Monday, February 27, 2012

$3.99!

I hear from my roommate -- who was at the station on Monday morning -- that our price for a gallon of Regular gas went up another 4 cents overnight, to $3.99. This means our price has gone up 44 cents per gallon in the last two weeks.
Now we're knocking on the door to $4 per gallon. Close enough that it doesn't matter, really. We are the odds-on favorite to be the first station in town (that I know of) with $4-per-gallon gas. Great times!
However, this is my weekend, so I don't have to worry about this crap right now.
More soon!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

$3.95!

...is our store's price for a gallon of Regular gas as of Friday afternoon. Our price has gone up 40 CENTS IN 10 DAYS! Our high-octane Supreme gas is now at $4.19 per gallon.
The last time we went through this (2008), the employees took bets on which gas station in town would be the first to raise their price over $4 per gallon for Regular. This time around, I think it might be US....

This has not been a good week in my neck of the woods. In the local area over the last three days we've had one state trooper shot to death by a guy who later killed himself; in the same area as that incident but a day later, a car full of people was speeding down the highway too fast, left the road and ended up in the bay -- one of the passengers drowned; and in Bremerton, just 5 miles up the road from us, earlier this week a third-grader accidentally shot one of his classmates with a loaded gun he said he brought to school from his mother's house.
It's been nothing but fun here in Fun City, the Gun Capital of the Known World.
I blame some of this stuff on the pace of life here. I've never been ANYWHERE else where the pace seems SO FAST 24/7, where almost EVERYBODY ALWAYS seems to be in a hurry. And I've lived in California a couple of times.
If I could make people slow down a step or two, I would. But they won't.
It's like people want this to be Seattle -- it's not. We're not even a suburb. But people keep racing around like there's no tomorrow, EVERY DAY. Something about living here seems to MAKE PEOPLE CRAZY. People who aren't FROM HERE see it -- this stuff ain't normal. But folks who were born and raised here think this IS Reality. They're wrong.
Now more than ever I am hyper-sensitive about Not Pissing People Off. I don't want them coming back with a gun just because we had a little disagreement.
I've been telling customers on their way out of the store to "Be careful out there" for a long time now. Only now I mean it. For God's sake, take it easy and keep your head down.
Meanwhile, I'm hoping a happy worker, a kind word, a friendly voice, lots of bad jokes, or some good tunes on the store stereo will turn aside all wrath.
Because that's about all I've got to rely on.
That and The Panic Button. And a couple of baseball bats hidden behind the counter.
Check out my other blog, TAD's Back-Up Plan, to see how the right music keeps me happy and be-bopping through the evenings, and hopefully keeps the customers happy too.
More soon....

Thursday, February 23, 2012

$3.89!

...is our new price for a gallon of Regular gas, as of 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Our price has gone up 34 CENTS IN A WEEK! Our premium high-octane gas is now $4.09 per gallon!
A fire last week at a local refinery (I think it was in Tacoma, though I'm not positive) is expected to make things worse -- the local media has predicted gas prices may jump 20 to 30 cents per gallon ON TOP OF whatever other price-hike gets handed down to us.
And as long as the Middle East stays volatile, prices will continue to go up. Syria's looking real ugly -- that'll be worth a few more cents per gallon. We might have to bomb Iran to keep them from developing nukes? -- That should be worth at least a dime. Any excuse is good enough, really. You know Exxon/Mobil made another $10 billion last year, right...?

In the meantime, The Gas Nazi had one of his best Wednesday nights lately. The store wasn't a shambles when he got to work and it looked like maybe some of his co-workers might have actually done some work during his two days off. At no point on Wednesday night did he get all jumpy and panicky and overcome by stress and work.
There were a couple of minor incidents -- one guy rushed The Nazi for change from his $100 on a $5 purchase, and a Drunk Regular wanted an argument. Other than that, the best Wednesday night in weeks. Most recent Wednesday nights have pretty much been a Living Hell from start to finish. Things might be looking up. Maybe somebody at work heard about my bitching. Or maybe some of my co-workers are reading this blog...? Hmmm....

More coming soon, whenever gas prices go up again. At this pace, we'll hit $5 per gallon for Regular before the end of March....
Should be a Real Fun Summer....

Saturday, February 18, 2012

$3.75!

...is our price for a gallon of Regular gas as of 11 p.m. Friday night. We've gone up 20 cents in three days. I don't get it. At this pace, we'll reach $5 per gallon before the end of March....
Our price was already 23 cents more per gallon than our competitors across the street as of Friday afternoon....
Hope prices are cheaper wherever YOU live. This is not going to do the economy any good.... It's not gonna do our store any good, either. At least there haven't been too many complaints yet. And nobody has started screaming, so far. But it's early yet....

Friday, February 17, 2012

Currently $3.69!

See the news media is already predicting $5 for a gallon of gas by summertime.
Yeah, probably. But they predicted $5-per-gallon gas last year at this time too, and we never even got close. Never topped $4.05.
But here's the thing: Our price for a gallon of Regular went up 14 CENTS on WEDNESDAY. So it's already starting. We were at $3.55 Wednesday morning, and the boss jumped it a dime. Then he hiked it another 4 cents at 9 p.m. that night. All that to cover the cost from his supplier.
So, it's gonna be another long hot summer, just like 2008. But I don't wanna hear any bitching and screaming until a gallon of Regular tops $4.59 -- the previous record. Then everything's fair game.
If we have another ugly screaming blur of a summer like 2008, I plan to slash my wrists.

In the meantime, I'm feeling overworked and underappreciated at my little station. I feel like hardly anyone else does SHIT during my 2 days off every week. They all leave it for me instead, because they know I'll make them look good when I come back.
Which means my Monday (Wednesday to you) is my worst work night of the week -- because I walk into work, see what a freaking shambles it is, see how much stuff needs to be done -- and then I run around like a maniac for the rest of the night.
And my co-workers wonder why I get angry and upset and freak out? Because there's no evidence anybody else does anything.
My co-workers don't notice what I do, but they sure as hell notice when I DON'T do it.
My boss says we all work hard and she will hear no complaints about overwork.
My feeling is the people who work the morning and afternoon shifts have a LOT of time to talk, even though it also sometimes gets screaming busy during those shifts.
All I know is my co-workers love me so much they save up all the stuff they don't want to do and leave it for me on my Monday. Isn't that special?
One asshole tonight lectured me on how I oughta feel lucky just to HAVE a job, and I agree with that. But how happy did he expect me to be? There's no way to win. If I'm too happy, people think there's something wrong with me. If I'm not happy enough, people bitch about THAT.
The only solution is to turn up the music and hold tight on the corners. And fuck everyone if they don't like it.
Hope this post has helped fill your world with sweetness and light. The same way my world is filled with it right now.
More soon. And I plan to post updates every time our gas price goes up. Should be a fun summer....