As The Station Turns 7/19

 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 going to have to check it out when I have the time. 

When I got to work I was pissed. I got Bigfoot's cash drawer from last night and he left a $100 bill. I can't start waiting on customers with a $100. Mrs. Late Guy broke it for me but not before I sent a photo to the Boss. I told him I wasn't a complainer but this is getting ridiculous. He's suppose to be a manager at a discount store and can't do a proper drawer. I hope the Boss has a word with him. Next week if I come in to that I'm going to have Mrs. Late Guy close her drawer and open with it and leave Bigfoot's for the Graveyard Shift Guy.

And then, there is a napkin dispenser next to the microwave. The front flips down for loading and someone had left a napkin hanging out through the catch. So I had to get it open, pull all the scraps of paper out and refill it. You can see where the napkins are when you close it. This is just being sloppy. 

I got an advertisement in the mail to update a credit card and it was in the shape of a credit card. I put it in the rack where we keep the cards we are holding on to when people are filling up. I wonder who found it. Anyhow it was sitting on top of the rack so I put it back in my wallet. I think I'll drop it by the ATM at the West Side Station when I go by on Friday.

When the Late Guy finished his shift he came by to get some energy drinks, they don't sell his favorite brand at his station. I've been doing a lottery experiment, buying one ticket a week and keeping track of how much I spend vs. how much I win, I'm in the losing column right now. He was telling me that he got several new tickets, I had to wait for a package so I didn't go by on Friday and I think he actually wants me to go over there so he can complain about the other employees. He then started telling me about how the Weekend Guy had pulled too many tickets out of the display since the numbers are running the opposite, high to low instead of low to high. I didn't say anything but if someone breaks in and cleans out the display he's going to have a problem telling the Lottery Officials which tickets to cancel since they aren't all running in the same order. He told me that some of the packs run from high to low, all you have to do is turn them over and start with the 000 ticket. The Late Guy is creating problems for himself. He also didn't mention the new pump hose so I'm not planning on going over there in the morning.

There is a drug addict woman that comes over to the station and starts bugging customers for money. I've run her off in the past but other employees feel sorry for her so they let her come back. Well, she came by yesterday, complete with her sign and started asking customers for money so I told her to take off. She was mumbling stuff at me as she left. Later I went out to check the trash and she was on her way back. I told her to get off the lot and not come back. She was saying all kinds of stuff at me, from a safe distance. I saw her heading to the Haunted Station, good she can go bug people there and steal stuff. I've seriously considered calling the cops on her.

Last night when I left one of the toilet paper dispensers was getting low, I left it since the Graveyard Shift seems to have a problem with filling them up. When I went in today it was down to just the scraps. 16 hours, three people and nobody could go put a new roll in there. I'm tempted to pull out the butt end of the rolls, save them and then when I get my two days off, in a row, I'll stick them into all the stalls as I'm walking out the door. 

Business dropped off to nothing so I went out to do a lot check. I found a strand of barbed wire by the air pump. Who pulls barbed wire out of their vehicle and just throws it next to a building?

I dumped the restroom trashes and the outside trashes and managed to finish up just before a swarm showed up. AHA! Beat You!

Again, it was dead so I figured it would be a good time to give the restrooms a once over. It was almost instantly that the next swarm showed up. There must have been five or six cars all at once, and all full of families. And, just as quickly they all left.

A guy pulling a 5th wheel pulled up to the outside water faucet in the green strip between the station and the street. They wanted to know if they could fill up the trailer's tank, ummm, no. The Boss put a lock on the water faucet just because of that, people in RV's would pull up and fill up 50 or 100 gallon tanks and he got tired of the huge bill. If you want to fill up your tank go to a trailer park, they'll do it for you, for a fee. 

Laster, when the place died off again I was putting out sandwiches in the cooler. I discovered that the burritos were all gone so I dug the box out of the freezer and filled up the shelf. 10 minutes later a guy came in and bought them all so I had to put the rest out. The Manager does her supply order on Mondays and I hope she realizes that the freezer is empty and all we have left are those on the shelf. 

I spotted something sitting on the trash can by the farthest out pumps. I went out and it was two full tubes of professional machine grease. I also discovered two plastic buckets that someone had been using for concrete finishing. Someone is going to be on the job site and ask for the grease and not be able to find it, then go for their buckets and those are going to be gone too. They aren't going to be happy.

Skippy came by, he was on the phone the whole time so I didn't have to talk to him. He was eating chips and after he left I had to get the broom and sweep up all the crumbs. If an employee had done that the Boss would be pissed but since it was management....

A guy grabbed a gallon jug of water from a bottom shelf. When he stood up he lost his balance and fell back into the auto fluids rack knocking over the bottles of gas additives and such. He was pretty embarrassed and tried to straighten them back up. When he came over to the register I pretended I didn't see anything. 

A kid came in and wanted "two bucks" on pump #4. Then he came back because it turns out they didn't need gas, must have been the lawn guy who brings his push mower up to fill it, get a gas can buddy. Then the kid came back in and wanted "forty bucks" for the truck. I was chucking because he was a 10 year old kid talking like a 40 year old man. It was the highlight of my night. 

The Graveyard Shift Guy came in and took extra long clocking in, he needs to take a step back so he's more in the light but I'm not going to say anything, everyone gets pissed when you give them advice. He took an extra long time counting in his drawer. Finally I was able to close my drawer, leaving a proper amount of money and then went home.