As The Station Turns 7/28

 Tuesday is usually my day off, but not this week. I had to cover Mrs. Late Guy's shift because it's her daughter's 16th birthday and they wanted to make it special. She knows that family birthdays will so be a thing of the past when the daughter goes off to college. I don't mind covering when it's a special occasion. But at the same time I've become the person who is always imposed upon to cover shifts, which gets on my nerves, never knowing what day I'm going to work, or at what station. I'm going to stick around until the end of the year and then consider my options. Always plan your next move at least 6 months in advance, that is my motto.

When I got to work the representative from the supply company was just finishing up. Thank goodness, I hate when she comes in late and I have to deal with her. She complains about stuff that is suppose to be in the store, or how the shelves are organized, or any of a hundred of other things. I wasn't going to have to deal with her today. 

I walked in and there wasn't a car on the lot, but as soon as I started my cigarette count Lingerers came rushing into the building. And ever time I went back to counting they would come rushing towards the register, I had to drop my count thus losing my place, but they weren't actually checking out, they suddenly remembered something on the other side of the store. I'd start my count again and here would come another person, who wasn't ready to check out. Eventually I got my count done and they all left.

FedEx showed up. The guy brought in a box and asked me to sign for it. That's when I noticed the address, it was suppose to go to the station next door. He said his GPS sent him to us. Technology is making people dumber, the name of the place and the address are on the label.

A trucker came in and wanted to pay with a fleet card, prepay by the way. This means running it on a separate system including all the information and security numbers, and then ringing it out in the register. Thankfully I didn't have any other customers standing in line because sometimes this takes a while. I got him ready to go and then I had to get all the paperwork together, three different receipts, writing it down in the fleet card log, ringing the sale out of the register and dropping the paperwork in the safe. But as I started all this I got busy, customer after customer. And the air conditioner decided to kick on to high blowing all the slips of paper everywhere. I was trying to stuff them all under the stapler, make sure I had them all and wait on customers. Oooo, I got frustrated. The place cleared out, I got everything together and documented and everyone left. 

A woman and her son came in. He kept talking like R2, a series of whistles and sounds. I'm pretty sure she understood everything he was saying.

I saw a Wolfman. He didn't have a Chinese menu.

A guy couldn't figure out how to get his card to run at the pump but eventually figured it out. He had trouble finding the restroom despite the multiple signs. He bought something, then found something else and bought that, then he asked his wife if she wanted anything and bought what she picked out, could have done it all at one time but... Anyhow the place cleared out and his pump was still on, had he pulled the nozzle off the pump? Nope, when he hung it up he put the end of the nozzle outside of the cradle thus not hitting the on/off flap. If someone had pulled in they could have filled up on his card. And at no point did I consider hopping in my Jeep, pulling around the building and filling up, nope, didn't think about that at all.  Instead I went out and hung up the nozzle properly.  It's people like that who fund phone scammers.

The place was beyond empty so I decided to take a restroom break. I was barely in there when I heard the control box in the office click, that means a pump just went on. How is that possible, even the road was empty. I rushed out and there was a Boy Scout bus and three trucks outside, and the place was full of them. As usual they all got something so for the next 45 minutes I was stuck at the register. And then they all left. Later when I went out to check things I found one of their credit cards, I knew it was theres because it was from an organization, not an individual's card. Considering I found it at the diesel pump I'm willing to bet it was the one they were using to fill up the bus, they weren't going to be happy when they reached their next stop.

They repaired the ice machine and the Manager wanted it to fill all the way up. I did a couple of buckets for the soda hoppers but I didn't bag any. And I sold 7 bags to the Boy Scouts.

I saw two kids with mullets. There are things you hate seeing come back into style.

The Boss came in and so did a crowd of people. Despite my not having any customers all day I looked busy which worked out for me. He told me the company is going to be doing some rebranding. Both the West Side Station and the Haunted Station will be brand name stations by next year. He didn't say anything about the Truck Stop. Working for those companies is a pain because they want you to adhere to the corporate policies. Plus they send spies to make sure you are doing as you are told. And they also want you to wear company branding. I hate all that stuff.

Part of the crowd were Mennonites. I hadn't seen groups of them since the Covid shutdown. Perhaps things are getting back to normal-esque. The funny part was one guy came back in after all the others left to buy a couple of vapes. He probably keeps them hidden from the rest of the family.

The Random Woman called, someone was looking for bungee cords, I said we had some but I didn't know how long they were. The people never came over. She told me the people told her that there had been a big crash on the road to Texas blocking lanes going in both directions. That can explain why it was so slow.

The night was almost over so I did a quick mop in the restrooms. As I was putting the mop away a pisser came in and rushed across the still wet floor. I think they can smell the soap and it attracts them like moths to a light.

The Graveyard Shift Guy came in, slowly clocked in, slowly counted in his drawer and finally went to work. I told him about not bagging any ice so when they go against the Manager's orders I can say "well I passed the message on". The Crazy Lady hadn't shown up by the time I was leaving. I don't think she knew Mrs. Late Guy wasn't working the afternoon shift today, they really really don't get along. I'm glad because I wanted to get out of there be when she discovered that I hadn't done the ice bags. I'm sure she would go off, complain and say that she was going to do it because it's suppose to be done regardless. I can just imagine what happened later in the night.