As The Station Turns 9/5

 On Friday night I went out to drop off some old clothes at the charity store and leave my bills in the drop boxes at the utilities offices. I hate going there during business hours because I always get stuck behind the person who has no idea what they are doing. Anyhow I drove by the liquor store and the Doofus's car was out front. I guess he still has a job. Since he seemed to be the only one there I wondered if he was doing the inventory. (This is a joke since he's a raging alcoholic and "doing" the inventory.  Get it?)

When I showed up I was disappointed, I thought the Part Time Woman wasn't going to be there this week, but there she is. Here's a thing I don't get, they have two cash drawers and it wasn't busy, but they hadn't closed one of them. So I have to stand there, waiting for one of them to close before I can open. They know I'm coming, they know what time it is, they could close a drawer and be ready. Sheesh.

I went out to check the trash and noticed a strange message on pump #9, something about programming prompts. I tried several things but it wouldn't clear out. The pump was still working but wouldn't do cards so I put a Pay Inside sign on it and called the Late Guy. He said he would stop by but I saw him leave the Haunted Station and head home. I guess he couldn't get to it today.... btw, at the end of my shift I took the Pay Inside sign back off, let everyone else deal with it and maybe they'll force the Late Guy to show up.

A guy kept grabbing the wrong lids for his cup, then when he did get the right one he couldn't get it on. I was busy so he was on his own.

So if I said "the metal pot at the end of the counter" where would you look for the coffee? I told a guy that and he looked at the cappuccino machine, in the middle of the counter. Then he looked at the lid rack, in the corner of the counter. At no point did he look at the Metal Pot At The END Of The Counter. I had to repeat myself, the metal pot at the End of the Counter with the sign on it that says "Hot Coffee". He finally found it. Then I got to go through the lids thing. "In the corner, the Corner"

There were heavy clouds on the horizon and the wind was coming up. I decided to run out and do a first round of dumping the trash in case it got bad. That's when three cars pulled in. They sat at the pumps and...then they left. 

I looked across the street and someone was working on the abandon RV. They got it fired up and rolled it out into the parking lot. That's when the Scrapper Guy came over to fill up a couple of jugs of water, probably for the trip to make sure it doesn't overheat. The thing was his regular truck stopped running so he wanted to know if he could leave it for a couple of days, no problem. He had an old washing machine in the back,  I wonder if they take old fridges.

I sold several bags of ice so I figured I would replace them. Same story, car pulls up to the pump, playing on their phone, wait until the crowd showed up and then left. 

A couple of guys in a tow truck pulled around back. I wanted to make sure they weren't going to try to tow off my car so I looked out. They were behind the dumpsters, they could have come inside and used the restroom but perhaps they enjoyed a nature wizz. They didn't try to tow off my car.

I know I complain about people a lot. The crazies, the moronic, the angry, the ones you wonder how they got a license. Today a family were parked over in the vacant lot, probably eating lunch in their 5th wheel. The kid got out with a bag of trash. He walked by the trash cans at the diesel pumps and went all the way to the dumpster. That kid is my favorite person today.

I stocked some stuff and went to toss the boxes in the dumpsters. It was sunny bright and the Random Woman had the canopy lights on across the street. I don't understand people.

A crowd pulled in across the street, several cars, several moving vans, then they came across to the Truck Stop. They filled them all up, probably took in $300 in 5 minutes. I have no idea why they didn't get gas over there. btw, they are moving from Austin TX to Canyon City Colorado. I piece of information one of them felt I needed to know. They almost left me a $6 tip but then they remembered that they didn't get their change. 

The homeless guy who likest to throw rocks at cars is back. On a regular basis they come pick him up, haul him to the mental institution, hold on to him until they feel he is safe to be in society and then dump him back out on the streets and he works his way back to my stinky little town. He hangs around here for a week or two and then starts throwing rocks at cars again. And the wheel goes round. 

 A guy came in with a fleet card but it wouldn't run, so I had to call it in, and I hate it. I was stuck on hold for 20 minutes, while the driver was stuck waiting. I had to wait on people while listening to the hold music and the promise that an operator would connect me any second now. And of course it's an Indian call center so the connection sucks. I did my best to not get mad at the operator, it's not her fault the system sucks. I had to read off all the numbers, card number, invoice number, fuel, price, gallons, truck number, trailer number, mileage and so forth. They want you do to a phone survey on how well they did but I wasn't going to keep the driver waiting for that. Man I hate dealing with the company.

A former employee dropped by, she asked me what was going on at the West Side Station, beats me. It turns out there were a number of cops and an ambulance. I considered calling over there but they close early so the Weekend Guy was already gone. I wanted to be nosy and go see what I could see but some guy went to the restroom for a long time, I hoped he was just playing on his phone (yes I had to plunge the toilet). When he finally left I got a crowd. Now I have to wait and see what was going on. 

The Late Guy dropped by to get a soda. He said he had gone by the West Side Station and the cops were still there. He had tried to call the Weekend Guy but there was no answer. I said it was possible that he pissed off a customer and they did him in. And the Late Guy still didn't check out the #9 pump.

A politician came by. He had a sign on his truck and was wearing a badge but I didn't get to see what he was running for. The fun news is that the Miscreant had mixed some marked bills in the drawer and I was able to give the politician several of them. Either he would be pissed at the political message or laugh about it. 

A guy came in to get some stuff but he forgot his wallet in his car. He went out to get it and came back with his travel mug to get coffee. And again he had forgotten his wallet. The third time he remembered. 

It was almost closing time and I looked across the street, there was a large tour bus over there and yes it was full of people. I was laughing because they probably overran the restrooms at the Haunted Station. I would say it would be a pain for the Random Woman but she doesn't clean so I guess it will be a pain for the Late Guy when he shows up in the morning

A couple of hunters came in and they were still wearing the camo gear. I'm always tempted to ignore them and then say "Oh, I didn't see you there" but I don't know if they have a sense of humor.

A guy's chip wasn't working so I told him to hold it on the screen. He rapidly stuck it on the screen and then yanked it away as if it was going to get sucked in. Once he actually held it on the screen, like I had told him too and it beeped he said "Oh" because he discovered how it worked. Seriously, I'm speaking plain English and give clear instructions. 

A guy who doesn't speak English came in and asked for leche chocolate, I pointed at the cooler. He then said "caliente" and I figured he was looking for hot chocolate. Believe it or not I understand "chocolate caliente". There was also confusion over the coffee, a guy got a cup of hot water and I had to point out the coffee spigot. I made sure to tell them where the coffee cup lids were before I went back to the register. 

I had a crowd of people and the Graveyard Shift Guy was sitting in his car outside waiting for them all to clear out. When he came in he had no trouble clocking in or counting in his drawer, even though he got stuck with the Part Time Woman's drawer and she writes her numbers out weirdly. Personally I just get out my calculator and total it up as I count. Usually she's a few dollars off. Then I went home. And despite the warnings about it raining all day and my bringing my car, it was dry all day.