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....
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
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....
Friday, June 25, 2010
Update
Greetings, if anyone's out there. The Gas Nazi has not felt like himself lately. (Of course, he hasn't felt like anyone else, either.) He's felt tired, worn-out, angry, sad, burned-out, overworked -- but mostly REALLY tired -- in short, like even MORE of a challenge to deal with than he usually is. Don't take my word for it -- ask the people who have to live and work with me!
This has significantly slowed down production of posts chronicling the Nazi's outrageous misadventures here, and for that I apologize. The past few days the Nazi has felt a little better, and so he plans to get Right Back At This Stuff Immediately.
There is also some hope on the horizon: The Nazi has projected his first real vacation in nearly 7 years for the second week of July. God willing, the Nazi plans to make a quick visit back home to Idaho to see his family. If the Nazi is barred from taking this vacation, There Will Be Screaming.
If I DO go on vacation, I plan to take my World's Smallest Laptop with me to perhaps blog a bit about the Great American Wasteland, my old hometown.
Other good news: The weather has improved a great deal here in beautiful, green Western Washington. The last few days have brought actual prolonged sunshine and temperatures in the low 70s. This is about 2 months overdue. Occasional glimpses of sunshine may be why the Nazi feels a little better.
Only downside to the improving weather is that it seems to bring out even more weirdos than usual. Just tonight I had what appeared to be a brain-dead, inbred brother-&-sister comedy team who tried to buy cigarettes without ID & who reacted to everything I said with a goggle-eyed stare of incomprehension. English is SUCH a tough language. To hell with them.
Last weekend marked several firsts for the Nazi: Sometime after dark last Friday night a slimy, hairy, skinny, distracted, homeless-looking guy stumbled through the front door & then spent 30 minutes shooting-up in the bathroom, leaving behind a used syringe and a handful of bloody paper towels.
Discovering this was a first for me in nearly 7 years of putting up with people's awful bathroom leftovers. (See the "SHIT!" entry below.) True, the guy MAY have been a diabetic. But he didn't ACT like a diabetic. He acted like a junkie.
Later the same night, a guy on a bicycle tried to steal a 12-pack of beer from the store -- running for it when I turned my back on him for 10 seconds while he argued on the phone with his credit-card company, who had declined his purchase. At first I didn't even realize he'd ran. Then when it dawned on me & I looked out the window, all I could see were little beer cans scattered across the parking lot. Apparently the idiot had crashed on his bike while trying to make his getaway & lost half of his beer. So I six-packed what was left & called it good. This was the first time someone had tried to steal beer from me in a couple of years.
And tomorrow night will be a full-moon Friday. Can't hardly wait.
If anybody out there is following the Nazi's adventures, there are a few things I have planned to rant and rave about:
* Why a sense of humor is essential to a job like mine -- and how I've pretty much lost mine.
* Drunks! Why we can't stay in business without them, & why I can't seem to get along WITH them.
* Screaming Fits! Or: Notorious Assholes I Have Known. In what other job do total strangers scream at you about things you can't control?
* The Gas Nazi's 10 Commandments.
...and more, more, lots, lots more.
Coming soon. I promise.
This has significantly slowed down production of posts chronicling the Nazi's outrageous misadventures here, and for that I apologize. The past few days the Nazi has felt a little better, and so he plans to get Right Back At This Stuff Immediately.
There is also some hope on the horizon: The Nazi has projected his first real vacation in nearly 7 years for the second week of July. God willing, the Nazi plans to make a quick visit back home to Idaho to see his family. If the Nazi is barred from taking this vacation, There Will Be Screaming.
If I DO go on vacation, I plan to take my World's Smallest Laptop with me to perhaps blog a bit about the Great American Wasteland, my old hometown.
Other good news: The weather has improved a great deal here in beautiful, green Western Washington. The last few days have brought actual prolonged sunshine and temperatures in the low 70s. This is about 2 months overdue. Occasional glimpses of sunshine may be why the Nazi feels a little better.
Only downside to the improving weather is that it seems to bring out even more weirdos than usual. Just tonight I had what appeared to be a brain-dead, inbred brother-&-sister comedy team who tried to buy cigarettes without ID & who reacted to everything I said with a goggle-eyed stare of incomprehension. English is SUCH a tough language. To hell with them.
Last weekend marked several firsts for the Nazi: Sometime after dark last Friday night a slimy, hairy, skinny, distracted, homeless-looking guy stumbled through the front door & then spent 30 minutes shooting-up in the bathroom, leaving behind a used syringe and a handful of bloody paper towels.
Discovering this was a first for me in nearly 7 years of putting up with people's awful bathroom leftovers. (See the "SHIT!" entry below.) True, the guy MAY have been a diabetic. But he didn't ACT like a diabetic. He acted like a junkie.
Later the same night, a guy on a bicycle tried to steal a 12-pack of beer from the store -- running for it when I turned my back on him for 10 seconds while he argued on the phone with his credit-card company, who had declined his purchase. At first I didn't even realize he'd ran. Then when it dawned on me & I looked out the window, all I could see were little beer cans scattered across the parking lot. Apparently the idiot had crashed on his bike while trying to make his getaway & lost half of his beer. So I six-packed what was left & called it good. This was the first time someone had tried to steal beer from me in a couple of years.
And tomorrow night will be a full-moon Friday. Can't hardly wait.
If anybody out there is following the Nazi's adventures, there are a few things I have planned to rant and rave about:
* Why a sense of humor is essential to a job like mine -- and how I've pretty much lost mine.
* Drunks! Why we can't stay in business without them, & why I can't seem to get along WITH them.
* Screaming Fits! Or: Notorious Assholes I Have Known. In what other job do total strangers scream at you about things you can't control?
* The Gas Nazi's 10 Commandments.
...and more, more, lots, lots more.
Coming soon. I promise.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
SHIT!
In my line of work, you haven't truly become a member of the team until you've cleaned up at least one "human explosion." Unfortunately, dealing with hazardous waste is one of the hazards of the job.
Most of these experiences make you wonder what people are REALLY like in the privacy of their homes.
My "favorite"(?) shit-induced horror story involves a little old man with a deep, gravelly voice. I've been waiting for that little old guy to come back into the store for about 5 years now....
I was working the morning shift, cleaning up the coffee bar or stocking coffee cups or something. A silver Toyota 4-door pulled up right at the front door and a hunched-over little old man with glasses and a cane came hobbling out of the passenger's side of the car, into the store and asked in gravelly tones if we had a restroom he could use. I pointed him toward it and went back to work.
It was the usual Morning Busy, customers passing through and beer & soft-drinks vendors dropping off shipments. I was ringing customers up & taking cash & writing checks for shipments, & slowly I realized that the little old man had been in the bathroom for a LONG TIME. At least 15 or 20 minutes.
Somebody spilled some soda or something on the floor, & I went over by the coffee bar to clean up the mess, which wasn't too big. The store emptied, & the next thing I heard was the silver Toyota as its tires screeched and it vanished out of the parking lot.
A light bulb went on over my head. The little old man had snuck out, not even saying thank you, & whoever was driving the car had wanted to get away as soon as freakin' possible. Obviously a crime had been committed.
As I walked over to the front of the store from the coffee bar I noticed a brown trail leading from the front door back to the men's bathroom.
I screamed.
Avoiding the trail of shit, I ran back to the men's room door, threw it open and....
It was EVERYWHERE. All over the toilet, all over the floor, all over the WALL.... The little old man had exploded, and then crawled quietly away.
He didn't even turn on the bathroom fan on his way out.
I screamed some more, grabbing for mops and towels and wondering where the key was so I could lock up the bathroom -- something we NEVER did.
Then, of course, it got busy. Another beer vendor dropping off a shipment ducked into the bathroom before I even had a chance to post an "Out of Order" sign.
"You don't wanna go IN there...." I called. But it was too late.
The vendor bounced back out awful quickly.
"I TRIED to warn you," I said.
It took over an hour to clean up the mess, between customers. We had plastic gloves that went halfway up my arm. I wished they'd gone up to my shoulders. Or my neck. I was wishing for a gas mask. Or a HazMat suit. The only thing to do was stop breathing and dive in.
I filled a garbage can with foul paper towels. I used up 2 buckets of hot water and more Pine Sol and 409 than I'd normally use in a year. Finally I got the place almost clean, as clean as could be expected under the circumstances.
And he's never come back. That old myth about criminals always returning to the scene of the crime -- well, it hasn't happened under my watch.
We've all been through it. & though I've had other shit-related nightmares at work since then -- including one explosion in the women's restroom that I'm absolutely SURE, due to my persistent, naive belief that women represent all that is Good, the far-better half of humanity ... that NO WOMAN could have created, or at least no woman I ever want to meet -- none of them tops that gravelly-voiced little old man ... who's face is still on my Shit List.
For the past month, we've only had one functioning restroom at work, after some unknown barbarian plugged-up the men's toilet for the absolute Last Time. & amazingly, although it's been a pain, the co-ed bathroom has stayed MUCH cleaner. Up til now. I've probably jinxed it just by writing this....
Most of these experiences make you wonder what people are REALLY like in the privacy of their homes.
My "favorite"(?) shit-induced horror story involves a little old man with a deep, gravelly voice. I've been waiting for that little old guy to come back into the store for about 5 years now....
I was working the morning shift, cleaning up the coffee bar or stocking coffee cups or something. A silver Toyota 4-door pulled up right at the front door and a hunched-over little old man with glasses and a cane came hobbling out of the passenger's side of the car, into the store and asked in gravelly tones if we had a restroom he could use. I pointed him toward it and went back to work.
It was the usual Morning Busy, customers passing through and beer & soft-drinks vendors dropping off shipments. I was ringing customers up & taking cash & writing checks for shipments, & slowly I realized that the little old man had been in the bathroom for a LONG TIME. At least 15 or 20 minutes.
Somebody spilled some soda or something on the floor, & I went over by the coffee bar to clean up the mess, which wasn't too big. The store emptied, & the next thing I heard was the silver Toyota as its tires screeched and it vanished out of the parking lot.
A light bulb went on over my head. The little old man had snuck out, not even saying thank you, & whoever was driving the car had wanted to get away as soon as freakin' possible. Obviously a crime had been committed.
As I walked over to the front of the store from the coffee bar I noticed a brown trail leading from the front door back to the men's bathroom.
I screamed.
Avoiding the trail of shit, I ran back to the men's room door, threw it open and....
It was EVERYWHERE. All over the toilet, all over the floor, all over the WALL.... The little old man had exploded, and then crawled quietly away.
He didn't even turn on the bathroom fan on his way out.
I screamed some more, grabbing for mops and towels and wondering where the key was so I could lock up the bathroom -- something we NEVER did.
Then, of course, it got busy. Another beer vendor dropping off a shipment ducked into the bathroom before I even had a chance to post an "Out of Order" sign.
"You don't wanna go IN there...." I called. But it was too late.
The vendor bounced back out awful quickly.
"I TRIED to warn you," I said.
It took over an hour to clean up the mess, between customers. We had plastic gloves that went halfway up my arm. I wished they'd gone up to my shoulders. Or my neck. I was wishing for a gas mask. Or a HazMat suit. The only thing to do was stop breathing and dive in.
I filled a garbage can with foul paper towels. I used up 2 buckets of hot water and more Pine Sol and 409 than I'd normally use in a year. Finally I got the place almost clean, as clean as could be expected under the circumstances.
And he's never come back. That old myth about criminals always returning to the scene of the crime -- well, it hasn't happened under my watch.
We've all been through it. & though I've had other shit-related nightmares at work since then -- including one explosion in the women's restroom that I'm absolutely SURE, due to my persistent, naive belief that women represent all that is Good, the far-better half of humanity ... that NO WOMAN could have created, or at least no woman I ever want to meet -- none of them tops that gravelly-voiced little old man ... who's face is still on my Shit List.
For the past month, we've only had one functioning restroom at work, after some unknown barbarian plugged-up the men's toilet for the absolute Last Time. & amazingly, although it's been a pain, the co-ed bathroom has stayed MUCH cleaner. Up til now. I've probably jinxed it just by writing this....
The Screamer!
For more background, I thought I'd introduce you to the man who dragged me into this line of work 6-1/2 years ago: My former boss, normally a rather quiet and shy early-50's Korean gentleman named John (NOT his real name), but who for our purposes we're going to call The Screamer. Why will become obvious.
I owe The Screamer a lot: He hired me to work in his little gas station (where I still work) after I'd been unemployed for 9 months and was at the absolute end of my rope. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to go back to being a reporter....
At my job interview I was struck by how soft-spoken John was. He seemed very nice & probably saw immediately how desperate I was. He said I could start work the next day. I wore a rather bright orange & purple African-mask-motif shirt to the interview, hoping to make an impression. "We have no dress code here," John said. "You can wear anything you want. But not THAT shirt."
I started training the next night, working with a younger guy named Tony who had dozens of tattoos & about 84 piercings. As soon as I walked in the door I thought I'd walked into the wrong store by accident. Tony, though as gentle-voiced as John, looked like something out of a Clive Barker movie. "It's OK," he said in mellow tones, "you're in the right place...."
Tony taught me everything I know. Every night I use things he taught me. Tony himself went on to flip houses, a less stressful line of work, as you'll soon see....
After 2 days of training they threw me to the wolves. Every time John came in I babbled about what stupid thing I'd done and been embarrassed by, or what minor little incident seemed to offend some customer. & John gave me a priceless bit of advice:
"I know you're trying to be good guy," he said. "You ARE good guy. But you can't worry all the time about everything that goes wrong. If you do, you'll be useless to me. If something goes wrong with customer, they'll be gone in five minutes. You still have to be here."
For awhile I worked mornings & quickly learned that John wanted the place immaculate by the time he came in at 8 a.m. That was his way of judging whether the morning person was actually working or not. That gave me 2 hours to make the store spotless. Sometimes I made it, but John would always find something to trip me up about. That didn't stop me from trying to make the place perfect. I still try to make the store spotless when I'm working, as if I expect John to walk in any minute -- & John sold the store 5 years ago....
I stopped racing to make the place spotless each morning when one day John walked in and started yelling about something I knew nothing about, had no control over and couldn't fix. That didn't keep him from yelling. Finally he started winding down and said "I'm not angry at YOU, I'm angry at SITUATION."
Thanks for clarifying that....
When I WANTED John to yell he wouldn't. John was there on my worst work day ever, when one of our morning Regulars (a constantly-grumpy businessman) grabbed his usual 64-cent refill cup of coffee & then yelled that he was NEVER GOING TO BUY GAS HERE AGAIN because he couldn't count on us. We ran out of gas about 3 times a week at that point, & I had to agree with him that we were pretty unreliable.
The customer immediately after him, a short, 80-year-old man with gray hair, glasses & a cane, screamed at me that our milk prices were "A FUCKING RIP-OFF!"
And John stood beside me all through it, nodding his head up and down as if he didn't understand or didn't speak enough English to be able to respond.
Later the same day I gave away $150 in "free gas" to 2 customers who drove away without paying -- half to a Regular I never saw again, & the other half to a guy who said he was working at a building project in town and he'd be back in to pay me the next day. I gave him a week, then went to his work site and had to embarrass him in front of his boss in order to get the money.
John said of the drive-offs: "This will not cost you your job ... THIS TIME."
When the new red, white and blue $50 bills came out & I took one as payment for gas, John came UNGLUED. "Why'd you take this bill?!" he screamed. "You KNOW it's fake! You probably even know who you took it from! Why everybody always trying to rip me off?!"
When I told John the new bills had been all over the news -- hadn't he seen anything about them? -- he responded very quietly: "Why are you trying to make me more angry about this?"
When the bank confirmed the bill was real, John didn't apologize for his screaming fit.
The screaming became so common that I could tell it was going to be a bad day if I pulled into the parking lot at work and my co-workers were shaking their heads "No" through the window at me. That meant I'd want to be anywhere else but at work while John was on a rampage.
The Screamer did do some amazing things, though. The gas-station business works on a credit/account system: If you order a gas shipment, the oil company will send it as long as they know you're credit's good & that you'll pay them within a certain period. By July 2004, John's credit had run out. By then, to get a gas shipment, John had to wire the oil company the money up-front, & then they took their time getting the shipment sent.
For 10 days after the 4th of July that year, we had no gas at the gas station. In the middle of that 10-day period was a pay day. I still don't know how John got us all paid then, when we were only selling about $300 worth of stuff per day at the store. But somehow he did it. I don't know how he got the gas shipments rolling again, either....
The Screamer sold the store in December 2004. He said he was going to retire, that as he neared age 55 he couldn't take the stress anymore. Though he'd kept us working and usually paid us on time, my co-workers and I were happy to see him go. My new boss is a quiet, happy guy, who I've seen upset maybe twice in 5 years, & never at me. He never says two words when one will do, & I've never heard him raise his voice at his employees. Things are MUCH smoother and quieter now.
Last I heard, The Screamer had bought another gas station about 10 miles down the road from us. I feel sorry for his employees....
I owe The Screamer a lot: He hired me to work in his little gas station (where I still work) after I'd been unemployed for 9 months and was at the absolute end of my rope. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to go back to being a reporter....
At my job interview I was struck by how soft-spoken John was. He seemed very nice & probably saw immediately how desperate I was. He said I could start work the next day. I wore a rather bright orange & purple African-mask-motif shirt to the interview, hoping to make an impression. "We have no dress code here," John said. "You can wear anything you want. But not THAT shirt."
I started training the next night, working with a younger guy named Tony who had dozens of tattoos & about 84 piercings. As soon as I walked in the door I thought I'd walked into the wrong store by accident. Tony, though as gentle-voiced as John, looked like something out of a Clive Barker movie. "It's OK," he said in mellow tones, "you're in the right place...."
Tony taught me everything I know. Every night I use things he taught me. Tony himself went on to flip houses, a less stressful line of work, as you'll soon see....
After 2 days of training they threw me to the wolves. Every time John came in I babbled about what stupid thing I'd done and been embarrassed by, or what minor little incident seemed to offend some customer. & John gave me a priceless bit of advice:
"I know you're trying to be good guy," he said. "You ARE good guy. But you can't worry all the time about everything that goes wrong. If you do, you'll be useless to me. If something goes wrong with customer, they'll be gone in five minutes. You still have to be here."
For awhile I worked mornings & quickly learned that John wanted the place immaculate by the time he came in at 8 a.m. That was his way of judging whether the morning person was actually working or not. That gave me 2 hours to make the store spotless. Sometimes I made it, but John would always find something to trip me up about. That didn't stop me from trying to make the place perfect. I still try to make the store spotless when I'm working, as if I expect John to walk in any minute -- & John sold the store 5 years ago....
I stopped racing to make the place spotless each morning when one day John walked in and started yelling about something I knew nothing about, had no control over and couldn't fix. That didn't keep him from yelling. Finally he started winding down and said "I'm not angry at YOU, I'm angry at SITUATION."
Thanks for clarifying that....
When I WANTED John to yell he wouldn't. John was there on my worst work day ever, when one of our morning Regulars (a constantly-grumpy businessman) grabbed his usual 64-cent refill cup of coffee & then yelled that he was NEVER GOING TO BUY GAS HERE AGAIN because he couldn't count on us. We ran out of gas about 3 times a week at that point, & I had to agree with him that we were pretty unreliable.
The customer immediately after him, a short, 80-year-old man with gray hair, glasses & a cane, screamed at me that our milk prices were "A FUCKING RIP-OFF!"
And John stood beside me all through it, nodding his head up and down as if he didn't understand or didn't speak enough English to be able to respond.
Later the same day I gave away $150 in "free gas" to 2 customers who drove away without paying -- half to a Regular I never saw again, & the other half to a guy who said he was working at a building project in town and he'd be back in to pay me the next day. I gave him a week, then went to his work site and had to embarrass him in front of his boss in order to get the money.
John said of the drive-offs: "This will not cost you your job ... THIS TIME."
When the new red, white and blue $50 bills came out & I took one as payment for gas, John came UNGLUED. "Why'd you take this bill?!" he screamed. "You KNOW it's fake! You probably even know who you took it from! Why everybody always trying to rip me off?!"
When I told John the new bills had been all over the news -- hadn't he seen anything about them? -- he responded very quietly: "Why are you trying to make me more angry about this?"
When the bank confirmed the bill was real, John didn't apologize for his screaming fit.
The screaming became so common that I could tell it was going to be a bad day if I pulled into the parking lot at work and my co-workers were shaking their heads "No" through the window at me. That meant I'd want to be anywhere else but at work while John was on a rampage.
The Screamer did do some amazing things, though. The gas-station business works on a credit/account system: If you order a gas shipment, the oil company will send it as long as they know you're credit's good & that you'll pay them within a certain period. By July 2004, John's credit had run out. By then, to get a gas shipment, John had to wire the oil company the money up-front, & then they took their time getting the shipment sent.
For 10 days after the 4th of July that year, we had no gas at the gas station. In the middle of that 10-day period was a pay day. I still don't know how John got us all paid then, when we were only selling about $300 worth of stuff per day at the store. But somehow he did it. I don't know how he got the gas shipments rolling again, either....
The Screamer sold the store in December 2004. He said he was going to retire, that as he neared age 55 he couldn't take the stress anymore. Though he'd kept us working and usually paid us on time, my co-workers and I were happy to see him go. My new boss is a quiet, happy guy, who I've seen upset maybe twice in 5 years, & never at me. He never says two words when one will do, & I've never heard him raise his voice at his employees. Things are MUCH smoother and quieter now.
Last I heard, The Screamer had bought another gas station about 10 miles down the road from us. I feel sorry for his employees....
The latest....
The Gas Nazi took a couple days off earlier this week to briefly escape from the job-related stress, but I'm Back At It now & Friday night was actually pretty smooth -- as most Friday nights are. Customers are usually in a great mood on Friday nights because it's their weekend & they want to get on their merry way, & that suits me fine.
Enough customers in the past week have thought enough of my approach or attitude or efficiency or friendliness or SOMETHING to compliment me, & that gives me The Strength To Carry On against impossible odds.
To wit: We got a computer "upgrade" a week ago that now REQUIRES us to ask customers what kind of gas they'll be putting in their car. Without that key information, they might not get their gas.
Which means it now takes TWICE AS LONG to set people up with the amount of gas they want. This doesn't sit well with some people. Especially those who are in a hurry. & it's a whole lot of fun during Rush Hour....
I've lucked out thus far & haven't been hassled too much, but I've heard that the woman who works the mornings got SCREAMED at by a guy who thought what kind of gas he was buying was none of her business, that she was invading his privacy for no reason, & he promised he'd speak to her boss about this.
So, let him. Does he think she'd ask this stuff if she didn't HAVE to? Like we really CARE what kind of gas you're buying? People can be so SO stupid....
Enough customers in the past week have thought enough of my approach or attitude or efficiency or friendliness or SOMETHING to compliment me, & that gives me The Strength To Carry On against impossible odds.
To wit: We got a computer "upgrade" a week ago that now REQUIRES us to ask customers what kind of gas they'll be putting in their car. Without that key information, they might not get their gas.
Which means it now takes TWICE AS LONG to set people up with the amount of gas they want. This doesn't sit well with some people. Especially those who are in a hurry. & it's a whole lot of fun during Rush Hour....
I've lucked out thus far & haven't been hassled too much, but I've heard that the woman who works the mornings got SCREAMED at by a guy who thought what kind of gas he was buying was none of her business, that she was invading his privacy for no reason, & he promised he'd speak to her boss about this.
So, let him. Does he think she'd ask this stuff if she didn't HAVE to? Like we really CARE what kind of gas you're buying? People can be so SO stupid....
Monday, May 31, 2010
Welcome to Hell!
Based on my 6-1/2 years of experiences working in a gas station/convenience store, there's a few things I wanna know:
* Why are so many people in such a freakin hurry?
* Why are so many people so freakin rude? (And why do they think it's NORMAL?)
* Why do people think they can negotiate and barter over prices at a convenience store -- something they'd never dare to do at Wal-Mart or Fred Meyer or Albertson's or Safeway?
* Why does everybody yell so much?
* Why do so many people have a hair-trigger temper? (I KNOW why I do -- this JOB did it to me. But what about everybody else?)
* Why do people think if they learn your name you'll give them a break on prices? (Because we're buddies, right?)
* When did it become normal to call total strangers "Bud" or "Buddy" or "Bro"? (As in "You're gonna give me this beer for half-price, right, Bud?" or "You don't care if I'm not of legal age to buy alcohol -- right, Bro?")
* Why is it when you welcome people into your store with an at-least half-hearted "How's it goin'?" they look right through you or don't respond or look the other way?
* What are people afraid of?
* Why are people so WEIRD?
* Why don't people use language to COMMUNICATE CLEARLY?
* Why do people think non-stop yelling will solve their problem?
* Why do people ask questions and then interrupt the answers?
* Why do people interrupt at all? Don't they know how freakin rude that is?
* Why don't people flush the toilet? Do they really expect a total stranger to follow after them and do it for them? Or do they just not give a shit?
...Speaking of shit, that reminds me of some GREAT stories I've GOT to tell ya....
Let's cut off this list of questions for now, since it ain't really very funny, & I'll get back to them later. I'm sure more questions will pop up as we go along.
Oh, and there'll be a pop quiz on this material at a later date....
* Why are so many people in such a freakin hurry?
* Why are so many people so freakin rude? (And why do they think it's NORMAL?)
* Why do people think they can negotiate and barter over prices at a convenience store -- something they'd never dare to do at Wal-Mart or Fred Meyer or Albertson's or Safeway?
* Why does everybody yell so much?
* Why do so many people have a hair-trigger temper? (I KNOW why I do -- this JOB did it to me. But what about everybody else?)
* Why do people think if they learn your name you'll give them a break on prices? (Because we're buddies, right?)
* When did it become normal to call total strangers "Bud" or "Buddy" or "Bro"? (As in "You're gonna give me this beer for half-price, right, Bud?" or "You don't care if I'm not of legal age to buy alcohol -- right, Bro?")
* Why is it when you welcome people into your store with an at-least half-hearted "How's it goin'?" they look right through you or don't respond or look the other way?
* What are people afraid of?
* Why are people so WEIRD?
* Why don't people use language to COMMUNICATE CLEARLY?
* Why do people think non-stop yelling will solve their problem?
* Why do people ask questions and then interrupt the answers?
* Why do people interrupt at all? Don't they know how freakin rude that is?
* Why don't people flush the toilet? Do they really expect a total stranger to follow after them and do it for them? Or do they just not give a shit?
...Speaking of shit, that reminds me of some GREAT stories I've GOT to tell ya....
Let's cut off this list of questions for now, since it ain't really very funny, & I'll get back to them later. I'm sure more questions will pop up as we go along.
Oh, and there'll be a pop quiz on this material at a later date....
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