't dealing with a customer I was putting out the new stock. The place finally cleared out and I got to take a look around, and I found a liter bottle of Dr. Pepper by one of the pumps. Someone must have bought it, set it aside and forgot it. So I grabbed it, and switched it out with one from the cooler. If you come ...