As The Station Turns 7/25

 There was good new today, the Part Time Woman had taken off so I didn't have to deal with her. However, once again, Bigfoot left me too many coins and too many singles. Dude, I need $5s and $10s, not $1s and pennies. I ran out to the #12 pump and put a new "Please Pay Inside" sign on it. I left it on when I went home so I don't have to deal with that tomorrow. 

I caught an unusual early break in traffic so I ran to do a quick check. Good thing too because I had to put toilet paper in the restrooms and dump the trashes. I got it all finished and the crowd jumped back up to normal, and stayed that way for the next couple of hours. If I hadn't done it when I did the restrooms would have run out of paper and the trash cans would have overflown.

The Invisible Man came in, I hadn't seen him in a while (pun intended). He tried to commit sui cide (the blog blocks certain words so I broke it in two) and missed. He blew a big chunk of his face off and for a long time he wore a huge mask. He likes dealing with me because I can understand what he says. Tonight it was cigarettes and gas. 

A guy came in and wanted rolling papers. However he was bitching about buying packs that were missing papers, too low, half gone, so he wanted to know if ours were full. I told him I didn't know so he got pissy and said "well, I'll go somewhere else. People think that's some kind of "aha, gotcha" but we're glad to see them go. The funny part was he went next door, they don't do anything tobacco related at all. I bet that pissed him off even more. Bwa ha ha ha ha. btw, I figured he wanted to get hold of one of the packs and then run out the door without paying.

A woman was driving a U Haul and cut too tight, hitting the barrier pole. She had to back up and make a wider turn. Goodbye deposit. This was the second time I've seen that this week.

When I did the second round of trash I found a pair of sunglasses on one of the cans. I checked them and they seemed to be fine so I put them on the picnic table. Later when I looked out they were gone, had someone taken them? Nope, they were laying on the ground. I put them back on the table but at the end of the night nobody had taken them so I put them on top of the propane tank cage and I'll put them back on the table tomorrow. We'll see what happens.

I was busy and some fly decided to start harassing me. When the place cleared out I got the swatter but it had disappeared, until I got the next line and then it started bugging me again. This went on for a while but eventually it screwed up and now it's dead.

Butt Picker came by, he's a guy who digs half smoked cigarettes out of the ash bucket. He hung around outside for a while and then came in with actual cash and bought a pack of cigarettes, must have been a good day on Beggar's Corner. Later, after he left I noticed he left his water bottle sitting outside. I left it there for the rest of the day but I tossed it on my last trash haul. 

Mrs. Late Guy came by, she had left her packing tape and she wanted to get a bag of ice for her foot. Late Guy didn't come in, perhaps I should drop by the Haunted Station on my next day off and even buy a lottery ticket from him. I bet he has a lot of stuff to brag about, and complain about and might be pissed that I haven't been dropping by to hear it.

The place emptied out so I decided to take a restroom break. When I got out the lot was full of cars and there were people waiting at the register. Did they even stop when they jumped out of their cars? Anyhow I'm glad I went when I did because it was a long time until the next break.

I got another break so I filled up the hoppers on the ice machine and then did a third round of trash. Someone threw a half full gallon of paint into it. Who does that? 

Some guys came in driving a panel van and wanted to know if someone sold fire extinguishers. I told him we got ours from a place across the state line but they could see if the hardware store was still open. It seems they had a fire in the back of their truck and had used theirs. I had a lot of questions about how could it have started, how much damage was done and how did they notice but they seemed like they were in a hurry so I didn't pry.

A guy heated up some soup but he spilled some of it on the floor. He tried to clean it up and dropped his sandwich. Here's an idea dude, set your stuff on the counter first. Thankfully he stopped cleaning.

Some woman was looking for fancy fudge. All we have is the stuff that is sealed in plastic and has an expiration date of sometime next year.

The Missing Woman showed up, I hadn't seen her since I went by the hardware store where she works now. She had gone to a rival station to get some Sprite but their syrup must have been empty because all she got was carbonated water. I let her get a fresh Sprite for free since she's a former employee. She said she would have gone to the Downtown Station but the Dyslexic woman is working there and the two of them don't get along. 

Some kid came in and bought a couple of liters of R.C. Cola. Later another woman came in and bought 6. At the end of the night a woman came by and bought the last in the cooler. I have no idea what the rush was about.

I was trying to do a last minute check outside before shift change when a pissed showed up. He parked at one of the pumps even though he wasn't getting any fuel. Then he went in the restroom so I was stuck waiting for him. He finally came out and then asked if we had free cups. I guess I was a little pissed because I laughed at him and said nothing was free. He copped an attitude so I said cups were for our customers, people who bought something (we have to pay for them btw). He got a little mouthy about my "attitude" so I said "Thank you for using our facilities and Not Buying Anything". He was going to try to say something else but realized I was not in a good mood and figured it was better if he left. I don't think I'm gonna get a good Yelp review.

The next guy to walk in wanted to know if we had a place he could fill up the reserve tank on his RV. Nope. I gave him directions to the RV park. We're not a rest stop, the owners have to pay for stuff like water and soap and paper towels and cups and so forth, plus the economy sucks. Stop expecting free stuff when you aren't even a customer.

A family came in and loaded up the counter with stuff. As I was trying to ring it up one of the kids grabbed a bunch of stuff, before I scanned it. I gave him the evil eye and he put it back. He was waiting to grab it again but I scanned his stuff last.

The Graveyard Shift Guy came in and finally figured out how to clock in on the first try. As he was counting in his drawer a woman walked in the front door, though the building and out the back door. She didn't look around, she didn't say anything, just in the front door and out the back door. I have no idea what that was all about. 

The Late Guy opened his drawer, I got my paperwork done and Bigfoot even showed up. Time to go home.