As The Station Turns 9/10 - 9/11

 When I got to work the Manager was hauling ice over to the West Side Station. She asked me to park on the side of the lot so she could pull up to the back door. Here's the thing, I park way off to the end of the building and wouldn't have been in her way. So I have no idea what that was about.

So every day I do a daily photo from the same spot, that way the image is always the same but due to weather and the light and stuff moving through it there is always something different. Well today a semi rolled in hauling a military tank and they stopped right in the middle of where I take my photo, so I rushed outside and just as I got there some pissed pulled right into the middle of it. I still took the photo because I knew what was going to happen, the people were going to sit there until the truck pulled out, and I was right. They used the restroom, they hung around, they didn't buy anything, and after the truck pulled out they finally left.

Someone really clogged the toilet. And then instead of telling me several people used it. The thing was full and it took a while to plunge it. Honestly, we don't get mad if you tell us the toilet is clogged, we get mad if you overflow it because you keep trying to flush it, but not if you tell us in advance.

So I finish in the restroom and I was coming down the hall, some woman was coming the other way so I step off to the side to let her by, and waited and waited, and waited. She was just standing there. She said that she was looking at the bottled water in the cooler. Here's an idea, when someone steps aside go to the freaking restroom and then when you're done do your shopping.

It was going to rain again so I figured I would run out and fill up the squeegee buckets, and here they came. The first woman was a local, she took all the trash out of her car and stuffed it into our trash can, you can just take it home. Then she got some stuff but her phone wouldn't work so she had to run home for her EBT card. Then came the pissers and the comparison shoppers. I finally got the squeegees filled just as it started to rain. The last pisser in the building was staring out the window and then it started raining and she had to walk outside in it, I mean honestly, you could see it coming, why wait?

The manager eventually came back from doing ice at the West Side Station and said something was going on with their soda machine. When I went by today half the taps were marked out of order. I seriously think they are planning on shutting the place down.

A guy was waiting for his wife to finish in the restroom but he figured he would run to the facilities himself. While he was in there she came out, and went outside. He then came out and waited for her for a while longer, until he saw that she was hanging out by the car. People don't communicate.

A Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. I saw a school team bus across the street. I hope it was full of kids and they were all rambunctious. Did I mention the Part Time Woman was working over there? A Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

I saw a wolf spider run across the floor and under the counter. I don't mind them. I didn't tell anyone, let them find out on their own.

I was out dumping the trash when the Storyteller came in. I figured it was going to take him a while to pick out his snack and mix up his coffee so I finished what I was doing. He got his usual and then told me about his accident that resulted in his short term memory loss. We were talking about getting around not remembering people's names and he mentioned his nickname, then he told me about the bully who gave it to him, and then he told me the story of his bully's tragic ending. It seems the guy dived off a cliff, where people told him not to dive. He got caught in an undertow and when they pulled him out he was full of water and it was the 70's, they were ten miles from the nearest phone and nobody knew CPR. The guy was 18, celebrating graduating high school, and dead. 

Skippy showed up, hung around, played on his phone and left. I like this new arrangement.

All day long the credit cards wouldn't connect with the bank. I was dealing with one when the phone started ringing. It was almost quitting time so I expected it to be the Crazy Lady claiming her back went out again. Instead it was someone who wanted to know if we did oil changes. They have this new thing called "Google", you type in the name of a town and "oil changes". Instant information. 

The Crazy Lady came in and she's still not talking to me, which actually makes the day better. Then Bigfoot came in, the first time I've seen him in almost two weeks. He wasn't talking either. Great, I got to clock out and go home. People think the "silent treatment" is some kind of punishment but I consider it a blessing. I hope they stay pissed at me for a long time.

9/11

I have company coming but they shouldn't be here until late today so I figured I could go out for a walk. The Weekend Guy said nothing was going on at the West Side Station but I still figure they are planning on closing the place down. Skippy came by and he was chatty today. He's learning English so he was practicing. He says once he gets fluent enough he's going to tackle Spanish and wants everyone to learn. I told him I was too old and stupid, although I know plenty of profanity.

I then went to the Haunted Station to say hi to the Late Guy. I was telling the Weekend Guy that when I skipped visiting for a couple of weeks he started showing up at the Truck Stop to tell me all his problems. When I went by he told me his tanks had been red tagged for some kind of violation. The Boss called the repairman but they got the standard answer of "two weeks" which means "we'll get to it when we get to it". Also after the repairs are done they have to schedule a new inspection, which generally takes "two weeks". It means they are going to run out of fuel in the next couple of days. The last time they had to shut down, and they'll probably do the same thing again. I figure that they will have the Weekend Guy covering the afternoons at the West Side Station, have the Random Woman covering shifts at the Downtown Station and just have the Part Time Woman take the time off (she hates that). It also means in order to keep my lottery experiment going I'll have to go somewhere else for my tickets.

Also the Late Guy said the manager of the Downtown Station has been butting in to how things are being run at the Haunted Station. She's good friends with the Random Woman and the Part Time Woman, they are trying to create problems to try to get him kicked out. The thing is he is now in an areawide manager so he's planning on doing a full audit of her station to see what kind of stuff is walking out the door, unpaid for. Gonna be some interesting conflict there.

Also the new company has been doing a lot of planning at the Haunted Station and there is a cherry picker out back. I guess they are going to put up new signage and start on the computer stuff. If the place has to shut down due to tank issues it will be perfect. 

I bought my losing lottery ticket and came home to do my final prep work before my company shows up.