As The Station Turns 8/22

 I forgot to post this yesterday but when I was chatting with the Late Guy on Friday he told me about a bear situation. It seems that a bear broke into someone's house and was eating their food. The people called the Game And Fish but by the time the ranger got there the bear had taken off. They baited a trap in the area and caught it, they hauled it to a place about 40 miles away. Well this week it showed up again and broke into someone's garage and ate the contents of their fridge, and it turned out to be the Random Woman's garage. The bear was easy to catch because that is where she stores her edibles. The bear OD'd so they had to "put it down". The Random Woman is going to be on edge for a while since her "prescription" went into the bear. 

The weather report said it was going to be clear so I got out the Bad Hawg and fired it up, it's an electric trike for those who haven't read my past posts. As the day went along the horizon got really purple so I grabbed a couple of bags and covered up the electronic stuff. And it never rained. By 9:30 I figured it was safe so I went out and took off the bags so I wouldn't have to do it as I was going home. When I went out at the end of my shift, it was raining. Not hard, just a minor drizzle, the kind my father would say you could walk between the drops, but the seat was wet. As I was driving it was splattering in my face but thankfully it's only a couple of blocks. When I got home it stopped. That figures.

When I got to work there was a truck parked at the first pump and they had their hood up. They were pulling a trailer and must have overheated on the mountain. About a half hour later they fired up the truck and left. But why didn't they park off to the side instead of the middle of the pumps? I'll never understand that.

I have a couple of those Hollywood $100 bills so I had one in my bag. Sometimes I like to drop them in out of the way but obvious spots, the last time was a fake $5 that I put in the free brochure rack, when I came in the next day someone had actually cleaned the whole thing and the bill was gone. Well, one of the outside trash cans is in the wire cage by the diesel pump, the cage is to keep people from driving over the pump. The trash can has slots to hold squeegees and water on both sides but one of them is up against the cage so it is empty, so I dropped the fake $100 in there. Every couple of days for the next couple of weeks I would check and it was still there. Today it was gone, someone saw it, went through all the trouble to pull the trash can out and grab it. It's clearly fake, feels fake, the hologram is flat and just printed on and it clearly says Movie Money. Someone was really happy and then really disappointed, and probably will drop it somewhere else where someone could find the bill.

I looked across the street, the Late Guy, Random Woman and the Part Time Woman were all there. Were they holding a staff meeting? Were they having to take the food service exam? Were they being told off for the missing supplies and cigarettes? I guess I'll find out on Friday. Anyhow it was the Random Woman's day to work but the Part Time Woman covered the shift. It's a mess over there.

A guy pushed the "Help" button on the pump, three times. I was busy so I wasn't going to run out so he could tell me his card wasn't working. He pulled to another pump and pushed the help button again. He wasn't even running his card, just pushing the button. I wasn't going to go out and pump his gas if that's what he wanted. He drove across the street, pulled through the lot and then went to the more expensive gas station down the street. Sorry dude, there hasn't been a full service station around here for 30 years and I only help people if they are seniors or clearly handicapped. One time I stood out in the blowing rain pumping a guy's gas because I knew he was a paraplegic and I didn't want him fighting with the chair in the bad weather. He offered to tip me but I refused, it's what they pay me for. The guy today was perfectly healthy and it was a sunny day. 

Some guy spit out his tobacco in front of the pump. Then came inside and used the restroom. And then left. It's bad Karma to wish a flat tire on him, somewhere between here and there, on a narrow backroad. 

Two guys pulled up in moving trucks and they were using fleet cards, which can only be run inside. The first guy's card ran fine, the second guy's card kept getting rejected. After waiting for the boss to get it cleared it turns out there was a problem somewhere in the main system. The boss was on the phone and wanted to know if he could use his personal card number. Normally I say no since this is a way to defraud people "how could I have used my card in New Mexico, I'm in Nebraska", but since it was a company I've seen dozens of time I let them do it. I still wrote the company phone number on the slip, it's on the side of the trucks. That way I have proof they were there.

I've started to notice the same red car pulling into the vacant lot next door. They hang out for a while and then leave. I'm starting to think it's a drug dealer meeting their customers. Maybe I'll mention it to Frankie The Cop the next time I see him.

There's a Little Crackhead that comes around and starts bugging customers. I also have to keep an eye on her to make sure she's not shoplifting. I told her to leave and not come back so she'd walk across the street and yell things at me, she's tough when she's out of arm's length. Anyhow today I saw her drifting towards the station, she had a bunch of crap and her big "Please give me money" sign. I was all ready to go outside and confront her, again but I guess she realized I was there and drifted to the Haunted Station instead. Later I saw her coming back but she went back across the interstate, she should just stay over there and be a bother at the Conoco. 

A guy came in and was complaining about the price of gas, he was complaining about how far he had to drive and how he had nobody to talk to on the trip. Pal, they invented airplanes, you should look into it. Anyhow he was in such a hurry that he hung out on the side of the lot for two hours. 

My neighbor came by to get cigarettes. She told me she was going to be doing major yard work in the morning and wanted to know what time I got up so she wasn't disturbing me. I grew up in a small house with 5 other people and lived in the dorms. My neighbor has a truck storage lot where he's always doing work plus the tire shop down the street that is always working on big trucks with their very loud air wrench. I sleep through it all, a lawn mower and leaf blower doesn't mean anything to me.

The Part Time Woman did her usual, left the canopy lights off for about an hour after it got dark. I don't think she realizes that the Boss is checking up on things and knows what she's doing. 

Business dropped off so I started the ice, and got interrupted about halfway through. A woman came in and waned to fill up a U Haul but she didn't trust me to leave her card. I put it on the register and she stood there the whole time, keeping a close eye on it. I'm not stupid enough to steal card numbers and go to federal prison. Anyhow she finally finished and here came the next U Haul, and a swarm. Pissers, comparison shoppers, tag teamers, all the regulars. It was an hour later when I finally finished the ice. By that time it was restrooms and outside trash time, and here came the next swarm. 

I was waiting on the last people so I could get my work done before shift change. However they were taking their time. The woman wandered around and looked at everything. The guy finally came out and another guy who was with them came in and went to the restrooms so they waited for him. They wandered around again and picked out all their stuff and came up to the register, that's when the fourth guy came in, he had been sitting out in the car the whole time. They had to wait for him to go to the restroom and then pick something out, then they finally left, except. They then took all the trash out of their car and stuffed it into the trash can I had just dumped. After all that they left and I went out to dump the newly filled trash can, which included a half full gallon of water, who throws water into a trash can? I pulled it out and dumped it on the grass before I hauled the bag to the dumpster. I love people.

When I was out checking the trash I noticed the squeegee buckets were really low. I had time to haul them over to the outside faucet and fill them up but I want to see if the Graveyard Shift will do the job. So whenI go in on Sunday I'm going to have to fill them up.

A guy came in to complain about the cost of a phone charger. Our price is the same as if you bought them at Amazon, I've checked. And here's an idea, if you're going on a long road trip, bring a cord.

A guy came in, he was staggering. He claimed he had vertigo, on the ground floor. I think he had Jack Danials. Anyhow he bought a bag of ice and the chip reader didn't work. I told him to tap the card but he said his didn't have that, he specifically requested a card with no tap feature. I took his card and showed him the three curved line symbol and told him it that yes, it had that feature. He said he called and had it disabled so people couldn't scan the card in his pocket. I held it over the reader and printed out his receipt. He staggered out the door, I hope he wasn't driving, because of his vertigo. I love when people argue with me about things I know.

Of course the Graveyard Shift Guy was late but nobody was in the building at the time so he rushed through logging in and counting in his drawer. But then he went to the restroom. Seriously, use it before you go come to work. Anyhow he got his business done and came back, and that's when the next swarm hit. I was laughing. Then I took a slightly damp ride home. As I was leaving, in the rain, two cars were pulling off the lot, very slowly. I parked under the diesel canopy until they finally pulled to the exit and left. I zipped across the street and drove through the lower lot so I could avoid oncoming traffic and go straight home. Fredric the Cat was waiting but the raccoons have been hiding out. It's suppose to rain all day on Sunday so I'll take the truck and dump the trash instead of getting wet on the Bad Hawg again.