As The Station Turns 8/27

The plumber is coming to my house on Friday morning so I had to get my weekly lottery ticket early. I took a walk to the Haunted Station, the Weekend Guy was covering the morning shift. Boy was he in a bad mood. Stuff isn't working, stuff isn't being ordered, stuff isn't in the system. While I was standing there some guy wanted one of those air fresheners you hang off the rear view mirror. I use to make sure they were in stock because we sold a lot of them, and of course there weren't any. There is a new personal wipe you can hang up in your car and the Late Guy said it probably wasn't in the system, he even wanted to make a bet. I said that some had already been sold so it probably was, the Late Guy owes me a dollar. 

I was mentioning the Specter of Beggars Past (see my last post) and he said the guy had come in to the Haunted Station too. He said he thought it was the guy who use to drive around town on the bicycles that had been joined together and he put a motor in the middle. It probably is that guy, boy does he look horrible these days, kind of like the bridge keeper who asks the three questions in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He said the guy came in to heat up a burrito and made a mess in the microwave and then wanted hot sauce, but they didn't have any, that's why he came over asking for some at the Truck Stop.

After hearing all the complaints and buying another losing lottery ticket (spoiler alert for my other blogs) I came home. I don't want to go to work today, heck I don't want to have to go to work at all.

Also I have to take a cancelled check to work to send to the accountant. The bank sent me new checks, with a new routing number. Now they're going to have to change all that. At least this time the bank let me know, last time I had to wait a month for a deposit.

When I got to work I checked the register and discovered that the #7 pump had come back on line. I mentioned it to the Manager but she hadn't noticed, she figured it did it when the system cycled for the end of the day reports. I went and pulled the Out Of Order bag off the pump and it worked fine. I had an evil thought, if I hadn't told her she would have called the Late Guy and he would have had to come over for nothing. But I'm not that evil.

The Manager didn't say anything about the ATM situation. I wonder if the Boss told her that he wanted her to take it home. This is an interesting developing story.

The Manager told me she had been late today. When she went out there was a bear hanging around her car and wouldn't leave. She threw some rocks at her car canopy to make some noise in hopes of chasing it off but it wouldn't budge. However its cub started making noise and it went to check on it. She said she ran and jumped into the car and locked the doors. I said that was a good idea because I've seen videos of them opening doors. 

A guy came in looking for the CAT drop. The equipment company CAT will send stuff to contractors, however they don't all have a work yard and it's hard to track them down. So they have a shed behind the Haunted Station where they leave stuff, if you have a CAT key you can get in. I know that since I worked over there. Also if you're thinking of going over there to steal stuff it is specialized parts and most weigh a few hundred pounds.

Here's an oldie but a goodie, the Ladies room was out of paper towels and one of the stalls needed toilet paper. I hadn't had to do that at the first of the shift in a long time.

Here's my Good Deed of the Day. The Tow Truck driver came in and got coffee, when he left a guy was asking about him, since he wears a pistol. I explained the dangers of being a tow truck driver and the guy went off about how great open carry laws are and how "they" are trying to take away "our" guns and we need a change in leadership. I let him ramble on without telling him stories about the horrors of "more guns". Karma owes me.

It was a really slow day so I figured I would do some dusting, usually I do it on Wednesday but that was a Tag Teamer day and I had customers in the building for the majority of the day. Anyhow I got done with behind the counter and here came the customers. I was busy enough to kill two hours.

A woman came over and wanted to know if our restrooms were open. It seems the Weekend Guy was telling people that the restrooms at the Haunted Station were out of order. I know they aren't, he just doesn't want to clean them. 

Meanwhile a guy was in the restroom for a while but he ran out the door. That is my sign to go check, I have no idea what he was doing but there was water all over the floor. Not flooded like an overflowing toilet but splashed and everywhere. Was he doing a sponge bath or what? And why was it all the way into the toilet stall? Of course here cames a grandmother with two kids who didn't know what kind of gum they wanted. Hurry Up! I have to mop the floor! Thankfully nobody went into the restroom and tracked it up and down the hall.

Some guy parked right in front of the building and started eating his lunch, not parked off to the side but almost at the front door. He then got out of his truck and was doing something, I hoped he was flossing and not puking. He came in and slowly looked at all the sunglasses, then all the souvenirs, then at all the coolers, then through all the candy. He finally bought a couple of things and asked about the price of the scorpion suckers (yes they are real scorpions) and bitched about the price. He was there for around 45 minutes. If I didn't have to I wouldn't eat at a gas station.

A guy came in and was in the middle of a phone conversation. He used hand signs to tell me he wanted cigarettes and the brand. You know you're allowed to call people back.

A guy got fuel and a few other things and when I saw him pulling out I noticed he left his gas flap open and a cup sitting on the back of his truck. I watched to see if it would fall off on the lot or as he turned onto the street. Nope, it was still there as he headed down the road. I figured when he got up in speed it would blow off. Let's hope it doesn't hit another car.

The Boss ran in, went to the restroom, grabbed his paperwork. I gave him a cancelled check so they could change the routing number on my direct deposit and then he left. Usually he hangs around, watches videos on his phone, asks questions about how things are going and then leaves. He didn't say anything about the ATM or the manager so I guess I'll find out about all that later. He also didn't notice that the #7 pump wasn't working, I wonder if he'll call the Late Guy.

The Cheese Slipping Off The Cracker Guy came in for his usual smokes, he had money on his card this time which is a good thing. He then asked if I wanted to buy some tomato plants. Personally I don't like tomatoes so I said no. Also "tomato plant" is slang for another kind of plant, the kind people roll up and smoke. I' don't like that either, gives me a pounding headache.

A truck driver came in and took a really long time in the restroom, second time today. And yes, I went to check, he didn't splash water everywhere, he clogged the toilet, big time. Thankfully nobody came in while I was plunging the thing.

Two young women came in and got some stuff. One asked if they could have a couple of plastic bags because another friend was in the car and had been puking. We get that request all the time.

A guy came in to get $40 and wanted a "quick pick". I told him that we didn't do lottery, I would have sent him across the street but it was after 8 and if it's a drawing night the machines would be shut down. I considered tell him "Gimme $2" then check the serial number and say "sorry, not a winner" and shove them in my pocket. He didn't look like he had a sense of humor. btw, he had a dollar in change coming back and he drove off so I got money out of the deal after all.

A guy was pulling a horse trailer into the #9 pump but he cut too tight and ran the trailer into the concrete barrier that protects the pump. He had to back up and re maneuver. I had to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't back into my Jeep. And just like that I had a swarm of horsemen, all the pumps were full, and I don't think they were traveling together, just coincidence. 

A guy was at the counter and he found a wad of cash sitting there. He handed it to me and I had to wonder, the last couple of people that came in had paid by card and they had those clip wallets or were holding them when they came up to the counter, they never opened their wallets. The guy looked at his wallet and suddenly realized it was his wad of cash, it had fallen out when he got his credit card out. I was laughing, I told him I would have happily took his money. If it had been lost money I would have put it in an envelope and waited for the person to come and claim it. The last time I came across that much money I waited the full 30 days before I figured whoever lost it gave up on it. btw, there were several hundreds mixed in with the other bills.

A guy wandered through the whole building and then grabbed a Monster out of the cooler. He set it on the edge of the counter and then left. Why? After a while he came back, he had forgotten his wallet.

Since the end of the shift was slow I got my paperwork together in advance. When the Crazy Lady came in I was able to get out in a couple of minutes. When I got home the clouds parted and I got to see part of the lunar eclipse, a dollar tip and the moon, the universe liked me today.

8/28

The plumber is here working on my toilet. I was expecting the worse, a rotted floor. Instead it turns out the coupling between the pipe and the toilet had rusted through so he can just replace that, hopefully without having to do a full on replacement of pipes and everything else. Again, perhaps the Universe is liking me, maybe I should go buy a Powerball ticket, or I used up my good Karma from yesterday. However as I'm posting this the plumber is over at the hardware store to see if he can get a quick change clamp so I'm not going to tempt the Sister Fate.