As The Station Turns 10/19

 When I got to work it wasn't busy, the Manager had counted down her drawer but I waited for the Late Guy to close his so I could get the register that isn't under the air conditioner vent. While I was logging in a couple of local lowlifes came in, the guy was bleeding from "some kind of wound" and they wanted to know if we'd call an ambulance. The theory is that she stabbed him. The Manager wanted to know what the phone number was to call the ambulance so I said "911?", she didn't punch me. The ambulance showed up along with the EMTs and they stitched the guy up. He could have gone to the emergency room for the same thing. And you know they aren't going to pay the bill.

There is an overflow revisor on the fill caps for the big fuel tanks and one of the drivers had dumped diesel in there. The Late Guy, who was working the morning, wanted to go pump it out. He got ready but he got a call from the Boss, the state inspector was at the Haunted Station and the Boss wanted Late Guy to go over there and see what was what. There is a static test that the Late Guy is suppose to do at least once a week, and it turns out that he's been doing it wrong, the numbers were way off. The inspector told him that the station could open since they did the basic repairs but they need to make sure the static tests start coming in right or they'll get shut down again. 

The Manager came back around for something and was complaining that the Late Guy hadn't done anything all morning. I know that, I worked with the guy for a year and he spent most of his time playing on his phone. And sure enough, I had to do the ice, take care of the restrooms and dump the trash, all the stuff two people should have gotten done. 

Last week a woman came in to ask if anyone had seen her missing cat. I was nice to her but personally I didn't have high hopes. Well, the Manager saw the cat, in the road, kind of squished. I figured that was how it was going to end. I'm not going to tell the woman.

When I was checking the restroom I discovered someone had tried to flush a tampon. I had to get a bag and the scrub brush and dig it out. I'm gonna assume it was accidental however this isn't the first time.

The pump inspectors came to the Truck Stop. Some woman had complained that she got water in her tank from our pumps so they came in to do a test. We passed, the woman was just trying to get free gas and had heard stories that some place had water in their tank. If only she had complained about the new station on the south end of town, I've heard a lot of stories about that place. They needed a copy of the last delivery but I didn't have that so I had to call the Boss, send him an email address so he could have a copy sent to them. He called back and said the address didn't work but just then the inspectors came in and gave me a copy of their report and were leaving. The Boss must have typed in the wrong address but the accountant got the right one.

The Late Guy came back to do the tank overflow pumping but he had to wait since the state inspectors were across the street at Subway, he didn't want them to see him pumping the fuel back into the tank. He told me the Haunted Station is going to open this week and we're going to go on the new schedule. This means I work three days at the Truck Stop and two days at the Haunted Station. This is going to be fun, especially when the Crazy Lady has to work Monday afternoon and actually see what it's like to cover the place by yourself. She'll still complain.

The place cleared out. I wanted to do a quick check and, well you know what happened. An hour later I did my check.

The Storyteller came in, he was in a hurry because he was going to watch football. He's a Viking fan so I promised to root for the team for the rest of the year. I got to hear the story about his brother and how he always chooses his team based on who is winning the specific game.

A guy came in and told me all the diesel pumps at the station next door are bagged out of order. I wonder if the inspectors red tagged them?

A woman came in looking for a paper map. Sorry, not since Covid. I asked her where she was going so I could point her in the right direction. She said "North Carolina". When someone asks you where you're going they mean within the next 200 miles, not your ultimate destination. Before I could tell her where the next Walmart would be along her trip she left. Seriously, if you want a physical map in the modern world check with your local book store or Amazon.

It rained a little, because I brought the Bad Hawg (my electric trike), and I needed to do a quick once over on the floor. I got the counter area mopped and here came a pisser. He walked on every wet spot on the floor and didn't buy anything. That really pisses me off.

Another lost woman came in, her GPS was trying to send her off on some back road to Plainview TX. I told her to forget that, get on the highway to Amarillo and then head south from there. She was very grateful for that information and to find out the road is four lane the whole way.

Some guy came in and was coughing all over the building. Honestly, did we learn nothing from Covid?

A woman came in and wanted to know if the store had undergone a major overhaul. Not in 25 years. She probably goes somewhere else and it was her first time here.

The Boss, Big Boss and the other guy they've had hanging around came in again tonight. They asked the usual questions, they did an inspection and then they hung around, for an hour. I started to figure they were hanging out until the graveyard shift came in and then they were going to tell us something or lecture us on what isn't getting done properly. However, the Graveyard Shift Guy came in and opened his drawer, I closed mine and they didn't say anything. I clocked out and as I was leaving so did they. I have no idea what they wanted. But I was going home and didn't care. I hope the graveyard shift thinks we were having some kind of serious meeting about the future and they weren't included in the discussion.

10/20

Since the Haunted Station is opening and I'm going to have to go work there on Sunday I got up and went by to see the Late Guy, who has been doing a hard core cleaning on the place to get it ready. I needed to check and see if my numbers were still in the system, it turns out everyone has been using my old safe code so that still works. I got a new number for the drawer and I still need to get a key to the office so I can lock up the cash drawer at the end of the night, but I'll get that on Friday. I hope the Late Guy can handle working 5 days a week again. It's also going to be interesting to see how much actual cleaning he does.