As The Station Turns 9/13

 When I got to work the first thing I saw was the old hitchhiker guy from yesterday. He had wandered off the day before so I didn't have to worry about it but I was going to have to take care of it today, then the Fates lent me a hand. He came walking by my car as I got out so I told him he couldn't bug customers at the station. No asking for money, no asking for rides. Thankfully he didn't try to get into a fight and claim he wasn't doing anything, or he had permission, or any of the other stuff I have to hear. He's going to find out that after the years of trouble caused by the "Going to Denver for 4/20" crowd caused that the earth wanderers are not welcome at any of the businesses in town. Seriously, break-ins, fights, harassing people, and it's not like Colorado sent any of their drug money to compensate for the problem they created.

Mrs. Late Guy told me she saw the nutter woman from the night before heading down the highway. The woman claimed she was going to Texas but she was heading south towards Albuquerque, and dragging all her stuff with her. Someone will feel sorry for her and give her a ride. She needs professional help but that doesn't happen in the modern world.

And the urinal is clogged again. They unclog it, a few days go by and it's clogged again. Perhaps they will remodel the place, rip out the bad plumbing and put in good pipes, we'll see.

Big news from the Haunted Station! First they ran out of fuel, the inspectors red tagged their tanks so they can't get deliveries until they make repairs and get a new inspection. At the minimum they are looking at two weeks. It means I'll probably have a coworker for a while. And, shock of shock, the Random Woman quit, or was fired, I don't know the full story. I saw her over there turning in her keys, I bet that was a fun conversation. Anyhow when they reopen they will have to have a new employee. I wonder if I could get back over there on the afternoons. I was hoping it would mean my schedule next week would remain the same but now I guess they want me to cover the shift Downtown, but nobody has actually told me anything, as usual.

So the first of my shift was total chaos, running off the hitchhiker guy, moving perishable stuff from the Haunted Station to the Truck Stop, doing my paperwork and a crowd of people. And as soon as all that was done, they were gone. Every time.

The day was slow so I figured I would do a couple of quick things, and some guy was hanging around. He finally got his stuff and left and other people came in, then he came back in for more stuff. Only it turns out it wasn't him, there was a whole crowd of guys who had been at some "playing solider" camp and they were all wearing the same shirt. I had a Matrix moment there for a second.

A woman came in to buy some stuff but she lost her card in her bag, which was full of junk. As she was digging through it all a line formed behind her. Seriously, put your cards where you can find them quickly, not just randomly dumped into places.

The Tire Shop Guy came in, he must not have had to deal with anything too bad because he didn't have any complaints. Although all his money was wet because he had left his wallet in his pocket when he washed his pants. I don't think there is a guy alive who hasn't at one point or another had a soggy wallet. The woman behind him was laughing.

It didn't rain in town but it did rain all around us, which resulted in an amazing double rainbow right at sunset. And of course I got a crowd. They all hung out just long enough for the sun to go behind the mountains and it to fade away. And then just like the rainbow, they were all gone.

The Storyteller came by but he wasn't getting coffee or snacks, he needed some quarters. I had just dropped a roll from the safe so I sold it to him. Skippy is going to wonder why we went through so many quarters in one day.

You know what customers I love? The ones who still try to run the magnetic strip on their cards. It's the 21st century, use the chip, the strip is just for when your card isn't working right. And those rare cards that haven't joined the modern world.

Skippy came in, said hi, did a brief inspection of the station and left. I guess he's given up on bossing me, it is a waste of time.

I started to do the outside trash and two cars pulled up. Neither got gas, neither came in the station, they had come by to wash their windshields. Grrr.....

I got half the trash done when some guy came in. He wandered around the store, finally bought one item and left, then came back in, wandered around again, and bought one more item. Naturally as he was leaving here came the next one. And of course when I got the trash done everyone left. How do they know?

As I was outside I found a really nice notebook and a fancy pen. It was brand new, never even written in. Someone had given it to someone as a special gift and now it was mine, they aren't going to travel 200 miles back to here for a notebook.

Someone stuck their card in the pump, and then didn't do anything else, it was just waiting and finally timed out. Then they came inside and said they didn't have a PIN, well why did you push Debit on the pump? (I didn't ask them that) I made them do a prepay and run it as credit. See how simple that is.

The Graveyard Shift Guy came in and took his time counting in his drawer, since we were busy again, that's OK, in the ten minutes I added an additional $200 to my daily total. Do these people realize they keep track of which shift does the most business? Or the time between when you clock in and log in to your drawer? I guess not.