As The Station Turn 7/22

 Back to...normal. When I got to the Truck Stop the Manager was saying she was eager to go home. She had been busy all day and several suppliers had shown up so she also had to deal with all that. The Graveyard Shift Guy had left $3 in pennies in the drawer and she didn't have to use them. I offered to buy a dollar's worth but she said she already had her drawer slip written out. I know she was intentionally leaving them for the Crazy Lady.

A family in a rental moving truck had broken down. A tow truck showed up hauling a new truck and then he had to wait while they transferred all their stuff from the one truck to the other. It took a lot longer than you'd think, I guess they wanted the stuff that had been packed first in the one truck to be packed first in the new truck so they had to get everything out and reorganize it. I got the feeling the tow truck driver was not happy about having to wait for them to finish up so he could tow the broken down one back to the main hub.

I know I'm sounding old but people need to teach their kids better. Some kid, old enough to know better, tried to grab the scanner off the register. I said, rather sharply "Please, Don't Do That" and dad came over to get the kid. If I had done something like that when I was a kid.....

A group of guys came in and they were standing around the hall to the restroom, but were only waiting for their friend. People thought there was a line and were waiting. I would have gone and had a word but several pissers came in, saw the crowd and left. Good, go to McDonalds and use their restrooms.

It had been oddly busy for a Wednesday and I finally caught a break in the traffic, the perfect opportunity to run and check the restrooms, except I was waiting for one woman, who was having trouble figuring out how to put the lid on her soda cup. These people are out there driving by the way.

It must have been "Stupid People" day because some guy came in and wanted to know what he had to do to be a Customer. I said "buy something?" It turns out he saw the sign on the dog park on the front of the lot which says "Customers Only", meaning don't get gas at the station next door and then bring your dog over here to poop. It took me a minute to explain it to him and he finally understood. And then pulled into a pump. I guess he thought it was a place for "members only" or something.

Continuing with the theme of the day I watched another woman struggle to get a lid on her cup. It was a large lid and a medium cup. It's never going to fit regardless of what she did.

Then a woman came in and they pulled the wrong way into the diesel pump. It took me a good 5 minutes to explain to her that they were going to have to pull out, turn around and pull back in. Again, these people are out on the road with you.

A guy showed up and asked if the Mexican Bus stopped at the station. I told him that sometimes it did and it stopped on the West Side of the building, so he waited, and waited, and waited. Hours later he discovered that the bus hadn't stopped for him, they are very unreliable. If you asked me about bus services I would not recommend them. The last I saw of him he was finding a motel room.

Towards the middle of the day business just zeroed out, from dozens of people to nobody. I figured it was a good time to do the ice and sure enough, a swarm. They all came in at once, they all wandered around the store, they all left at once. It was interesting. And, the ice maker was mostly empty, along with the soda machines. I scraped out what was left and filled up the ice hoppers as best I could. The Manager has been taking our ice over to the West Side Station, I wouldn't mind but our machines first please. 

I had another crowd and when I looked over the lights on the 7UP cooler were off. Did they suddenly burn out? Did the machine go off? It turns out someone had switched the lights off, probably some kid screwing around. Seriously, teach your kids to not touch stuff that isn't theirs.

A woman came in and asked if anyone had been in the restroom since she had been there. Probably, I don't know. It turns out she had lost her purse and perhaps she left it in the restroom. I had just been in there checking the place and didn't see it. Sorry, if she hadn't thrown it into her back seat of her car it's gone. 

I hit another dead stretch so I figured it would be a good time to take care of the trashes, but that's when the pisser truck driver came in, and they take a long long time. Followed by tag teamers and then again, nobody. The only one still hanging around was the guy waiting for the bus.

As I was dumping the trash a semi pulled into the pump where I was getting out the trash bag, the out of order pump. I went over to the dumpster and he pulled out towards where I was trying to walk across the lot, so I went back to the dumpster to wait for him, I don't need to be run over. He then pulled into the auto pump that only has a nozzle on one side. I tried to go back inside again but this time he backed out, towards me. He finally pulled into the far pump, the one that the card reader isn't working. I went inside at the same time he came in. Instead of waiting for him I washed my hands, then walked past the register to throw the paper towel away in the trash can under the coffee pot, and then I came back to wait on him. I like to get strange revenge.

The Storyteller came in and told me the story of his friend who played the same lottery numbers for years and the one week he didn't buy a ticket his numbers came up. It's one of my favorite stories. Later as I was leaving I saw him come back. I wonder what stories he tells to the Graveyard Shift and are they nice enough to listen?

The Crazy Lady came in, Bigfoot also came in, and I left as quickly as possible because the next wave was just hitting and it was going to be a while before they discovered the ice hoppers on the soda machine were low and the ice maker was empty. The Crazy Lady was going to be pissed.