As The Station Turns 9/24

 Today was fun, when I walked in a local wood company was filling up several trucks. Normally they come first thing in the morning so this seemed odd, then I saw the price. The diesel was $2 lower than the day before, something was going on. For half the day I was busy as heck with people filling up, and they were very excited to be getting it at that price. Story to be continued.

When I was ringing out the wood cutters there was a problem so I tried to straighten it out and the stupid register rang it out as cash. There is a way to put it back in the system but I couldn't figure it out, thankfully the company has a deal with the station and pays by check so I just had to add the multiple totals together and they made one payment, although it threw off my end of the day total, but I left a note for the accountant.

The Boss told me he wanted the Part Time Woman to work on Thursday afternoon, with me. She had said she didn't want to do it because I don't talk to her, and she knows full well why. Anyhow she wasn't there so that made my day. The Boss could always have her work an afternoon at the West Side Station but I don't know if he trusts her enough. I know she was stealing from the Haunted Station.

When I came in the paper roll in the credit card printer was low, the graveyard shift has a real problem with changing the roll. Of course I got a mob of people all paying with credit cards and the roll got closer and closer to running out. Finally I got a break and changed the roll, and saved the butt end of the paper, I put it back in the printer at the end of the night. Screw those guys.

The Late Guy came in to try to fix the #9 pump, it's been down for a week He got in touch with the repair company and they tried a remote full reboot, thankfully I didn't have any customers because it took down the entire system for a few minutes. And when it came back up, the pump still didn't work. A couple of other pumps that have been giving us problems did work so I wasn't upset by it. The Late Guy was chuckling about the Random Woman telling everyone that the Haunted Station had to close because she quit. He's hoping the station opens by the end of next week. I have no idea if they hired someone for the afternoons or not. I guess we'll wait and see. And what will their quirk be.

The Tow Truck Driver came by for his usual afternoon coffee. I suggested he look at the sign, but I didn't tell him why. He asked if he diesel price was right and I told him "for now". He rushed out the door, got his other truck with the big tank and came back. He got $300 worth. He was the only one I told about the price change.

The Manager had a dental appointment after work but she came back later. She had been over at the Haunted Station getting more stuff including energy drinks and candy. That place is going to be empty by the time they reopen.

The Boss showed up and he was freaked. He immediately reset the price. I told him the Manager had said it was the price he had told her to set it at and didn't argue. He asked me how busy it was and I said it was pretty slow, he figured we had sold around 300 gallons, I didn't mention the semi that filled up both their tanks, or the line of trucks, or the wood cutting company. At the start of my shift I get a tank report so after the Boss left I went and checked the current numbers and did the math, 1200 gallons or at $2 a gallon they lost $2400 in the afternoon. The Boss said they could make it up elsewhere, so I guess the price of a cup of coffee is going to go up for a while. The Boss also had some good news for me but I'm saving that until the end of this post.

A woman came in holding her stomach and made a rush to the restroom, this isn't a good sign. Later when she came out I realized she was pregnant and reaching that "just showing" stage so she's probably doing the whole maternal thing. I still went to check and no, there wasn't a mess.

A guy came in and he was looking for a place to take his cat for a walk. He had tried a rest stop but he said it was too busy, too loud and too many semis driving through. He needed a quiet place for the cat. I sent him to a nearby vacant lot. With all the rain I told him to stay on the street and not park out in the mud.

Despite today's reboot the #8 pump is still saying regular gas is $9.49 a gallon. I had put an out of order sign on the pump so I didn't have to deal with complaining people all day, but before I left I took it off, the bosses don't like us doing sensible stuff like that. I also "accidentally" took the "Pay Inside" sign off the #12 pump, for reasons that I'll explain at the end of this post.

The Crazy Lady came in and wasn't in a bad mood. I wanted to leave right away so I didn't tell her the story of the price error. I guess I was rushing too fast because I screwed up my drawer count and had to redo the whole thing. Sometimes going slower is actually faster. Anyhow I was glad to get out of there tonight and I'm glad I have tomorrow off. 

And now my good news, since the Haunted Station has been closed the Late Guy hasn't been getting regular hours, he's been doing other than work like checking pumps and I guess he had to spend a day at one of the out of town stations taking care of problems but otherwise no regular work hours. The Boss wants him to spend two days on the clock so he told me to take the whole weekend off and Mrs. Late Guy would cover Monday. So with my two normal days off I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday. Of course this means I'll be avoiding the station until I go back on my regular schedule so they don't say "while you're here could you...." This means there won't be any updates until the end of the month, unless something really big happens.

I went by to say "hi" to the Weekend Guy at the West Side Station on Friday but he didn't have anything interesting to tell me, with the Haunted Station closed and him taking the days off he hasn't seen anyone or heard anything. They were installing new lights at the station so perhaps they aren't closing the place after all, but that's still a wait and see. 

Oh well, on to my mini vacation.

And a side note, they are having a Monster truck rally at the town across the mountain on Saturday. Normally I'd be at work but I could go, and they were offering free tickets. However when I read the fine print the tickets are for kids 12 so I'm not going. Also the Dyslexic Woman was covering the Downtown Station on Friday so I didn't have to go there which is great because it's Homecoming Weekend and today they were holding the parade, that is a mess. 

Now, on with my mini vacation.