As The Station Turns 9/20

 Good news, the coffee pot isn't working. it's full of water, it's hot but it won't brew. The good news is that it happened in the morning and nobody can blame me. Nobody complained to me and the only problem was when the Storyteller came by for his nightly cup. He was going to have to go to the motel where his step son works. I gave him a cup so he wouldn't have to use one of their small crappy ones. 

A woman was buying Clamato, she wanted to know if it was like V-8. I didn't mention that it says Clam in the title. I wish I could have seen her first sip.

It was busy when I went in so when the first break rolled around I wanted to check the restroom, but there were a couple of people in there. They eventually came out and wandered around the store. They bought some stuff just as more people showed up. When the other people left the first couple came back in to use the restroom for a second time. Then another crowd showed up. 

When I came in Mrs. Late Guy apologized for not getting to the trashes today but I told her it was no problem, I could see she was busy. I told her on Sunday business would drop off after the first hour so I could take care of it later. Sure enough the place cleared out and I ran out, I managed to get to the fullest one but then people showed up. When the place cleared out the second time I got another one dumped. The rest were fine.

By the way, there are three places you shouldn't park at a gas station. The first is at the pump if you aren't getting gas. Second is in front of the air pump, people need to air up their tires. And the third is in front of the dumpsters, you never know when the trash truck will show up and I hate having to walk around your trailer to throw away a big heavy bag of trash.

The Manager of the Downtown station came by, she was out of small bills and her drop safe doesn't work, and so she needed to break a couple of hundreds. So I dropped them from the safe. If I knew she was coming I would have gotten some of the bills the miscreant had marked.

A woman couldn't get the microwave to work so I showed her the secret, you turn the dial to the length of time you want it to run. I realize that is 20th century technology but it would seem obvious.

Someone was at just the right angle so the sun was reflecting off their chrome bumper and blinding me. I had to stand off to the side of the register until they finally left. And believe me, they took their time.

I needed to use the restroom but it was busy. The place finally cleared out except for one woman, who was taking her time in the restroom. When she finally came out she started wandering around the store checking all the labels. Hurry Up! She finally came up to the register and...forgot her money out in her car, so she ran out to get it, and was gone for a long time. What the heck, did you leave it in Albuquerque?  I gotta pee woman, and nobody else is here! Finally she came back in and paid, and the tag teamers showed up. I know you aren't suppose to think that way but I wanted to punch her in the face.

Finally, once again, the place cleared out and the Boss showed up. First he messed around with the coffee machine. Then he slowly did the paperwork. Then he asked about all the other employees (I say nice things about them except for the Part Time Woman, they could fire her and I would be happy). He finally was finished, I turned the water back on to the cappuccino machine so it would work (he had turned it off while trying to get the coffee pot to work) and I got to run to the restroom. Sure enough when I came out some guy was at the register.

The guy left, the place cleared out and I even managed to get the ice done. I was going to take advantage of the lull but a guy showed up, wandered around while on his phone. And then more people showed up. 

I got another gap so I ran and dumped the restroom trashes and another round of the outside ones. I was picking up a few small things around the lot. Someone had left a couple of bottles on top of a pump. And a full unopened Red Bull. I remember selling it to a guy a couple of hours earlier. I don't drink them so I took it inside and put it in the cooler, and swapped it for a Dr Pepper. I consider it a tip.

When I cleaned the restroom I saw that someone left the changing table open, and something was all over it. I'm going to say it was dirt. If you're going to change your kid, wipe the table down, just saying. By the way, the crack in the mens room toilet seat is getting bigger.

A guy came to tell me the stall door in the mens room was locked and nobody was in there. When I went to check it was true. All you have to do is take a quarter, stick it into the slot and turn, unlocked.

I needed to sweep up the paper in the restroom but as soon as I touched the broom I got swarmed. It was probably for the best because they probably added to the mess. 

In the last hour I figured I would run outside and do one last trash check. Someone pulled in, drove to each of the pumps, looked at them, drove to the next pump, and then left. They were followed by another swarm. Oh well, anything outside is now the graveyard shift's problem

Think you had a bad day, a guy came in covered in cow poop and his family sent him out for tobacco before he went home. I know him and I've spent plenty of time covered in cow poop, cow blood and once the puss from a cow's abscessed jaw. No judgement here.

My second to last customer of the night was a woman who wanted $1.80 in gas, do you know how little that is? Anyhow her card wouldn't work. She tried $1.50 and it still wouldn't work. She tried it as debit and credit and it wouldn't work. She finally went out and got a different card and got $3 worth of gas. I hope it gets her home.

My last customer paid $11 in quarters. I was trying to roll them up when the Graveyard Shift Guy came in. Because it wasn't busy he managed to clock in on the first try and count in his drawer quickly. I figured I would save money this summer and ride by Bad Hawg to work every day, and it's been the wettest summer in about 20 years. Today was sunny so I rode to work but it was chilly on the way home. I get the feeling it's going to be a long winter.