10/19

Payday. Gotta love that day.

I decided to walk up to the station since I was sick last week and didn't do anything on my days off. As I turned the corner I saw a wonderful site, two tow trucks were working on the crashed trailer and maybe when I go to work on Friday it will be gone. Best of all when people ask what happened to it I can honestly say, "They did it on my days off, I have no idea". OK, so it won't be 100% honest but close enough.

Yes I wasted the rest of the day.

Found money...well nothing. 

10/20

Today I woke up extra early, I had things to do. And by extra early I mean 12. I headed down to the bank to deposit my check and get some cash. When I got mad at Bank Of America around 10 years ago, after being a faithful customer for 30 years, I opened a checking account at a smaller local bank. When I did I didn't get a debt/ATM card so if I want to buy something spontaneously I have to pay cash. It saves me money because I am limited on my purchases until the end of the month.

After the bank I went to the barber shop, I was overdue. I hit it at just the right moment, the barber had come back from lunch and only had one customer waiting. Normally I have to chat with the guy but another talkative customer came in and all I had to do was sit there. Once I was done I headed home.

I had a craving for something with cinnamon so I baked an apple pie. No, it wasn't from scratch, I had bought one of those pie kits high school groups sell to raise funds. None the less it turned out really good and I ate way too much.

In all a good day.

Found money, nothing.

10/21

Everybody else looks forward to Friday, I dread it. Friday is my Monday and after two days off I have to go back to work. Since I had gotten up early on Thursday I had gone to bed early too so I once agian woke up early, but this time it was around 8 in the morning. I decided that since I was up early I figured I would go for a walk.

I took a nice two mile hike around town and then stopped off to see a friend on the way home. She works at the other station the company owns so we know the same people. We talked about our fellow workers and suppliers. They have the same problem we have, dealers overstocking one item but not bringing something else. The owner showed up and the conversation got lively, he has the same opinion about getting too much stuff that just doesn't sell. One rule about working a job, never complain to the owner about the work load or fellow employees but you can always complain about outside vendors.

I had to stop at the gas station on my way home because I figured they had seen me go by earlier. The morning shift thinks I'm mad at them if I don't occasionally come by for a visit. When I got there I found that only two of them were on the job, Friday is normally a three people per shift day.

It turns out that the morning shift woman had met her useless boyfriend at the bus last night. Instead of going home they went out for a drink, or multiple. On the way home she hit a deer, I don't know how much damage was done to her car but this is the second accident she has had in it. She had taken the day off, because she was so shook up...

The manager also told me that Diane was taking the night off. This meant that there would just be me and Amy on the night shift, I haven't worked with three people on Friday in a month. Also I had planned on doing a few of the bigger side jobs since there would be two people to watch the registers at all times. Well, maybe next week.

I had considered wandering in a little later than usual just so I wouldn't have to count in and log onto a register but that plan was out the window so I went in at my usual time. I tend to show up 10 minutes before the hour, that way by the time payday rolls around I have at least an extra hour on my time card, overtime pay.

The night ran the usual course, the cooler was a mess and I had to spend an hour cleaning it up. What really ticked me up was a puddle under the racks, someone had broken something and didn't even bother to clean it up. Worse, there were three people on the afternoon shift and they hadn't done anything, no ice in the soda machines, no stocking of shelves and they didn't clean the mess in the cooler. Amy did the restrooms and said that they had been wiped but not really cleaned. What the heck do three people do for 8 hours on a slow day? Sheesh, again.

Most of the customers were kind of dull. They weren't interested in anything or taking. In the end the most intersting thing that happened was one customer used his credit card, I gave him a pen and he signed the slip then he decided to buy something else and when he signed the slip the second time he walked off with my pen! It was your standard ball point cheepie and the joke was on him because I still had the cap. He was going to end up with ink everywhere. Bwa ha haha.

I wasn't surprised when the phone rang at 5 and it was the woman from the morning shift. She was asking if someone would stay for her until 8. I told her fine, overtime. Seriously, when you are in your late 30's it's time to quit hanging out at bars all night and showing up late for work the next day. Also she is always complaining about how poor she is, plus she now has to have more repairs to her car, and yet she doesn't want to work. Amy decided that she needed the extra hours, she is still fixing the damage to her car caused by the psycho ex boyfriend so I told her no problem. Besides the hippie always shows up late too, and complains about not having enough money, so I got an extra hour on my time card and still got to go home before sunrise.

Found money, 32 cents. 

10/22  

Tonight was "Clean the dead bugs out of the florescent light covers" night. Well it was for Amy, she had volunteered to do the job. I watched the register and made sure she didn't come crashing down on the tile floor, thus forcing me to clean up a lot of blood. At one point I told Amy we should have saved them, the dead bugs, and made soup. She didn't think that was funny.

When I started off the night the afternoon crew left me a drawer filled with $5 and $10 bills, and no $20's. Normally people come in and spend a lot of twenties so I was pretty happy about it but oddly as the night went along nobody used any large bills so my small change was building up fast, I wasn't looking forward to feeding them all into the safe at the end of the night. Then about midnight everything shifted and I got nothing but large bills. Before 5 am I ended up having to drop bills and coins. What a strange money night.

About half way through the night some guy came in to get a quart of oil and picked up a piece of loose jerky. I tried to run his card and it was rejected, and of course he didn't have any cash on him. He could put back the oil but had handled the jerky with his oil covered hands so what could I do, he couldn't put it back and all I was going to do was throw it away so I let him have it. He swore the next time he came through he would pay for it but I'm not holding my breath.

Another customer came in who I use to know but hadn't seen in probably 10 years, time was not kind to her. Remember kids, smoking and drinking age you quickly. Then there was the next customer who was singing to himself. At first I thought he was talking but then realized it was a song so I stopped worrying, being just off the interstate you tend to get the patients they stuck on a bus and said "well you're someone else's problem now".

 Since Amy had spent the entire night up on the ladder I took care of all the cleaning. I started to sweep and sure enough a group of people came in to just hang around. When they finally left I went to clean the Women's room and was kind of surprised to find the toilet seat up, had some guy gone in there? Finally everything was cleaned and stocked and the place seemed brighter with all the dirt and bugs gone. It was break time.

Amy decided to make future plans so she asked me if Dec. 7th meant anything to me. I said "well it is a day that shall live in infamy", historical jokes are wasted on people who went through the modern educational system. It turns out she wants the day off so I told her if I was still working at the gas station then I would cover her shift. Overtime! Plus I later realized I could get her to work the day before I take off for an extended Thanksgiving weekend, I can get some sleep before making the long drive to my sisters. In the end it will work out well for me.

The night wrapped up and both members of the morning crew showed up on time-ish. I actually went home before sunrise. I could get use to this but as the weather gets colder I fully expect at least the hippy to be later and later. 

Found money, 2 cents 

10/23

Amy was bored again so she volunteered to clean another section of shelves, and agian I wasn't stopping her. Of course this meant another night of watching the register but that doesn't bother me. Well not yet.

It was another slow night so I had time to do several side jobs inbetween customers so it wasn't all bad. I did laugh at one customer, he came in and go a bag of Flamin' Hot Fritos. Then he decided to get a couple more for the road. In the end he bought 20 bags, he told me he couldn't get them where he came from and asked if I thought it was an odd thing to do. I told him it happened all the time from a certain type of sunflower seed to boxes of Chocodiles, yes they still make them. People are always buying up large quantities of something they can't get anywhere else.

I had a few customers who came in and got a lot of gas so I had a pile of bills in my drawer and I wanted to do a drop. Just then a family came in and just hung out, it was as if they didn't want to leave. They finally gathered up all their stuff and checked out, they spent over $50 on junk food! That's probably what I spend on food for a week. Sheesh.

They finally left and some spacey woman came in. She stared at the cooler doors for a full 10 minutes and then wandered off into the restroom. Then she came back and stared at the doors again. Finally she got something and wandered over to the microwave. She stood there for another five minutes until she turned it on and then after it was done she just stood there again. Finally she drifted over and paid for her stuff, which took another five minutes for her to count out exact change, while a line formed. Finally, finally, finally after the family and the wandering woman were all gone I got to do a safe drop, $700 which included two more customers getting large amounts of gas and paying cash.

The funny customer of the night was some guy who got a cup of coffee. Normally I don't charge for the coffee but this guy... He got his coffee and then grabbed about ten packs of sugar, he didn't think I saw him. He opened one and dumped it into his cup and then grabbed about another ten packs and dumped another one in. When he came up to the register I charged him, not for the coffee but for all the sugar packs he had stuffed in his pocket. I checked the trash can after he left and sure enough, there wasn't a pile of empty sugar packs in there.

Finally the night ended and the manager showed up  before the morning rush. We changed over with no problems and I was on my way home. Two more days and then two days off. Well two more nights and then two nights off. 

Found money, 23 cents 

10/24

Have you ever had one of those nights when you just couldn't sleep? I have them all the time and today was going to be one of those days. I came home and went to bed around 6:30 in the morning. Around 8:30 I gave up and got out of bed. I took care of a few things around the house and then by noon I was feeling drowsy so I laid down on the couch. Just as I was falling asleep the door bell rang and it was my brother. I hadn't seen him in several months so it's not like I could ignore him. We chatted about the goings on and then he left around one, nap time.

I managed to get a couple of hours of sleep but then I woke up again and couldn't sleep in the afternoon. When I did start to fall asleep again I had a problem, I had to get ready for work and eat dinner so I skipped a second nap. It was going to be a long night.

The night started with Diane complaining about how one of the afternoon shift crowd left the cash drawer. The woman will leave you no change and a stack of $20s so you have to start the night by dropping coins and ones from the safe. It's becoming a real problem because it happens way too often. I fully expect that the manager is going to hear about it.

The first interesting customer of the night was a couple of stoners. They came in and wandered around, I think they stole a pair of sunglasses but I didn't have any proof so what could I say. They bought a phone charger and were asking if they could return it if it didn't fit, I wasn't waiting on them so I didn't say anything. A couple of hours later when they returned and tried to get a refund I had to wait on them but they had used a credt card so I told them they had to talk to the manager during the day in order to get a refund, this was a lie of course. I knew what they had done, they had charged up their phone and now they wanted to return it, we aren't a rental place and as far as I'm concerned no refunds on used products especially if you stole something. They left with no argument.

Here's something I can never figure out, the cooler has large glass doors but people still open them up to look inside. Can they not see through the glass? I try no to laugh directly at them.

It turned out to be Teabagger night. The first couple parked a van covered with rude "I hate Obama" stickers. They looked like the typical "we hate socialism but are living off a government retirement" crowd. They hung around and hung around and just wouldn't leave, they had come to use the restroom and weren't exactly shopping. You will be proud of me, I didn't make one snide comment about "enjoying driving on the socialist highways and using the restroom for free?" Finally they left and I could relax.

Towards the end of the night a group of hunters rolled in. These are people who pay upwards of $5000 to shoot deer and of course one of them had to start popping off about how much he hated Obama. Again I had to stand there and not make comments about "do nothing Republicans" and their efforts to stall the economic recovery for political gains in 2012. Of course I charged them for their coffee, people who buy gas get a free cup but I consider it a rude tax. They finally left and I could quit biting my tongue, what do you know the truth really does hurt.

My last customer of the night was a regular, the nurse who comes in every morning at the same time. She wanted a pack of cigarettes but all she had was a $100 bill. It was just before shift change and I had dropped all my spare cash, it makes the changeover go quicker. There was no way I could break a hundred for a 6 dollar purchase. She looked befuddled and desperate, nicotine cravings can get rather ugly. Having been around cigarette addicts I took pity on her, and since she was a regular I let her have the pack with the promise she would pay for them tomorrow. Besides I figured she wasn't going to give up her daily coffee and tobacco fix for six dollars.

Again everyone showed up on time and since the construction guys are starting later, sunrise and all, the shift change went quickly and I was heading home on time. Since I had suffered a bought of insomnia the day before I passed out right away and didn't wake up for 9 hours. At least I would be wide awake for the next night.  

Found money, 20 cents

10/25

Diane likes to listen to the oldies station and I don't mind but every year at this time I get so sick of hearing Monster Mash. Every night they play it, every night for a month. Enough, we get it, Halloween and all. Just one night it would be nice if they didn't play it.

Every night at the first and end of the shift we have to count the individual packs of cigarettes. This is an anti theft measure used by the owners. If for instance the shift behind you counts 125 packs of a cigarette brand and the shift after you counts 105 and you don't have a record of selling 20 packs in your register log they know you are stealing them. Anyhow one of the items we have to count is the phone chargers. I had counted them the night before at the end of the shift and when I had the same number at the first of tonights shift I knew the stoners from the night before didn't try to get a refund from the manager, or they had and she told them all sales are final. Either way they didn't return the used charger. 

It was busy for a Tuesday night, I was surprised by the number of customers. Diane hadn't felt like her usual cleaning frenzy but tonight was different. She dove right in wiping down all the counters and then doing her three hour scrub down of the restrooms. She followed this up with moving racks and cleaning under them. She had talked about moving the sunglasses and hat rack but must have forgotten about it, I'm kind of glad because they are heavy and a pain to move and I'd be the one doing it.

A group of people in a van came in. They all did their own thing, some went to the restroom and others looked around. One guy prepaid for $60 worth of gas and then went off to do something else. I was watching and they all piled in the van, they started the engine and the lights came on, and then the lights went off and they turned off the engine. Nobody had pumped the gas. One guy got out and pumped and then they left.

Then came the chain of events. First a customer came in with a worn out card. The numbers had to be manually entered along with the expiration date and everything else. The card was rejected. The guy had entered the numbers in several states so the company had put a block on his card to make sure it wasn't stolen. He had to pay cash, mostly singles, and I told him to call the number on the back of the card to clear it out for future purchases, and to get a new one.

By the time he was done a line had formed but the next customer was using his wife's debit card and didn't know the pin number. He went to get it from her while everyone else waited. The next customer decided he liked the price of the cans of soda so he had to go get more from the cooler, while everyone else waited. Finally I cleared the crowd, I hate dealing with unprepared people.

I know it's not some people's fault, I know some have a medical condition but one customer came in and the stink they were putting out. You'd be proud of me, I put up with it and was pleasant the entire time I wanted to gag, it was that bad. After they left I had to get the air freshener.

At the end of the night I got ready for the shift change and here came another customer with a hundred dollar bill. He wanted $20 in gas and a pack of cigarettes but there was no way I could make change. Since I didn't know him there was no way I was going to let him slide like I had the nurse. He said he didn't have any other bills or a credit card so he decided to not get anything. Five minutes later he came with a ten and bought the cigarettes rather than the gas. Smoking is such a wasteful habit.

The night finally ended and I went home. I'm kind of glad the the construction crowd has been coming later, it makes it easier to do the shift change. And the best part is that they are predicting snow, people are grumpier in bad weather plus they track up the place. And I will be off duirng it all. Bwa ha ha ha ha. Yes, it's suppose to be clear by Friday.

Found money, 21 cents.