Hey, I made up a new song to celebrate the holidays! Wanna hear it? Here it goes....
(This should be sung to the bass riff from Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" or Chic's "Good Times.")
People suck!
Everything I do is wrong....
People suck!
They don't even try to get along....
People suck!
They can't tell right from wrong....
And everything
everything
everything
everything
everything I do is wrong....
(Repeat this over and over and over until you just can't take it anymore....)
I just wanna thank the Academy for this Grammy for Best Blues Performance by a White Guy for 2011, and while I'm up here I'd like to thank all the people I've ever met in my entire life -- and ESPECIALLY all those great customers from that little convenience store in Port Orchard where I got my start. I couldn't have done it without you....
But seriously folks, the holidays are bringing out the absolute BEST in people. It's been a bad week. It's been a bad month. Everybody's on a short fuse, everybody wants everything RIGHT NOW -- and they don't understand when they can't always have it that way.
Just this week a Regular Customer bounced more than $70 in checks on us, I took one of them -- and though she's been in to apologize and explain why it happened (problems with the bank, lots of money missing from her account, close relative in the hospital with a life-threatening disease, etc. -- the usual) -- she has yet to repay a dime. Interesting how she suddenly appeared THE SAME DAY the bank let us know her checks had bounced.
You try to do something nice for somebody as a favor when they're down on their luck -- and they screw you anyway.
It got me thinking about all the people I've bought "free gas" for over the eight years I've been doing this job. It must be somewhere past $100 in gas I've bought for people by now -- usually folks who were down on their luck or needed a break or just had pocket-change and were trying to get 100 miles.
At say $5 a whack, that's a lot of people I've helped out.
And do you know how many have returned to pay me back or even just say Thank You?
Two.
In eight years.
Not sure what I expected. Wish I could say I did it totally out of the kindness of my heart -- sometimes I did. Some nights I did it just because it was a bad night and I was hoping I could shift my bad karma around the other way. Some nights I think it might have even worked.
One guy awhile back I lectured for five minutes about how I wasn't going to loan him any money because so many people had screwed me before ... and then I caved in and bought him $5 worth of gas anyway.
And he's one of the guys who came back and re-paid me!
I'm not a rich man, but at least once a week somebody hits me up. Why? Because I have a job and they don't? Because our gas station can afford it? You want to know one of the reasons gas prices are so high -- see Paragraph 2 above.
Most of them have sad stories. Everybody has a sad story. I've got a couple myself, I can relate. But yeezus.
Most recently, a few weeks back, a woman was trying to get from here to Seattle, basically a 50-mile trip. She poured $2.17 in pocket change out on the counter. I told her to keep her change for later and bought her $5 in gas. She'd been in the store before, I recognized her, and she said "You don't have to worry, I'm good for it, I'll come back and pay you back. I'll bet you hear that a lot, don't you?"
Yeah, I do.
"Well, I promise I'll come back, I'm good for it."
Still waiting.
I finally got that none of these people should feel obligated to come back and repay me, and they don't. And it's not their fault. They got what they wanted.
I'm the problem. I'm an idiot. A pushover. A soft touch. An easy mark. Any sad story or uncomfortable situation, and I cave in. And they know this. Just tattoo it across my forehead: SUCKER.
At this point, I've been burned so many times I don't trust ANYBODY. Tonight one of our Regulars wanted to fill-up his truck before paying me with a credit card, and said it might cost over $125. I offered to set him up for an amount in advance on his card, rather than just switching the gas on.
This guy has always had a smart mouth, and I've never liked him much.
"I can't believe it," he said. "No TRUST, man!"
Goddamned right. I told him to take his credit card and hit the road. Then he stopped laughing and tried to work it out with me. "I was just flippin' you shit, man! It's nothing personal. I wasn't offended."
Yeah, I got that. But what about ME? Doesn't it matter that I get offended when people think they can say any old thing that pops into their head, hurl any abuse they want in the heat of the moment?
And why so much stress about a purchase transaction? It's simple -- you pay your money, you pump your gas, you go on your merry way. Nothing could be easier.
I try and keep it light and fun, even sometimes sing stupid songs to myself -- like the one above -- when things get tense. But I'm getting tired of getting yelled at, being run-over, trampled and railroaded every day. Just because people are in a hurry.
And they think it's NORMAL.
One more story and I'll stop.
On Thanksgiving night a young woman -- maybe 20 years old -- hit-up some guy in our parking lot to buy her some gas so she could get home for Thanksgiving dinner. He came into the store and bought her $20 worth of gas on a debit card. I told him it was a nice thing he didn't HAVE to do.
As soon as he left, she hung-up from pumping her gas, came inside the store, and demanded the rest of the $20 in cash ... which I couldn't do for her. As soon as she hung-up, the transaction was completed and the guy who bought her the gas was only going to be charged $10.
She didn't understand why she couldn't have the other $10 in cash. I told her why -- no money changed hands because the guy bought her gas on a debit card. There was no "change" to give her.
She kept demanding the money. She couldn't understand why she couldn't have the money. She was TOO STONED to be able to figure it out. I told her "You just got $10 in free gas, why isn't that good enough for you?"
She didn't like that. But she had a scam going, you see? There was something else she wanted to do with that other $10.
But it was busy. We were the only store open in the neighborhood. Our argument had backed-up half a dozen customers who were waiting to have their beer and other stuff rang-up.
I should have called the cops. If it happens again, I will. I hadn't done anything wrong. And I sure as hell wasn't begging for gas-money in our parking lot.
But the other customers were backing up and grumbling.
So, shaking, I pulled out my debit card and bought her $10 more in gas TO MAKE HER GO AWAY. She didn't like it, but she took it.
So I ended up paying for something nice that SOMEONE ELSE tried to do.
It's not the first time I've paid to make somebody GO AWAY, either.
But that's the first time that PARTICULAR scam was tried on me.
...A couple nights ago some idiot spent five minutes telling me how easy it would be to rob me.
"Do you spend a lot of time thinking about this?" I asked.
"No," the idiot said, "but there are people who are twisted like that."
No shit.
I'm tired. This crap has got to stop. I shouldn't have to feel like I'm under fire every day. Like everyone's trying to get away with something. Like everyone's trying to take advantage of me. Like everyone's just waiting to rip me off.
But that's how I feel right now.
I've done my part for charity. I've made my kind-hearted donations for the greater good. Someone else is gonna have to do it for awhile. I'm done.
Happy holidays....
By the way, if you enjoy people complaining about dealing with the weird-ass pace of Modern Life, you should check out the folks at http://angrybitterandpetty.com/. From dealing with nosy neighbors to trying to make sense out of the Post Awful, these folks have hilarious, brutal, blunt and direct things to say, and they will make you laugh like an idiot. They have one post that catalogs a series of responses to a certain "Reality TV" show that is the funniest thing I've read in MONTHS. I laughed until my head hurt. That's a rave review. Check 'em out....
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
8 YEARS!
Hello out there. Today marks 8 YEARS since I started working at the little convenience store/gas station in Port Orchard, Wash., that still pays my monthly bills. Recently things have been pretty quiet. The last few weeks especially have been good. These days I feel less stressed, happier, less likely to freak-out while working. So there goes that idea for a post I was going to write called "The Poster Child for Stressing-Out."
I don't think the job has changed much. I know that I have. I'm handling things better. The big improvement came back in July when I finally started playing the radio at night -- see my other blog, www.tadsbackupplan.blogspot.com/ for MUCH more about this. Too bad it only took me 7-1/2 YEARS to figure out that turning on the radio might not only improve MY mood but my customers' moods as well. Now I wonder why I resisted that idea for so long....
Also: A year and a half ago I had a physical and the doctor I saw told me that because of my age, taking an 81-milligram aspirin each day might do more good for me than even taking a daily multi-vitamin ... because I'm moving into the heart-attack zone, don't ya know. And I never have been much for exercise -- especially not on my weekends.
Well, for awhile I felt better taking the aspirins. Especially if I felt nervous or jittery or hyper before I went to work. But then it was like they stopped working. My heart started POUNDING at work for no outside cause and I couldn't make it stop -- even if I just kicked back and rested for a few minutes. I started getting pains in my left arm that wouldn't go away.
All this shook me up pretty good.
So I stopped taking the aspirins about a month ago, and for the past few weeks I've felt pretty good. A lot less stressed, more relaxed, a lot more friendly, more human. Happier.
I don't know if it's good medicine, but it seems to be working for me. I feel a lot less stressed for some reason, and that's got to be good.
That doesn't mean I don't still stress at work -- sometimes I do, usually on my Mondays. But it's nowhere near as bad as it was. And I don't feel unhappy or like I'm somehow being threatened all the time.
Other than that, I don't think I'm doing anything differently. I've tried to watch my diet and make sure I always eat something before I go to work. I cut my caffeine intake IN HALF about a year ago, & that's helped. I try to drink a fruit juice or vegetable juice at least once a day. I'm not perfect, but in some ways I feel better and happier now than I have in a long time. So that's all good news.
Of course the winters here in Western Washington can be long and dark and wet and cold, so we'll see how long these good feelings last....
Enough of the boring stuff. It's the controversy you want, the screaming and raving and daily chaos. Well, I'll try to oblige....
The OCD Girl I mentioned in the last in-depth post (who replaced the possibly-drug-addicted Afternoon Guy back last May) quit work in October (after a little over 5 months) for a variety of reasons -- her reasons depended on who asked. The store was too busy, it wasn't busy enough, there was too much to do, there wasn't enough to do, she couldn't keep up with the customers, she wanted more breaks, she hated working weekends.... Whatever.
Her replacement is a woman in her mid-40s who's done this sort of thing before, and she seems very nice, really steady, not OCD at all. And she's a worker. More good news.
I don't know if any of this makes for good reading, but it's a more comfortable work environment....
So, 8 years! And things right now seem pretty relaxed, normal. Not chaotic. But I remember The Bad Old Days....
I remember the staggering drunk who threw cheeseburger parts at the front of the store after I refused to sell him any more beer.
I remember the several customers over the years who have asked me (or asked my co-workers) if I was gay -- usually because in their view I was "just too friendly -- that's not normal."
I remember the day I gave away $150 in "free gas" to two customers who drove away without paying. One of them was a Regular. One I had to track down at his work site to get the $75 he promised to pay me....
I remember the 10 days after July 4, 2004 when our store went without gas shipments -- when we had no gas to sell because our (former) owner (see "The Screamer," below....) was having cash-flow problems -- and I remember how in the middle of it, despite almost NO money coming in, he somehow managed to pay us all our full paychecks, on time. I'll probably never know how he did it. I probably don't want to know....
I remember the little old man with the deep scratchy voice who destroyed one of our bathrooms back in 2004 (see "SHIT!," below) -- and I'm still waiting for him to come back....
I remember the Summer of 2008 when the price for a gallon of Regular gas peaked at $4.59 per gallon and every day at work was nothing but screaming chaos. I remember dreading going to work every day, KNOWING in advance that sooner or later I was going to get screamed at by somebody.... By the way, our store's current price for a gallon of Regular is $3.77, as of 1 a.m. Monday morning....
I remember the little old man who told me in 2004 that our milk prices were "A fucking rip-off!" while my old boss stood right next to me and nodded his head cheerfully as if he didn't understand a word.... And the next person in line was a Regular who screamed that he was NEVER going to shop in our store again because he couldn't count on us to always have gas available....
I remember the folks who've tried to steal beer and cigarettes over the years, and I'm surprised there haven't been MORE of them, especially during the last year or two....
I remember the drunk who came into the store five minutes before closing and took 15 minutes to pick out a can of beer -- and after I rang him up he asked me "Do you think I'm a stupid man?" And I remember picking his can of beer up off the counter and leading him out of the store with it, holding it up out of his reach so he'd follow me, and then setting it on the sidewalk outside because he didn't understand that it was 12:15 a.m. and all the store's lights were turned off and I had to CLOSE now....
I remember the methed-out guy who came in begging to borrow the telephone and then babbled and screamed gibberish into it for the next 45 minutes, until I had to explain to him that it was now 12:25 a.m. and I had to close and that the store didn't switch over to "mood lighting" after midnight....
I remember a lot of those folks who've yelled and screamed (some of them detailed in posts below), who've told me that I'm worthless, that I suck ass, who've asked me "What's wrong, don't you like helping people?" I don't mind helping people, but some of them need more help than anyone can give.
Aren't people amazing? Just when you think you've seen it all -- you haven't. As Jim Morrison said, "People are strange...."
Thank you for reading here, and I hope to post more here in the near future....
I don't think the job has changed much. I know that I have. I'm handling things better. The big improvement came back in July when I finally started playing the radio at night -- see my other blog, www.tadsbackupplan.blogspot.com/ for MUCH more about this. Too bad it only took me 7-1/2 YEARS to figure out that turning on the radio might not only improve MY mood but my customers' moods as well. Now I wonder why I resisted that idea for so long....
Also: A year and a half ago I had a physical and the doctor I saw told me that because of my age, taking an 81-milligram aspirin each day might do more good for me than even taking a daily multi-vitamin ... because I'm moving into the heart-attack zone, don't ya know. And I never have been much for exercise -- especially not on my weekends.
Well, for awhile I felt better taking the aspirins. Especially if I felt nervous or jittery or hyper before I went to work. But then it was like they stopped working. My heart started POUNDING at work for no outside cause and I couldn't make it stop -- even if I just kicked back and rested for a few minutes. I started getting pains in my left arm that wouldn't go away.
All this shook me up pretty good.
So I stopped taking the aspirins about a month ago, and for the past few weeks I've felt pretty good. A lot less stressed, more relaxed, a lot more friendly, more human. Happier.
I don't know if it's good medicine, but it seems to be working for me. I feel a lot less stressed for some reason, and that's got to be good.
That doesn't mean I don't still stress at work -- sometimes I do, usually on my Mondays. But it's nowhere near as bad as it was. And I don't feel unhappy or like I'm somehow being threatened all the time.
Other than that, I don't think I'm doing anything differently. I've tried to watch my diet and make sure I always eat something before I go to work. I cut my caffeine intake IN HALF about a year ago, & that's helped. I try to drink a fruit juice or vegetable juice at least once a day. I'm not perfect, but in some ways I feel better and happier now than I have in a long time. So that's all good news.
Of course the winters here in Western Washington can be long and dark and wet and cold, so we'll see how long these good feelings last....
Enough of the boring stuff. It's the controversy you want, the screaming and raving and daily chaos. Well, I'll try to oblige....
The OCD Girl I mentioned in the last in-depth post (who replaced the possibly-drug-addicted Afternoon Guy back last May) quit work in October (after a little over 5 months) for a variety of reasons -- her reasons depended on who asked. The store was too busy, it wasn't busy enough, there was too much to do, there wasn't enough to do, she couldn't keep up with the customers, she wanted more breaks, she hated working weekends.... Whatever.
Her replacement is a woman in her mid-40s who's done this sort of thing before, and she seems very nice, really steady, not OCD at all. And she's a worker. More good news.
I don't know if any of this makes for good reading, but it's a more comfortable work environment....
So, 8 years! And things right now seem pretty relaxed, normal. Not chaotic. But I remember The Bad Old Days....
I remember the staggering drunk who threw cheeseburger parts at the front of the store after I refused to sell him any more beer.
I remember the several customers over the years who have asked me (or asked my co-workers) if I was gay -- usually because in their view I was "just too friendly -- that's not normal."
I remember the day I gave away $150 in "free gas" to two customers who drove away without paying. One of them was a Regular. One I had to track down at his work site to get the $75 he promised to pay me....
I remember the 10 days after July 4, 2004 when our store went without gas shipments -- when we had no gas to sell because our (former) owner (see "The Screamer," below....) was having cash-flow problems -- and I remember how in the middle of it, despite almost NO money coming in, he somehow managed to pay us all our full paychecks, on time. I'll probably never know how he did it. I probably don't want to know....
I remember the little old man with the deep scratchy voice who destroyed one of our bathrooms back in 2004 (see "SHIT!," below) -- and I'm still waiting for him to come back....
I remember the Summer of 2008 when the price for a gallon of Regular gas peaked at $4.59 per gallon and every day at work was nothing but screaming chaos. I remember dreading going to work every day, KNOWING in advance that sooner or later I was going to get screamed at by somebody.... By the way, our store's current price for a gallon of Regular is $3.77, as of 1 a.m. Monday morning....
I remember the little old man who told me in 2004 that our milk prices were "A fucking rip-off!" while my old boss stood right next to me and nodded his head cheerfully as if he didn't understand a word.... And the next person in line was a Regular who screamed that he was NEVER going to shop in our store again because he couldn't count on us to always have gas available....
I remember the folks who've tried to steal beer and cigarettes over the years, and I'm surprised there haven't been MORE of them, especially during the last year or two....
I remember the drunk who came into the store five minutes before closing and took 15 minutes to pick out a can of beer -- and after I rang him up he asked me "Do you think I'm a stupid man?" And I remember picking his can of beer up off the counter and leading him out of the store with it, holding it up out of his reach so he'd follow me, and then setting it on the sidewalk outside because he didn't understand that it was 12:15 a.m. and all the store's lights were turned off and I had to CLOSE now....
I remember the methed-out guy who came in begging to borrow the telephone and then babbled and screamed gibberish into it for the next 45 minutes, until I had to explain to him that it was now 12:25 a.m. and I had to close and that the store didn't switch over to "mood lighting" after midnight....
I remember a lot of those folks who've yelled and screamed (some of them detailed in posts below), who've told me that I'm worthless, that I suck ass, who've asked me "What's wrong, don't you like helping people?" I don't mind helping people, but some of them need more help than anyone can give.
Aren't people amazing? Just when you think you've seen it all -- you haven't. As Jim Morrison said, "People are strange...."
Thank you for reading here, and I hope to post more here in the near future....
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Getting Better....
Hey, God bless all of you who read here, but my job has Gotten Better recently, ever since I started cranking-up the music at work. A detailed discussion about all this is posted at my other blog, www.tadsbackupplan.blogspot.com/, under the heading "The Musical Idiot." Check that out for more. Or just about anything else I've posted over there recently....
I may post more here in the future, & I'd still like to do More Comedy, but currently my work-life isn't being fuelled (too much) by stress & anger. & that's a Good Thing.
Hope all of you out there are well, & thanx for your support....
I may post more here in the future, & I'd still like to do More Comedy, but currently my work-life isn't being fuelled (too much) by stress & anger. & that's a Good Thing.
Hope all of you out there are well, & thanx for your support....
Friday, June 3, 2011
First Anniversary
Hello, if there's anyone out there. It was just a little over a year ago that I started this blog, & so far I haven't done a helluva lot with it except mostly tell a bunch of bad jokes. True, real-life jokes, but bad jokes anyway. & this blog was supposed to be therapy for me. Ah well....
Here's the thing: As soon as I started writing here I discovered that, most of the time, when I'm not working the LAST thing I wanna do is WRITE about work. Which didn't keep me from posting some of my favorite stories about work. And I've got more that I'd like to get to. I hope I will.
But I haven't written much here over the last 6 months, & here's why: I "helped" get one of my co-workers fired at the end of April. My boss said I shouldn't blame myself, that my co-worker screwed himself, that he'd been confronted & still didn't clean up his act. But I'm fairly sure that if I'd never told anyone about it, nothing ever would have been done.
My co-worker, the Afternoon Guy, used to be The Rock. He was younger than me & faster, & he got a shitload of stuff done. He bailed-out my old worn-out ass a million times.
But since last Christmas he'd been acting funny. He was constantly irritable (goes with the job), always on-edge. He'd go off in corners & mumble to himself. He'd start saying something & then walk away, talking all the way across the store until I couldn't hear him. He'd lose something behind the counter & then clean up a whole section looking for what he dropped -- & he'd get nothing else done all day.
Suddenly the phone began ringing off the hook for him. He'd leave work early, had to meet someone. All of his conversations were about money -- he had to get some more money, someone owed him money, he owed someone money. He sold the stereo & speakers out of his car for more money -- then bought another stereo a few days later. He'd talk about someone he owed money to & then break off and say: "I don't THINK he'll come here looking for me...." And then he'd laugh, not quite hysterically.
Then he pretty much stopped working completely. I'd come in to work some weekend evenings & he'd say (more than once): "Well, I WAS gonna do some things today, but I just decided FUCK IT!" And then he'd laugh. And the store would be trashed. One Saturday he spent all day whittling a little coyote figure out of wood. Another evening when I came in to work he was standing there sharpening his knife.
He'd also dropped a LOT of weight. His cheeks were all sunken in & he looked like crap. He was also starting not to smell very good at times. He said he wasn't sleeping much, that sometimes he'd just drive around all night. (What I didn't know was that he'd sometimes come into the store first thing in the morning & surprise the Morning Girl. He also started showing up for work late....)
He said one night he even accidentally locked-up the store while there was still a customer IN IT.
Customers noticed all this weirdness fairly early. A couple of guys suggested I watch the Afternoon Guy -- they said he was always in a hurry & always jumpy & always on edge. I started paying closer attention when I came in to work. He DID seem awfully irritated & in a hurry. And he was always leaving work early, even while complaining that he could use the extra overtime on his next paycheck....
My bosses confronted him about all this weirdness in March, and he swore he wasn't on drugs & that he'd Get Back At It. And he had a couple of good days after that, just like he was his old self. But then he pretty much stopped working. He kept wondering aloud about who tipped-off Management that something was wrong with him. He said more than once: "I'll bet they're looking for reasons to fire me."
They were.
He got sacked on the 1st of May. I'd been warned it was coming 2 weeks earlier. But it took 2 weeks to train a new person to replace him.
My boss said the Afternoon Guy took it well, he didn't scream or threaten to "get" anyone. She said she told him that if he got "healthy" again & there was an opening at the store, he'd be welcomed back.
I was surprised he took it that well. He'd already asked everybody he worked with who "turned him in." He reportedly tracked down at least one of our Regulars at her job & asked if she turned him in.
I thought his next stop after getting fired might be my front door. I thought he might come over and knife me. Hey, if the guy really was on drugs, I didn't know what to expect.
He's been back in the store once since & barely said two words. And that's great. I don't mind not getting knifed. But I think I might be pushing it again just by posting this. My boss said her boyfriend noticed something was wrong with the Afternoon Guy the first time he saw him. And maybe there were other customers who complained to Management about him. I know customers have complained about ME, though not as often as I've deserved....
My boss & The Owner also briefly discussed if I was going to be fired as well. My boss stuck up for me -- she said that at least I TRY.... (Hope so, I've been running my ass off cleaning-up after the Afternoon Guy since the end of last December....)
My boss also told me I need to take charge of my Anger Issues -- I don't think I get angry so much as Stress Out. So I've been reading a couple books about stress. They're pretty funny: One says that when you start to feel stressed you should try to describe to yourself what the stress is like -- what color is the stress, how big is the stress, what shape is it, where do you feel it, what does that feel like....
So. Things were a little tense for the past few months, & especially at the end of April and into May. The Afternoon Guy's replacement is a 50-year-old married woman who's even more obsessive-compulsive than I am, which is hard to believe. My boss thought the New Girl & I might clash just because we're both so OCD. So far, that hasn't happened, mostly because maybe I'm FINALLY learning when to keep my mouth shut.
I HAVE pissed her off a few times already though, without even trying. So the soap opera continues....
So that's what The Nazi's been doing for the past few months. Sorry you asked...?
A new ongoing feature here will be me posting our station's current price for a gallon of Regular gas: As of 5 pm Thursday, June 2, our price was $3.89 -- almost reasonable for here. We never got above $4.05 per gallon for Regular, or anywhere close to the all-time record of $4.59/gallon. Our price has been slowly dropping ever since the Navy Seals took out Osama Bin Laden a few weeks ago....
The weather has been improving -- it almost looks like Spring out most days, though we haven't gotten near 70 degrees yet. It's too bad the nice weather brings out more idiots & assholes, but ... those are my people.
And tonight was A Good Night at work, for some reason. Don't know why, it just was. One of the best lately.
It had to be, or else you wouldn't be reading this.
More soon, probably....
Here's the thing: As soon as I started writing here I discovered that, most of the time, when I'm not working the LAST thing I wanna do is WRITE about work. Which didn't keep me from posting some of my favorite stories about work. And I've got more that I'd like to get to. I hope I will.
But I haven't written much here over the last 6 months, & here's why: I "helped" get one of my co-workers fired at the end of April. My boss said I shouldn't blame myself, that my co-worker screwed himself, that he'd been confronted & still didn't clean up his act. But I'm fairly sure that if I'd never told anyone about it, nothing ever would have been done.
My co-worker, the Afternoon Guy, used to be The Rock. He was younger than me & faster, & he got a shitload of stuff done. He bailed-out my old worn-out ass a million times.
But since last Christmas he'd been acting funny. He was constantly irritable (goes with the job), always on-edge. He'd go off in corners & mumble to himself. He'd start saying something & then walk away, talking all the way across the store until I couldn't hear him. He'd lose something behind the counter & then clean up a whole section looking for what he dropped -- & he'd get nothing else done all day.
Suddenly the phone began ringing off the hook for him. He'd leave work early, had to meet someone. All of his conversations were about money -- he had to get some more money, someone owed him money, he owed someone money. He sold the stereo & speakers out of his car for more money -- then bought another stereo a few days later. He'd talk about someone he owed money to & then break off and say: "I don't THINK he'll come here looking for me...." And then he'd laugh, not quite hysterically.
Then he pretty much stopped working completely. I'd come in to work some weekend evenings & he'd say (more than once): "Well, I WAS gonna do some things today, but I just decided FUCK IT!" And then he'd laugh. And the store would be trashed. One Saturday he spent all day whittling a little coyote figure out of wood. Another evening when I came in to work he was standing there sharpening his knife.
He'd also dropped a LOT of weight. His cheeks were all sunken in & he looked like crap. He was also starting not to smell very good at times. He said he wasn't sleeping much, that sometimes he'd just drive around all night. (What I didn't know was that he'd sometimes come into the store first thing in the morning & surprise the Morning Girl. He also started showing up for work late....)
He said one night he even accidentally locked-up the store while there was still a customer IN IT.
Customers noticed all this weirdness fairly early. A couple of guys suggested I watch the Afternoon Guy -- they said he was always in a hurry & always jumpy & always on edge. I started paying closer attention when I came in to work. He DID seem awfully irritated & in a hurry. And he was always leaving work early, even while complaining that he could use the extra overtime on his next paycheck....
My bosses confronted him about all this weirdness in March, and he swore he wasn't on drugs & that he'd Get Back At It. And he had a couple of good days after that, just like he was his old self. But then he pretty much stopped working. He kept wondering aloud about who tipped-off Management that something was wrong with him. He said more than once: "I'll bet they're looking for reasons to fire me."
They were.
He got sacked on the 1st of May. I'd been warned it was coming 2 weeks earlier. But it took 2 weeks to train a new person to replace him.
My boss said the Afternoon Guy took it well, he didn't scream or threaten to "get" anyone. She said she told him that if he got "healthy" again & there was an opening at the store, he'd be welcomed back.
I was surprised he took it that well. He'd already asked everybody he worked with who "turned him in." He reportedly tracked down at least one of our Regulars at her job & asked if she turned him in.
I thought his next stop after getting fired might be my front door. I thought he might come over and knife me. Hey, if the guy really was on drugs, I didn't know what to expect.
He's been back in the store once since & barely said two words. And that's great. I don't mind not getting knifed. But I think I might be pushing it again just by posting this. My boss said her boyfriend noticed something was wrong with the Afternoon Guy the first time he saw him. And maybe there were other customers who complained to Management about him. I know customers have complained about ME, though not as often as I've deserved....
My boss & The Owner also briefly discussed if I was going to be fired as well. My boss stuck up for me -- she said that at least I TRY.... (Hope so, I've been running my ass off cleaning-up after the Afternoon Guy since the end of last December....)
My boss also told me I need to take charge of my Anger Issues -- I don't think I get angry so much as Stress Out. So I've been reading a couple books about stress. They're pretty funny: One says that when you start to feel stressed you should try to describe to yourself what the stress is like -- what color is the stress, how big is the stress, what shape is it, where do you feel it, what does that feel like....
So. Things were a little tense for the past few months, & especially at the end of April and into May. The Afternoon Guy's replacement is a 50-year-old married woman who's even more obsessive-compulsive than I am, which is hard to believe. My boss thought the New Girl & I might clash just because we're both so OCD. So far, that hasn't happened, mostly because maybe I'm FINALLY learning when to keep my mouth shut.
I HAVE pissed her off a few times already though, without even trying. So the soap opera continues....
So that's what The Nazi's been doing for the past few months. Sorry you asked...?
A new ongoing feature here will be me posting our station's current price for a gallon of Regular gas: As of 5 pm Thursday, June 2, our price was $3.89 -- almost reasonable for here. We never got above $4.05 per gallon for Regular, or anywhere close to the all-time record of $4.59/gallon. Our price has been slowly dropping ever since the Navy Seals took out Osama Bin Laden a few weeks ago....
The weather has been improving -- it almost looks like Spring out most days, though we haven't gotten near 70 degrees yet. It's too bad the nice weather brings out more idiots & assholes, but ... those are my people.
And tonight was A Good Night at work, for some reason. Don't know why, it just was. One of the best lately.
It had to be, or else you wouldn't be reading this.
More soon, probably....
Monday, March 7, 2011
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet....
When I left work early Monday morning our price for a gallon of regular gas was $3.69. Our price has gone up 30 cents in a little over a week.
It's out of control. And it's not gonna get any better as long as the unrest in the Middle East continues.
All those "oil industry analysts and experts" who've been predicting $4 to $5 for a gallon of gas nationwide by Memorial Day are gonna be a little bit behind the curve.
Shit, we're gonna have $4 for a gallon of gas by the end of March.
This is shaping up to be a repeat of the Summer of 2008, when the price of regular gas at our station peaked at $4.59 per gallon. At least I think it did. I've blocked-out most of that summer. With all the bitching & complaining & screaming about gas prices that were out of my control, it was pure Hell coming to work every day.
Can't wait for a re-run of it.
Now for the good news:
I'm in Washington, where we have at least a 42-cent-per-gallon state gasoline tax. (It was 42 cents per gallon last time I heard; it's probably gone up, though.)
So your price may be lower. But it won't be for long. I've already heard about stations posting $4 for a gallon. In Seattle, naturally. And in California.
But it's gonna happen everywhere. And sooner than you think. Get used to it.
Now, you may ask, as a gas station employee: How do I feel about this?
Well, I can't wait for the non-stop screaming, the endless circling of cars around the gas pumps, homing-in like vultures, the massive panic before the price gets raised AGAIN, EVEN HIGHER ... as if there's no tomorrow.
Just can't wait.
But don't I have any sympathy for the poor consumer, for the people who have to commute miles to work & for whom every gas-price increase is just more money out of their pocket that they can't afford?
Sure I do. But I'm paying the same outrageously high prices you are. I don't have a choice either.
I'm just glad I only live a mile down the road from my work. I can always walk if I have to, if the price gets REALLY outrageous. I hope that doesn't happen. But I don't really drive that much, so it's not going to affect me that much even if gas hits $5 per gallon. God forbid....
Besides, I'm not sure folks learned much last time. Though rather than filling-up, lots of people just tossed in $5 or $10 or $20, there were still tons of people driving Hummers or big trucks -- or Corvettes, BMW's, Mercedes's, etc.
Some of these folks even complained to me about the prices. Actually, a LOT of them did. Some of them were yelling.
And all I could think was: You're driving THAT, and you're complaining to ME about high gas prices?
I still remember one guy in a truck who pulled into the station with a screech of tires, slammed his truck door shut, began screaming when he saw our posted price, screamed all the way from the gas pumps across the parking lot and through our front door, screamed gibberish at me for a full minute while I was in the middle of ringing-up another customer, then screamed all the way back to his truck and left the station with another screech.
I never understood a word he said. I think maybe he was under a little too much stress.
All the other incidents I remember from the ugly Summer of 2008 are nowhere near as funny.
If you're on a limited budget, I sympathize. I am, too. And I'm glad I live close to my work.
But there's millions of people out there who could maybe learn some valuable lessons from outrageous, criminally high gas prices.
Like: How to live within your means.
How not to whine about how good you've got it.
Maybe drive less, walk more.
Maybe schedule your work days or free time so you don't have to drive so much.
Remember that most of the rest of the world pays a LOT more than we do for gas. We've been spoiled for a LONG time....
Because there's no way around this one, folks. It's coming. Soon. We're gonna have to deal with it.
Should be a real boost for the economy. Or at least for the oil companies. I'm not gonna get a raise out of this -- well, maybe, after it's all over -- if I survive. And my experience & knowledge after 7+ years of doing this tells me that my boss the owner only makes about a penny or two per gallon of profit on the gas he sells. All that money's going right back to the oil company.
Should have a great trickle-down effect, too. Should drive food and utilities prices even higher. And they're WAY too high already.
I have no solutions, I'm just ranting.
Anybody wanna talk about this? Or argue about it?
More soon....
It's out of control. And it's not gonna get any better as long as the unrest in the Middle East continues.
All those "oil industry analysts and experts" who've been predicting $4 to $5 for a gallon of gas nationwide by Memorial Day are gonna be a little bit behind the curve.
Shit, we're gonna have $4 for a gallon of gas by the end of March.
This is shaping up to be a repeat of the Summer of 2008, when the price of regular gas at our station peaked at $4.59 per gallon. At least I think it did. I've blocked-out most of that summer. With all the bitching & complaining & screaming about gas prices that were out of my control, it was pure Hell coming to work every day.
Can't wait for a re-run of it.
Now for the good news:
I'm in Washington, where we have at least a 42-cent-per-gallon state gasoline tax. (It was 42 cents per gallon last time I heard; it's probably gone up, though.)
So your price may be lower. But it won't be for long. I've already heard about stations posting $4 for a gallon. In Seattle, naturally. And in California.
But it's gonna happen everywhere. And sooner than you think. Get used to it.
Now, you may ask, as a gas station employee: How do I feel about this?
Well, I can't wait for the non-stop screaming, the endless circling of cars around the gas pumps, homing-in like vultures, the massive panic before the price gets raised AGAIN, EVEN HIGHER ... as if there's no tomorrow.
Just can't wait.
But don't I have any sympathy for the poor consumer, for the people who have to commute miles to work & for whom every gas-price increase is just more money out of their pocket that they can't afford?
Sure I do. But I'm paying the same outrageously high prices you are. I don't have a choice either.
I'm just glad I only live a mile down the road from my work. I can always walk if I have to, if the price gets REALLY outrageous. I hope that doesn't happen. But I don't really drive that much, so it's not going to affect me that much even if gas hits $5 per gallon. God forbid....
Besides, I'm not sure folks learned much last time. Though rather than filling-up, lots of people just tossed in $5 or $10 or $20, there were still tons of people driving Hummers or big trucks -- or Corvettes, BMW's, Mercedes's, etc.
Some of these folks even complained to me about the prices. Actually, a LOT of them did. Some of them were yelling.
And all I could think was: You're driving THAT, and you're complaining to ME about high gas prices?
I still remember one guy in a truck who pulled into the station with a screech of tires, slammed his truck door shut, began screaming when he saw our posted price, screamed all the way from the gas pumps across the parking lot and through our front door, screamed gibberish at me for a full minute while I was in the middle of ringing-up another customer, then screamed all the way back to his truck and left the station with another screech.
I never understood a word he said. I think maybe he was under a little too much stress.
All the other incidents I remember from the ugly Summer of 2008 are nowhere near as funny.
If you're on a limited budget, I sympathize. I am, too. And I'm glad I live close to my work.
But there's millions of people out there who could maybe learn some valuable lessons from outrageous, criminally high gas prices.
Like: How to live within your means.
How not to whine about how good you've got it.
Maybe drive less, walk more.
Maybe schedule your work days or free time so you don't have to drive so much.
Remember that most of the rest of the world pays a LOT more than we do for gas. We've been spoiled for a LONG time....
Because there's no way around this one, folks. It's coming. Soon. We're gonna have to deal with it.
Should be a real boost for the economy. Or at least for the oil companies. I'm not gonna get a raise out of this -- well, maybe, after it's all over -- if I survive. And my experience & knowledge after 7+ years of doing this tells me that my boss the owner only makes about a penny or two per gallon of profit on the gas he sells. All that money's going right back to the oil company.
Should have a great trickle-down effect, too. Should drive food and utilities prices even higher. And they're WAY too high already.
I have no solutions, I'm just ranting.
Anybody wanna talk about this? Or argue about it?
More soon....
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Now with HALF the caffeine!
Hey there. I know, I know, it's been awhile. So much to explain. But I'm still here, still doing the job, passed 7 years at the gas station in November. You'd think I'd be used to it by now. And maybe I'm getting there.
But things have gotten a lot better recently. Over the past 6 weeks or so I've cut WAY back on my coffee-drinking -- I've cut back both the amount I drink & the amount of sugar I use by HALF. & suddenly things are going better. I FEEL better. I sleep better at night, I wake up not so achey and tired, & I think I'm being nicer to people. I think I'm acting a whole lot more like myself. I hope so. My boss says she's noticed a big difference. & I haven't been yelled at -- & I haven't yelled AT anyone -- in weeks.
Here's the thing: I was so hung up on being awake & on top of stuff & completely focused at work that I screwed myself. Back in September and October I was drinking A POT AND A HALF OF COFFEE before going to work. Along with 3+ heaping tablespoons of sugar in each cup. It's probably a surprise that I didn't have a heart attack. Or a stroke.
I thought being more awake, being more charged-up on caffeine would make me sharper, & then nothing would get by me. I'd be on top of it. People'd have no reason to be upset with me. Everything would work smoothly.
Wrong. All the coffee did was make me jumpy and edgy & willing to go off on people for the thinnest of reasons. & when customers yelled at me, half the time I yelled right back. Sometimes I yelled first.
Now I'm better. That doesn't mean I don't get stressed, that I don't feel anxious or edgy or overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I do. But by cutting myself off after 2 cups of coffee (sometimes even less) I'm just awake ENOUGH to handle what comes at me ... & not jump across the counter to strangle a frustrated customer.
Sometimes I even laugh with people, on the good nights. Tonight was a pretty good night.
If this trend continues, I might start sounding as obnoxious as those former smokers & former druggies who warn you at great length about how much You Don't Want To Go There. I look around and see all those people who are hooked on energy drinks -- especially those who obviously really DON'T need them, except so they can keep going FASTER -- & I can feel myself starting to drift into Lecture Mode. But I'll hold off on that for tonight.
Rastro, if you're out there: YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE COFFEE. I just didn't want to see it. I thought I needed coffee to GET to work, & to deal with it after I got there.
Hopefully, this is a little more human & more healthy approach to my job. But obviously if this kinder, gentler me is the wave of the future, we're going to have to change the name of this blog. To something like The Nice Gas-Station Guy's Blog. And we're going to have to do it RIGHT NOW.
...OK, only kidding. We're not actually going to do that. The new name of this blog's actually going to be EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!
...Well, maybe not. ...This post is mainly just to tell anybody out there -- if there's anybody reading this -- that I'm still here, I'm still doing this, & I still have more fairly hilarious high-stress stories from my 7 years in this hellhole that I want to pass on to you.
In a kinder, gentler sort of way.
For awhile I couldn't laugh about my job AT ALL. So there was no blogging about it here. Even that week-long vacation in Idaho that I took last July didn't help all that much. (And what place could possibly be less stressful than Idaho?)
Back in September and October I thought it was completely possible I might lose my job and wind up living under a bridge.
Then my boss pointed out something that was obvious to everyone but me. She said I seem to have a lot of anxiety with people. & I do. Perfect job for me, right? But then I started thinking of ways to bring that anxiety down. & still remain the kind, gentle, funny, silly person I really am when I'm not totally freakin' stressed-out.
So: I'm still here. & I've still got some more funny stories for you, if anyone's out there.
Stay tuned....
But things have gotten a lot better recently. Over the past 6 weeks or so I've cut WAY back on my coffee-drinking -- I've cut back both the amount I drink & the amount of sugar I use by HALF. & suddenly things are going better. I FEEL better. I sleep better at night, I wake up not so achey and tired, & I think I'm being nicer to people. I think I'm acting a whole lot more like myself. I hope so. My boss says she's noticed a big difference. & I haven't been yelled at -- & I haven't yelled AT anyone -- in weeks.
Here's the thing: I was so hung up on being awake & on top of stuff & completely focused at work that I screwed myself. Back in September and October I was drinking A POT AND A HALF OF COFFEE before going to work. Along with 3+ heaping tablespoons of sugar in each cup. It's probably a surprise that I didn't have a heart attack. Or a stroke.
I thought being more awake, being more charged-up on caffeine would make me sharper, & then nothing would get by me. I'd be on top of it. People'd have no reason to be upset with me. Everything would work smoothly.
Wrong. All the coffee did was make me jumpy and edgy & willing to go off on people for the thinnest of reasons. & when customers yelled at me, half the time I yelled right back. Sometimes I yelled first.
Now I'm better. That doesn't mean I don't get stressed, that I don't feel anxious or edgy or overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I do. But by cutting myself off after 2 cups of coffee (sometimes even less) I'm just awake ENOUGH to handle what comes at me ... & not jump across the counter to strangle a frustrated customer.
Sometimes I even laugh with people, on the good nights. Tonight was a pretty good night.
If this trend continues, I might start sounding as obnoxious as those former smokers & former druggies who warn you at great length about how much You Don't Want To Go There. I look around and see all those people who are hooked on energy drinks -- especially those who obviously really DON'T need them, except so they can keep going FASTER -- & I can feel myself starting to drift into Lecture Mode. But I'll hold off on that for tonight.
Rastro, if you're out there: YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT THE COFFEE. I just didn't want to see it. I thought I needed coffee to GET to work, & to deal with it after I got there.
Hopefully, this is a little more human & more healthy approach to my job. But obviously if this kinder, gentler me is the wave of the future, we're going to have to change the name of this blog. To something like The Nice Gas-Station Guy's Blog. And we're going to have to do it RIGHT NOW.
...OK, only kidding. We're not actually going to do that. The new name of this blog's actually going to be EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!
...Well, maybe not. ...This post is mainly just to tell anybody out there -- if there's anybody reading this -- that I'm still here, I'm still doing this, & I still have more fairly hilarious high-stress stories from my 7 years in this hellhole that I want to pass on to you.
In a kinder, gentler sort of way.
For awhile I couldn't laugh about my job AT ALL. So there was no blogging about it here. Even that week-long vacation in Idaho that I took last July didn't help all that much. (And what place could possibly be less stressful than Idaho?)
Back in September and October I thought it was completely possible I might lose my job and wind up living under a bridge.
Then my boss pointed out something that was obvious to everyone but me. She said I seem to have a lot of anxiety with people. & I do. Perfect job for me, right? But then I started thinking of ways to bring that anxiety down. & still remain the kind, gentle, funny, silly person I really am when I'm not totally freakin' stressed-out.
So: I'm still here. & I've still got some more funny stories for you, if anyone's out there.
Stay tuned....
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