As The Station Turns 7/4

 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 had rode my bike so I had to run outside and cover up the control panel and the battery but I got a mob of tag teamers. I finally just ran out and covered everything and made someone wait, too bad buddy, I need to protect my battery.

There was a hitchhiker standing by the road but wasn't having much luck. He came to stand under the awning to get out of the rain and then came in to use the restroom. Whatever. Some guy getting gas offered him a ride so I didn't have to do anything about that.

A fuel truck showed up and filled up the tanks. He set off the alarm because he overfilled the tank. The censor is now out of line and reading at 72 gallons in a 10,000 gallon tank. I needed to run to the back and turn the alarm off but I got a line of customers. So I had to hear the thing going off while people slowly paid for his stuff. Later when the Boss showed up he was pissed because the truck wasn't suppose to come until tomorrow. Well, he really wasn't happy when I told him the guy had gone across the street too. I don't know how things turned out there but the Weekend Guy was covering the afternoon shift and that full tank alarm is loud and I don't know if he knows how to turn it off.

So, there is a freestanding cooler that sticks out into the hall going to the restroom. A few months ago a miscreant put a 8647 sticker on the back where all the pissers can see it. Well, today it was gone. Another miscreant had written 8647 in the dirt on the window and someone had washed them. And there were several around the lot and they are all gone. An employee must have found out what the number combination represents and went around to clean it up. However a miscreant had put another one in a spot outside. Now I know how to get people to do things, simple numbers. Perhaps when things slow down the miscreant will put stickers on the trash cans and someone will clean them.

The Boss came by to get the paperwork and ask about the days I was trading out with Mrs. Late Guy. He asked about the last Red Bull delivery because part of it was going to the West Side Station. I told the Crazy Lady to leave that pile alone and she ignored what I said and put it in the coolers. The Boss was not happy, hey I did my job. He then hung out for a long time, I had hoped he wasn't waiting for the fireworks show because the view is blocked at the Truck Stop. Around behind the Subway is a better view. However he left before it started. 

When the sun started going down there was just a small patch of light showing between the clouds and the mountain and lit up a nearby farm house in an interesting tint of red. I really wanted a photo of it but sure enough, tag teamers. I did run out the back door and got a blurry photo but it's enough for a future drawing.

A guy left a broke down truck at the station on Thursday and said he'd be back for it on Friday. Well he called today to say he would come pick it up tomorrow. The Boss said if he was going to leave it here any longer he'd have to pay for parking. Well, the guy showed up with a flatbed trailer and loaded it up. He would have been here on Friday but the place he was going was closed for the holiday and he had to make arrangements to drop off a delivery and it put him a day behind. The Boss will come in on Sunday, the truck will be gone and I'll be silently smug about it all since I told him the guy was coming for it.

A crowd showed up and they were well dressed, oddly well dressed for the truck stop. One guy came in and he was packing a pistol with two spare clips. I really wondered who they were and should I be worried? They were all really nice but none the less, if the cops come around I didn't see nothing.

I had a crowd and just then the card reader decided to crash. I had to have everyone pay cash while I got it to reboot. Sure enough, the crowd clears out and the reader came back on line. I know the machines do it intentionally.

Someone told me all the other stations on the strip had closed down. They were probably watching the fireworks show.

The place cleared out, the fireworks started so I went outside to watch them, and pissers showed up. They stayed until the end of the grand finale. Thanks for that, there is a nice place just across the street you know.

In years past when I worked at the West Side Station I learned to close up after the Grand Finale because I would get a rush of pissers that would keep the place open for an extra half hour even though none of them were customers. When the show was over I would shut off the lights, lock the door, close up and clean up the new mess. Since I was working the Truck Stop and had to wait for the Graveyard Shift I couldn't do that. However there wasn't a rush, people hadn't drove into town to watch the show. Another sign of the current economy and the feeling about the big 250. 

Bigfoot came in on time again. I think someone had a word with him about his expected hours. I'm probably going to have to get to know his name.