As The Station Turns 8/16

I started the day in the usual way, I wanted to do my opening paperwork but some guy wanted a pack of smokes but he didn't know which one, he finally went with the cheapest brand. Then he had to get his card to work on his phone. Meanwhile a line was forming behind him. Seriously people, you can turn on your card before you get to the counter.

I counted in Bigfoot's drawer and he was $7 off. A crowd of people were coming in so I opened it at the proper amount and figured I could recount it after the shift change rush ended. Except everyone decided to pay cash and altered the amount in the drawer. I could try to do the math but when I finally took a second look I discovered he had forgotten to add in the rolled coins, dimes and nickels, which came to a total of...$7. Ha, I was right and he was wrong, and I'll never tell him.

A storm was blowing in, literally. I was trying to keep an eye on the trash cans to make sure they or their lids didn't blow away, while waiting on people who had come in to tell me the wind was blowing. The rain finally hit and people came in to tell me all about it.

A woman was looking for something "not sweet" to mix into her coffee. Ummmm, more coffee? I didn't know they made not sweet stuff for coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker btw so I don't know all the new hip trendy mixes.

I was laughing because the Part Time Woman was having to work another Sunday at the Haunted Station, she hates working Sundays but since they have the bare minimum of staff someone has to cover for the Random Woman while she's gone. She turned her canopy lights on during the rainstorm even though it wasn't that dark and then left them on for the rest of the day even after the storm had passed. The last time she worked a Sunday she left her lights off and then closed at 9 PM, an hour early, this week Skippy showed up so she had to stay open. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

A guy's card wasn't working at the pump but he didn't want to leave it. And he didn't want to do a prepay. Sorry pal, I don't know you so I'm not going to just turn the pump on for you. He finally decided to do a prepay but then wasn't going to run his card in the reader. I finally convinced him to hold his chip over the screen. He did the usual, put the chip under his thumb and waved the blank end of the card over the screen, which didn't work. Finally he accidentally stuck the chip over the screen and it worked. Then he didn't want to sign the receipt. And this guy has a drivers license.

I saw an Earth Wanderer drifting into the station across the street. She wasn't there very long but came over to the Truck Stop, I figured the Part Time Woman wouldn't let her use the restroom. She asked about our hours, looked around and then asked to use the restroom, I let her. She left and didn't bother anyone so she didn't break my rules. She looks like the type to wander on after a couple of days so hopefully it doesn't end up with police involvement.

I just love when a family sends in one of the smaller kids to ask if he can use the restroom, then the rest of the carload comes swarming in. They figure you aren't going to tell a kid "customers only". 

I've come to the conclusion that really interesting cloud formations are just like mopping the floor, they cause people to come rushing in so I can't run outside and take a photo. Some guy slowly mixed up the perfect cup of coffee while the sunset light slowly faded. Come on pal, it's freaking coffee and I'm losing the light. Finally they cleared out and....the sky was pretty...grey.

I had a quick thing to do so I stepped away from the register for two minutes. Some guy came in and I guess I was taking too long for him and he started whistling at me. OOOOOO! That really pissed me off. I mumbled loud enough for him to hear me "G-D! Whistling at me like I was a dog or something!" After all that all he wanted was change for the air machine. so I grumbled, just loud enough to hear "All that for freaking coins". Wanna know the funny part? He recounted the $2 in coins and told me I had given him 50¢ too much and handed it back to me. The thing was he was holding the quarters when he came in, but I took them anyhow.

I caught a break so I went to check the restrooms and the mens room was out of paper towels. Since I had screwed over the Graveyard Shift with the CO2 tank on the soda machine the night before I replaced the roll. See, I'm not totally evil.

Someone pulled up to a pump, ran their card, got it authorized, cancelled the sale and then pulled around to the diesel pump. Ummm...diesel pumps are clearly marked and have green hoses and nozzles. I can imagine the look on their face when they went through the whole card thing and then actually looked at the pump.

The Graveyard Shift Guy came in. I had a crowd so naturally it took him a while to log in and count in his drawer. The entire time he was very loudly and very obviously coughing. I think I'll accidentally turn off my phone so I don't get called in to cover his shift tomorrow night.