Trust me -- it's the holidays

Gas price -- $3.35 for a gallon of Regular.

The holidays at our little gas station hasn't been so bad. The Manager's Daughter (who closes the store on the two nights I'm off) and I got together and talked over the Overwork I've been bitching about here for the past few months. She says lots of stuff gets left for HER to do, too -- that sometimes when she comes in to work the place is trashed and nobody seems to think that's wrong.
So she's been trying harder when she knows I have to take over the store from her, and things are better, I'm not freakin' so much -- but I still have nights when it seems All Too Much and I grumble and snap at people. As usual.
The Manager's Daughter also has days when all she does is play slots or Candy Crush Saga on her cellphone -- so I'm thinking that half of her talk about all this work is just lip service. But what the hell....

Customers have generally been pretty cool this holiday season, though the usual Crazies are out. Awhile back I had some guy I'd never seen before ask if I could float him $5 for gas, and when I turned him down he seemed shocked:
"Dude, where is the love?!"
I did NOT say I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE, ASSHOLE -- or even WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I'VE GOT MONEY? -- I WORK HERE. But I was thinking it.
This past weekend, some young brunette stopped at the station, tried to set up her car for gas with two different credit/debit cards, got declined on both of them, then asked to use the phone. She called three friends -- nobody would come rescue her.
Then she asked if I'd "spot" her $5 for gas. All I said was "No." She got so angry she ran out of the store and left one of her cards on the counter, so I had to take it out to her.
I didn't say anything more, but I wondered -- why would anyone go out knowing they had no gas in their car and their charge cards were maxed-out? Unless they were running away from an argument, I mean?
I am so tired of being a sucker.
Dude, where is the love?
Awhile back, a stranger came in wanting to fill up and I told him I couldn't do that -- that I had to take his money up-front or could set him up with a charge card. He paused and grumbled while he dug out his cash. He threw $60 at me.
"That's OK," he said, "I don't trust YOU either."
"Yeah," I said, "but you know I'll be HERE all night."
There was no point explaining our policy or how many times I've been ripped-off in the past -- people don't want to hear it. But at least I didn't get in a fight with the guy....

The best one lately: A week or so back when we were changing shifts, a guy came in to put gas in his car. He had a pocket full of cash, but he was fumbling with it and his reactions seemed slow. As he stood fumbling with his cash, his eyes rolled back in his head and I thought he was going to pass out.
"Are you OK?" I asked.
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Your reactions are a little slow, and you're looking like you might fall asleep."
"I'm OK ... I've just been tattooing people for about 12 hours today."
"That'd probably do it. When's the last time you had anything to eat?"
"It's been awhile ... but I'm OK."
He wobbled outside, put his gas in his car. Then, after he was done, a couple minutes later he picked the nozzle back up again, as if he'd forgotten he'd pumped his gas.
I went outside. "Everything OK out here?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's OK," he said. "I just couldn't remember if I put Plus or Premium in my car ... but I'm OK."
Right. I went back inside. By this time the Manager's Daughter and I were talking about the guy. Then he came in.
"I think you're right," he said. "Maybe I need something to eat."
He grabbed a soda and some beef jerky, and as he again fumbled with his cash, he started wobbling. I thought his knees were going to buckle. He was going to collapse right at the cash register.
"Could you use a chair?" I asked.
"I'm OK," he said.
"You look like you're about to pass out right here," I said. "Could be a low-blood-sugar thing -- I've seen people pass out from that stuff right in front of me."
"I'll be OK. I'm just gonna go out and eat this in my car -- I gotta drive to Tacoma tonight...."
He went back to his car. Five minutes later he was asleep behind the wheel with the driver's-side door hanging wide open, his head tilted back. He was snoring.
The Manager's Daughter checked on him, got the license-plate number off of his car, and handed it to me.
"We can't have him driving like this," I said.
So I took a deep breath and called 911, and asked if an officer could come do a welfare check on the guy. They were there within 5 minutes, checked him out in the parking lot, did a field sobriety test. It took a long time.
Finally the guy came back in. This time his eyes were wide open and he was alert -- a big improvement.
"Hey, thanks for calling somebody to check on me," he said. "I appreciate it. And I'm feeling better."
"You're lookin' better," I told him.
Finally the cop came in. "I think he's coming down off of something," the cop said, "but I'll be damned if I know what. Nice guy, though -- very cordial, very talkative. But we startled him -- he didn't know where he was when we woke him up. He thought he was in Tacoma. He asked me 'Am I still at the gas station? What am I doin' HERE?'"
Finally the cops cleared him to leave and the parking lot cleared out. So that one worked out. But the last time I called the cops to do a welfare check on one of our customers, they ended up arresting the guy, and for awhile I was afraid that was going to happen again....

I'm not hoping for much in the New Year. I'd like to see people be NICER to each other. I'd like to see people not be so STUPID. Of course I'd also like to sell a few million of my books and win the Lottery -- but I'm not holding my breath expecting any of that to happen....
Happy New Ear! More soon....

TEN YEARS!

Gas price: $3.25 for a gallon of Regular.

OK, so to celebrate my 10 years of work at our little gas station, I went into work Wednesday after my two days off and dumped on my Manager about how I've been feeling overworked and taken advantage of lately....
Though the place has been in far worse shape when I've walked in for my Monday evenings, it was just bad enough on Wednesday night to get me going. So I laid-out the basics....
And she WENT OFF! She IMMEDIATELY started running around doing all the stuff that I usually whirl around like a madman doing for my first two hours after coming back from my weekend -- she filled-up the ice machine, stocked sodas, filled-up the cappuccino machine, bagged ice -- she spent an HOUR stocking the cooler!
By the end of it I was just wishing that she'd leave, because I knew I'd made her furious.
On her way out the door, she gently asked that I make her a list of all the things that don't get done while I'm gone, and she said she'd address them. Even though some of those things reflect badly on her daughter, who works afternoons and closes the store on the two nights I'm off.
So I started making her list -- I've filled up both sides of a 3x5 index card so far. But I'm sort of scared to give the list to her. Because I don't want to make her furious all over again.
Still, I wonder if she learned much from spinning around doing all the stuff that stresses me out when I first come back into work. She must have at least seen that the work was THERE to do, that everyone had left it for me....
My roommate thinks my Manager just got pissed because she actually had to do some work for a change.
As for me, I pretty much gave up on the idea of maybe getting a big surprise cake to celebrate my 10 years on the job, or a card from my co-workers thanking me for my support -- "We couldn't have done it without you," etc. Or any kind of surprise, really.
And I don't think that Employee Of The Month award is gonna be coming my way anytime soon, either....

So that night pretty-much sucked. But Thursday night was better. And Friday night was a breeze, somehow -- despite it taking me 70 MINUTES to drive the 10 miles to work, through THE WORST TRAFFIC I'VE EVER SEEN AROUND HERE. I ended up 25 minutes late. I could have WALKED to work faster.... Who knew the Veterans' Day three-day weekend was such a huge holiday, huh?
Still using mostly old Motown and '60/'70s Soul/R&B music to keep me moving and motivated at work. Working especially well lately have been The Temptations' "Get Ready" and "I Can't Get Next to You," Junior Walker and the All-Stars' ESSENTIAL COLLECTION, practically everything by Stevie Wonder, Booker T and the MG's VERY BEST OF -- oh, and Kansas's "Miracles Out of Nowhere" and "Questions of My Childhood," and Tommy James and the Shondells' "Sweet Cherry Wine," "Ball of Fire" and "Crystal Blue Persuasion." And I hated "Crystal Blue Persuasion" for YEARS....

I'm just the janitor here....

Current gas price: $3.35 for a gallon of Regular.

On Nov. 7, I'll mark 10 years of working as a cashier at our little gas station. I don't want to think about that too much. At least I have a job....

The past month I've mostly spent just cleaning up after everyone else. I come in to work, stock the cooler, clean the restroom, stock sodas and energy drinks and beer, vacuum and sweep, fill up the ice machine, clean the cappuccino machine, take people's money, try to stay awake, bag ice, mop the floor, and go home before it gets too late and I start collecting too much Overtime.
Most nights, I seem to be the only employee stocking the cooler, stocking sodas, cleaning the restroom, filling the ice machine, emptying garbage cans, bagging ice, stocking beer, cleaning the cappuccino machine.... Clearly I was put here to clean up after everyone else.
A talk over the weekend with our newest employee revealed that when she was trained she was told NOT to stock energy drinks or sodas or beer -- that I'd get mad at her if she did. Really?
WELL. I may have felt that way 10 years ago, when I wanted people to rely on me and not worry about whether I'd hold up my end. But now that I'm a tired, grumpy old man I'd welcome any employee who wants to do more than they're absolutely required to. I ain't as young as I used to be, do what you like, be my guest, knock yourself out.
But it's never gonna change, and there's no way to address it through my boss without her saying "We all work hard, we're all overworked, we all do our share...."
Time for a raise? Ain't had one in three years. And with business slowing down for the Winter, now seems like a REALLY bad time to ask....
Thank Ghod for old Soul/R&B tunes to get me through the evenings awake and in one piece. Songs by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Booker T and the MG's, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Spinners, Marvin Gaye and my comedy brothers in Parliament have gotten me through the last month -- keeping me moving and motivated and happy and even laughing sometimes.
The rest of the experience has pretty much been shit.
Last week I got chewed-on for the first time in a couple of years by a guy who was trying to fill-up and the gas pump shut him off at $50. That'd be enough of an investment for me, but it wasn't enough for him. He came in and asked what our guidelines were. And I tried to explain it. But you know the type -- he knew all the answers up-front. And he kept cutting me off after a couple of words.
"I've got $4,000 worth of credit available," he said. "Why would your pumps shut me off at $50? I called my bank -- they said it had to be you guys because THEY didn't do it...."
Well, I didn't do it. It's automatic. Well, it's a security thing. Well, maybe you don't have as much available credit as you think. I used to get one of my charge cards declined whenever I tried to buy a snack at work and didn't have $75 in my account to cover it. Well, I don't know. I'm just the janitor here.
The guy said he wanted to talk to my Manager, and I told him her name and when she'd be back in to work next.
And of course he never came back. They hardly ever do. That's probably a good thing.
Shit, for $4,000 he could have bought half of what was in the store. He could have bought most of the gas we had available when he tried to fill up.
But I don't know. It's over my head. I don't know what's going on. I'm just the janitor here....

Sorry, this one's a bit of a downer. I need a change. I'm gonna go shave and cut my hair and take a shower and do the dishes and cook dinner. Anything to stop feeling this overworked and tired all the time, like I never leave the store. As soon as I leave, it feels like I'm right back there again. And it's only eight more months 'til vacation!
Hoping you are NOT the same....

Crazy people

Hey, Summer ain't over yet. The Crazy People are still out.
The following incident didn't happen to me -- it happened Friday to our Morning Girl at the store. In response to which she should be writing HER OWN blog. But that's not gonna stop me from using it here....
It's just before 10 a.m. The Morning Girl is just about to turn the store over to our Afternoon Girl.
Suddenly a car screeches into the parking lot, and a woman in her 50s jumps out and starts taking pictures of the Morning Girl's car with her cellphone. The Morning Girl notices, wonders what's going on.
The woman in her 50s comes inside. "I want your name!" she demands.
"What's going on?" the Morning Girl asks.
"I want your NAME!" the 50s woman repeats, then comes behind the cashier's counter and starts digging through paperwork, taking pictures of everything, looking for something with the Morning Girl's name on it.
She takes a picture of the Afternoon Girl's shift report and deduces that the Afternoon Girl's name is the name of the Morning Girl.
"Oh, so your name is...." the woman says.
The Afternoon Girl -- who is pushing 200 pounds and isn't easily intimidated -- tells the deranged woman to get out from behind the counter, but the woman is on a mission. The Afternoon Girl then gets on the phone to the police.
The crazy woman gets in the Morning Girl's face. "Let me take your picture!" she demands.
The Morning Girl -- who is nearly six feet tall and shouldn't be easily intimidated either -- backs away and turns, heading for the back room. The 50s woman grabs her arm and tries to spin her around, trying to get a shot of her face.
The Afternoon Girl is on the phone, telling police there's a deranged person in the building.
The 50s woman gets a couple hair and maybe profile shots. Apparently she's satisfied.
"That's what you get for STALKING ME!" the woman shouts. "Now you're IN for it, 'cos THE LAW'S gonna be after you!"
"What the hell are you TALKING about?" the Morning Girl says. "I've never SEEN you before in my whole LIFE!"
The 50s woman leaves the store, climbs in her car, and screeches out of the parking lot. The Morning Girl gets a partial license-plate number.
When the cops finally arrive, they spend hours talking to the two store employees and trying to reconstruct what the hell happened. They take the partial license-plate number, which they think might be enough to help them track down the deranged woman....
...This is the best one in awhile, and at least it didn't happen to me. Compared to this, my Friday night was a breeze. All I had to compete with was people dropping drinks all night and spilling them all over the floor.
It should be interesting to learn if this woman was just deranged, or if her meds ran out, or if she was high on meth, or what. Could be any of those things. And we'll probably never know....
Until Fall officially kicks in, my best advice is keep your head down and your eyes open....

Gas price: $3.69 for a gallon of Regular.

On vacation

Gas price: $3.77 for a gallon of Regular.

This last week has been a bitch.
Following behind my Manager and her Daughter three days. Cleaning and stocking the store when it seems like no one else does.
Pricing and stocking a normal-sized beer order -- and getting laughed at when I asked our beer-distributor if he could bring the same-sized order for the Labor Day Weekend.
Running my ass off, as usual. Ain't got much ass left.
The Biker Chick returned to work one last shift -- and was only $36 short on her cash at the end of this one last go-'round.
On Sunday I followed The New Girl, who was worn to a frazzle by the time I got to work -- with the cash register messed-up and gas pumps locked up and alarms going off telling us we were almost out of gas.
But she survived it, and the store was in no worse a shape than I'd expected.
And she was only $5 short. And she was worried she might get fired -- ha! You have to mess up pretty badly to get fired from this place....
And I might have. On Saturday night I suggested that one of our Regulars could help me out if he wiped off his shoes before he came into the store.
And he freaked out!
I'd delicately suggested this before. The guy is a little older than me and works in a pizza parlor, and every night I've worked lately he's been in around 9 to pick up a six-pack on his way home.
And every time he's come in, he's left little white footprints all over our dark rugs on his way back to the beer section. And all the way back up front to the cash register.
This usually happens right after I've just finished vacuuming. Or when the store's really busy. And it makes me look like a lazy slob.
It bugged me.
So I lightly mentioned it a couple times before, and he didn't Get It. Or he laughed at me.
So on Saturday I was more direct. I said it would really help me if he could wipe his shoes on the mat outside the front door before he came in.
And he blew up.
"I've got construction guys coming in my place and wrecking it ALL THE TIME, and I've never said SHIT to THEM because they're CUSTOMERS!" he shouted. "Your Management is gonna hear about how you feel, and you won't be seeing my face again!"
And I was thinking: Maybe if you DID say something to your construction guys, you wouldn't have to come in and buy a six-pack to de-stress when you get home each night.
And: If you know how that feels, why would you do it to someone else? Because it's your turn to dump, because that's what makes the world go 'round?
And: Is it really that big a deal to you? It would take FIVE SECONDS to wipe your feet....
Hey, I've told painters and construction guys to wipe their feet, and they're still coming back....
This isn't just where I work -- it's my home for eight hours a day, and I care about how it looks, and it pisses me off when people trash it or don't clean up after themselves.
Besides, I'm tired of being fed shit by people and being told all I can do is swallow.
If she had been around, my Girlfriend would have joked with me -- as she sometimes does when I need a nudge -- that I was being a Pompous, Arrogant Asshole. And maybe I was.
After he left, the customer behind him told me not to worry about it: "That guy's a prick; I've seen him in other places...."
That helped, and I thanked him. And I didn't even start shaking, like I sometimes do in confrontations with customers.
Maybe it's a good thing I'm on vacation for the next nine days. Though folks generally haven't been terribly behaved or overly demanding during the past week, it was a long week anyway, with lots of people out and about and the busiest Friday and Saturday nights I've had in awhile. And I worked an extra month before taking vacation this year, while store management figured out its personnel issues....
So, was I out of line? You decide. And let me know below....

It just gets better....

Apparently we have a new Regular at the gas station.
She's a menace.
She first came in last Thursday night. Kind of short, long dark hair, probably mid-to-late-50's, a little wrinkly, fingernails all made-up. She grabbed a six-pack of beer and reached for the fresh beef jerky in the display case....
Then she paused. She was already starting to back people up.
"HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE PUT THEIR HANDS IN THIS?" she squawked.
"...Everybody in town," I said. "But if I whacked the hands of everybody who reached in there, nobody'd ever come back."
"WELL, DO YOU HAVE TONGS?"
They were right in front of her, but she couldn't see them. I handed them to her.
Then when she tried to pay, she got her PIN number wrong for her debit card. She got it right the second time.
"Next time I'll have you SIGN for it," I said. "It'll be faster."
I already suspected she'd had a few, but I was almost certain when she came back a night later. She grabbed another six-pack and was able to get out of the store with no major delays.
But she came back 2 hours later to buy gas....
...And shoved her debit card up the RECEIPT slot and into the gas pump's machinery.
Only the second time I've seen THAT happen in almost 10 years.
I knew SOMETHING was wrong when she stood there in front of the pump for so long. She couldn't figure out where to slide her card at, I guess. Then I SAW her force her card up into the gas pump.
She headed toward the store but I beat her to it. I went out the door and said "You didn't...?"
"Ya got any tweezers?" she asked.
I had to ring-up a couple other customers, so it took me a few minutes to get outside to help her, and she probably wasn't too thrilled about that.
When I went out, it took me a minute to find the key that would open up the receipt box. Then I had to pull the whole printer mechanism out to see if we could MAYBE find her card.
Remember, this is me, The Blind Guy, trying to do this -- trying to do close-up work without his reading glasses.
I fumbled around with the printer for a minute, then tried looking down on it from above to see if I could get a better view. I figured her charge card was going to be gone forever, lost inside the innards of the machine.
But there was her card, an edge of it just sticking out of the top of the printer.
"You are LUCKY," I said.
She tried it again, using the actual card-slider this time, got her gas and went away, and she hasn't been back.
But maybe I have a new Regular to watch out for. Ghod forbid....

Our price for a gallon of Regular gas is still holding at $3.85. While I've seen prices as low as $3.75 (right across the street), I've also seen prices still as high as $3.99. Gouge while the getting's good....

Since The Biker Chick was let go, my shift now follows either my Manager or her Daughter every work-day. Which means I'm running my ass off. But only one more week to go before Vacation.
My Manager does at least stock the drinks cooler and does sometimes bag ice before she goes home. Her Daughter does as little as she can get away with.
So I do a lot of cleaning and stocking on my Monday night to get caught up with how the place was let-go during my 2 days off. And on my Tuesday I price and stock what is usually a pretty-good-sized beer order.
Most nights lately after closing I've been bagging ice and stocking the cooler before I count money and do paperwork. The only plus to all this is that I usually have no time left to mop the store.
I've mopped the whole store exactly once in the last month, and I'm finding other places to cut corners. Because I have no choice. Under our Owner's No Overtime Policy, I have to be out of the building by 1 a.m. So I get as far as I can, then I stop worrying about it and go home.
I've pretty much worn-out my good pair of Work Shoes, so I change shoes halfway through a shift. Most nights my feet ache by the end of a shift. Some nights I limp from the front door to the car, because my feet have HAD IT.
The Summer We All Wanted has at least kept most customers' moods pretty Up -- and I've basically been too tired to care. I AM tired. I've worked an extra month-plus before taking a vacation this year, because of our personnel shuffles. Now that we have enough folks trained to cover for me, I should be able to do my next week standing on my head.
And then a blessed 10 days off....
Long as we don't get too many more customers shoving their debit cards into the machinery....
In November, I'll mark 10 years at this job. Time to retire and write novels...?

$3.93!

Just a quick update -- our price for a gallon of Regular gas has been $3.93 since Wednesday afternoon. If you use a debit or credit card & don't get a discount, you'll be paying $4.01 per gallon. This allows the nationwide chain-station across the street to undercut us by 15 cents per gallon.
More soon. Summer continues -- hot here, but not too many Crazies out. (Hope I haven't just jinxed myself by mentioning it....)

Going Up....

Gas prices are going up again -- we bottomed-out at $3.69 a gallon for Regular over the last couple weeks, but have now gone up 20 cents in 3 days -- up to $3.89 per gallon as of yesterday afternoon, allowing the nationwide chainstore across the street to undercut us by 20 cents.
I wonder what the Oil Industry's excuse for this price increase is...? Amazing how they held off over the July 4th weekend but decided to do their recouping now...?
Otherwise, still running my ass off, still doing work for at least 3 other employees, life is grand. Counting down to Vacation, which is coming somewhere between 2 and 6 weeks from now. Wondering if it's time to ask for a Raise (haven't had one in at least 3 years), but doubt if I'd get it, even WITH all the running-ass-off activity....
& how are things in your little world...?

Taking one for the team

Gas price -- $3.79 for a gallon of Regular.

Had another wonderful Monday at work. It's always a pleasure to come back in after a couple days off and see that NOTHING has been done -- that sodas & energy drinks haven't been stocked, that nobody's tossed any ice into the soda machine, that the restroom hasn't been cleaned, that the garbage cans are full, the parking lot looks like an ashtray, nobody's cleaned off the counters, the floors have drinks spilled all over....
The only bonus was I didn't take over from my Manager. Instead, The Afternoon Girl was in -- my Manager took 3 days off! And The Afternoon Girl spent the whole time complaining about how tired she was ... and she was out the door by 6 p.m., so she could go see her boyfriend.
And the extra unexpected bonus was -- there was a beer order waiting for me in the cooler!
It was a small order, that should have been delivered two days earlier. Somebody had started pricing it -- they left a price list and a pricing gun in the cooler.
But they quit halfway through and just left it for me.
"Just leave it all for The Nazi, he'll do it all and clean it all up and make us all look good."
Yeah, right. Been doin' that for years.
Every organization has someone who does the lion's share of the work. They keep it going. That's what they're good at. That's what they do. That's what made America great, dammit!
But when I started working here I was told we were a team, and that if we all do our share, nobody will feel buried and all of the work will get done and everybody will be happier. That's how a team works.
What I want to know is, where's the rest of my team?
The Morning Girl does nothing more than she has to, thinks she's Management, and is out the door as soon as possible. If I started work at 4 a.m., I'd be out the door ASAP too.
You've already heard enough about my Manager, who pays lip-service to my concerns and then does what she wants.
The Afternoon Girl has stocked the cooler maybe twice in the six months she's worked for us. She claims to be claustrophobic. She always has somewhere else to be. But she does TRY....
My Manager's Daughter does the basics and goes home. Nothing more than required. But if she got paid for being on her cellphone, she'd be a rich woman by now.
And then there's me. Grumpy, worn-out, overworked, less dedicated every day. I don't expect my history with this place to be chiseled on my tombstone, but dammit.... Somebody needs to do some of the work! It's not that I'm tireless or fanatical, but shit .... Nobody's letting me off the hook. Nobody's giving me a break. Where are MY 3-day weekends...?
To make a long story short, I took care of everything, because that's what I do. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it, or that anyone will ever notice. Got the place cleaned-up and stocked, took care of that beer order, and The Boss didn't even have to pay me any Overtime. He's been getting off cheap with me for quite awhile now. Because I'm an idiot.
And tonight I have to go back and do it again -- with a BIGGER beer order!
The Afternoon Girl thinks all this leaving-work-for-others is a conspiracy by the Manager and the Other Two to get us to quit. They don't like us, and they want us out of here.
But then who would do the work?
I've got to talk to the Manager about this, before I go away for vacation and don't come back....

Down to $3.89!

Gas prices continue to drop -- we're now down to $3.89 for a gallon of Regular. Which is still too much, but....
Not much else to report, currently. Weather here is gorgeous, sunny & around 80. That should start bringing the Summer Weirdos out....
More soon, I'm sure....

Down to $3.95!

Our price for a gallon of Regular gas, as of 2 June 13 -- $3.95.
Prices obviously coming down now after that nationwide price-gouging effort over the Memorial Day Weekend. How are things in your neck of the woods?
More soon....

Bitching

Gas price -- $3.99 per gallon for Regular.

When I got to work Wednesday evening -- my Monday -- the store was trashed. As usual.
Clearly the sodas & energy drinks hadn't been seriously stocked since I went home Sunday night, the ice machine was empty, the floors were a freaking mess, the restroom was hideous, nobody had swept the grunge off the rugs (we STILL don't have a vacuum cleaner) ... and my Manager stood around like everything was great.
Though I'm sure she noticed my almost-immediate whirlwind/crazy-man act that followed for the next 2 hours.
I'll give this to my Manager: She IS a Good Person, & she DID stock the cooler for almost an hour before she went home, bringing out a TON of empty boxes for product she stocked on the shelves -- confirming for me that no one had seriously stocked the cooler since Sunday night. (I brought out a ton MORE empty boxes when I stocked the cooler again after I closed the store.)
...Also confirming that she KNOWS what's going on. & is basically OK with it. Because trying to fix it will cause more trouble for her than just Letting Things Go....
Awhile back she passed down that Everybody's supposed to stock the cooler before they go home, so that The Gas Nazi doesn't freak out every time he comes to work & discovers Nothing's Been Done.
But it hasn't happened.
Oh, everybody pays lip-service to what I'd like. But nobody does much.
I don't expect the store to be Immaculate when I come to work -- I'd just like to see some evidence that the person I take over from has actually Done Something.
I didn't see much evidence of that on Wednesday. & I don't see much of it most days.
Four years ago, when we had 2 guys working at the store, I'm told customers used to come in mornings & compliment the morning & afternoon workers on how clean & organized the store was.
& my women co-workers -- including my Manager -- said: "Oh, The Guys do all of it. We don't do anything."
I have heard this story repeatedly.
Now I'm the only guy working at the store. & all the women leave the stuff they don't want to be bothered with for me.
I've seen this clearly, everybody knows it's happening, & they all figure the lip-service they give me will be enough.
The morning worker hardly ever stocks the cooler. The weekend fill-in has stocked the cooler TWICE in the 4 months she's worked for us -- usually she's in a big hurry to get out the door to see her boyfriend.
& the other fill-in -- my Manager's daughter -- is never around much later than 6 p.m. no matter what, no matter how large a beer order is sitting in the cooler waiting to be priced.
They're all Good People, pleasant to work with and be around, but....
This has happened to me repeatedly over the years.
Men generally work harder than women, no matter what the business setting.
Men get the job done. Women leave most of the work for others.
I wonder why nobody ever talks about this?
In 35+ years of work, I've had exactly one woman supervisor who absolutely knew what she was doing, had worked her way up through the ranks, hadn't forgotten what it was like, & was an absolute model of intelligence and reasonableness.
Over the same period, by far the 2 worst supervisors I've ever had were women -- one who was so busy trying to beat men at their own game that she treated all the men who worked for her like shit, couldn't say a nice word about any of them ... and another who repeatedly dumped all her work on the men who worked for her -- especially when The Job interfered with her Weekend Plans.
Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE women. They're almost always a joy to work with, a pleasure to be around. While guys can often be angry and brutal and crude.
But in my experience, this kind of work-avoidance lip-service behavior by women is pretty much normal.
Does it make me a sexist, for pointing out this Reality?
Very well then, so be it.
Anybody want to argue about this?

Prices going up for Memorial Day

By the way, our little store's price for a gallon of Regular gas went up to $3.95 on Thursday night -- a jump of 20 cents in the last couple weeks.
This after the media'd been reporting that demand for gas was below-normal, supplies were huge, & "experts" expected prices to start dropping toward $3.20 per gallon sometime soon.
Instead, one station in town -- which is notorious for being overpriced & which is usually the first to break the $4/gallon barrier -- is already at $3.99 for a gallon of Regular. (Up to $4.14 as of Saturday afternoon!)
& we are 25 cents per gallon more expensive than the nationwide "cheapo" gas chain across the street.
& so much for all that. My opinion is the oil companies are lining us up for $4 per gallon in time for the Memorial Day Weekend & the Official Start Of Summer. Your opinions?
BTW, Memorial Day will mark 3 years since I started keeping this ranting, raving journal. & I have so much to show for it.... Passed 50 posts here with that "10 Commandments" list below. So, indications are I might just stick with this.
More soon -- I'll keep you posted as gas prices go up-up-up, just like last year....
What are gas prices like in your neck of the woods...?

Getting Better

Things are better now. At the risk of jinxing it, I've had a really smooth last 2 or 3 weeks. Nothing to complain about. The workload seems to have evened out, I don't feel like I'm being taken advantage of quite so much, customers have been easier to deal with ... & as a result, I'm easier to deal with.
Maybe a new batch of motivational music for work has helped. For more about that, see my other blog, TAD's Back-Up Plan. Maybe things have lightened-up because it's trying to be Spring around here. A little Sunshine now & then sure does a lot of good. Maybe I just went down as low as I could go & then bounced back up. It's happened before.
Anyway, things are way better. Didn't want to leave things here the way they were before -- it was too much of a downer.
I'll get back to you when I have something new to report. Even if it's just to complain.
BTW, we're holding at $3.85 for a gallon of Regular gas. Hope things are better in your neck of the woods....

Just One Victory

Things are better here. It's been a good week.
Had a talk with the Manager, she agreed we could maybe spread the work around a little bit more so I don't feel like I'm doing Everything Myself, and since then I've been a lot less stressed. I even ENJOYED working about 3 nights in a row. It's amazing how much less buried I feel when all my co-workers agree to do just a LITTLE bit more -- like a 5-minute re-stocking trip through the cooler before they go home. I already left a note at work thanking all of them. We'll see how long this lasts.

Meanwhile, though the SITUATION has improved, the weirdness level at work has gone way up, especially since Washington state legalized recreational marijuana-smoking back in December. The number of stoned people coming into the store every night now is really incredible. Some of them are DRIVING. I can't be sure that they're impaired -- but either they understand NOTHING, or their attention is all OVER the place. On Saturday night, I asked one ADHD-type guy straight-out if he was driving, then told him to be careful. And he thanked me.
But he wasn't the strangest. Was it a Full Moon up there above our typical Winter overcast?
About 8 p.m., a homeless-looking methed-out guy -- chewing gum like a possessed zombie -- spent half an hour in the restroom ... but he gets bonus points because he DIDN'T mess it up. God Knows what he was doing in there. But when he came out, he gave me a hard time because we didn't have any hot food available -- something we haven't done for years. Then he took his odd-looking, emaciated, tattooed, backpack-wearing self & walked off, chewing gum a mile a minute all the way....
He wasn't even the weirdest. After 11 p.m., a young drunk guy came in, thankfully not driving, but walking around outside in under-40-degree weather, in nothing but a light coat & no hat, complaining about how cold it was.
And he was HAMMERED. He reeked of beer, could barely stand up, was wobbling back and forth from one foot to the other. Luckily, he didn't want to buy more beer. In the space of 10 minutes I sold him two packs of the same cigarettes -- he forgot he'd bought the first pack, but I wasn't going to argue with him -- plus a $5 scratch ticket ... then DEMANDED something hot to drink to help him keep warm. But he didn't want coffee or hot chocolate.
"The last time I drank coffee, I was in the Amazon," he said. "I don't do coffee anymore."
I agreed it wasn't the Amazon outside, & I POURED HIM a cup of steaming hot water out of the coffee machine -- & I warned him it was steaming hot.
And he promptly burnt his mouth on it.
"Are you KIDDING me, dude? I mean, REALLY?!"
"I told you it was hot...."
"Dude, you're crushing me, man. You've got to be kidding."
I asked him what he was talking about as he got progressively more agitated.
"I just want to go HOME," he said. And he started CRYING....
He'd been talking on his cellphone outside the store.
"Are you trying to track down a ride?" I asked.
"Yeah, well, I thought I had a ride, but I guess getting a ride ain't that easy around here. ... Is this Port Orchard? ... It's Friday night, right? ... Oh, Dude, you're just crushing me, are you kidding...? ... Did I lose my hat?"
"You weren't wearing one when you came in."
And he took his cup of hot water and left, stumbling off into the night.
There aren't that many stable people out after about 10 at night anymore, especially on weekends. Must have been a Full Moon. The best drunk I've seen in awhile. I've got to do a post on drunks someday soon, God knows we get enough of them....

On the down side, gas prices here have gone up 50 cents per gallon since the end of January. I've heard that in some parts of the country, prices have gone up 70 CENTS in 3 weeks.
As of Saturday night, we were at $3.89 for a gallon of Regular gas -- up 10 cents from Friday. Our national competitor across the street from us is a dime less per gallon, & the cheap nationwide chain across the corner from us is 20 cents less. Dropping beer & cigarette prices boosted business for us a bit, but we can't control gas prices.
...But I don't want to hear any whining until we break the old Record Price, which is $4.59 per gallon for Regular, set back in the brutal Summer of 2008. Remember those days? Let's not go back there again, OK?

A Normal Night at Work

...Well, not COMPLETELY normal....
I arrived at work at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday to discover our gas price at $3.65 per gallon for Regular -- up 28 cents in 8 days, & 20 cents more than our national competitor across the street....
...And to learn that my Manager had injured her right wrist somehow during her weekend, couldn't lift any weight with it, was ringing-up customers left-handed, and as a result basically did NOTHING during her 8-hour work shift. Nothing was stocked, nothing was filled. She MIGHT have run the vacuum cleaner, couldn't really tell. The outside garbage cans were emptied earlier, apparently by somebody who could actually LIFT things.... The parking lot looked like an ashtray, as usual.
I've been fighting a cold since Sunday morning, didn't sleep well Tuesday night, and don't feel all that great either, so Wednesday night had the possibilities for being an Absolute Classic. And it was.
What follows is mostly from my notes during the shift....

Arrived 4:50 pm. Mgr hurt right wrist, couldn't lift. Takes me a few minutes to actually notice this.
Into the cooler -- low on beer, energy drinks, water, as usual. Beers haven't been moved forward -- Mgr's hurt wrist explains why nothing's been done. Don't doubt her, but if it wasn't this, she'd find some other lame excuse.
Cooler has looked way worse, but I'm in there stocking for 15 minutes anyway. Lots of empty boxes to throw out.
Freezer's low on ice, I guess about 14 bags would fill it. Possibly nobody's bagged ice since Sunday....
To the restroom -- grungy, but not atrocious, as it has been before when I've come back from my weekend. Garbage can's full, hasn't been emptied since I did it Sunday night.
Onto the cash register by 5:10 pm. Most of rush hour is a blur, as usual. Notice we are low on sodas in the out-front coolers. Low on Coke, Diet Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew. As usual. Between customers, I start stocking us up on these.
The Pepsi fountain machine is almost out of ice, possible nobody's filled it since I did Sunday night. As usual.
Mgr is gone by 6:15, tho she did stay long enuf to help get me thru the 6 o'clock rush. She offers to do nothing extra on her way out the door. Another rush begins immediately after she leaves.
Front-cooler sodas are stocked-up by 6:30.
Pepsi machine is re-filled with ice by 7. Inside garbage cans emptied by 7.
Rush continues.
Have carpets vacuumed and inside of store swept by 7:15.
Started taking apart & cleaning the cappuccino machine by 7:30. Cappuccino machine isn't COMPLETELY empty, maybe somebody filled it during my weekend. Get a chance to sit down as I dry-off all the parts before putting it back together.
Rush continues til 8 -- "rush hour" runs a bit late tonight. But after 8 it dies.
Cappuccino machine done by 9, took a little longer than usual due to number of customers in store.
I feel like CRAP and have already decided I'm NOT going to mop the floor, sweep-off the front porch, or fill the sugar canisters -- 3 of which are empty. Let somebody else do it.
Business picked back up starting at 10, including the first of the hoods & drunks.
Get thru it somehow, am not talking much, am losing my voice, have no energy.
I break down & sweep-off the "welcome" mat right outside the front door, so people don't track in the outside grunge.
Lock the doors at 11:59, so sue me.
Hit the bathroom, then fill a dozen bags of ice to throw in the freezer. Some smart-ass employee -- the last one to bag any ice, apparently -- stocked just enuf ice to make the freezer look fuller than it really is. Being the dedicated martyr "lifer" employee that I am, I fill it to the max.
Do paperwork, count money & drop it in the safe, stock the cooler again, mop the bathroom -- but I'm running slow & feel like crap & am already 10 minutes into Overtime, so don't mop the rest of the store -- which would take at least 10 more minutes & give me 20 mins of Overtime under our boss'es recent No Overtime policy.
Out the door at 1 am, pass out at Home before 2....

This is what I've been doing 5 nights a week for the last 9 years, more or less -- usually more. At least they're still paying me. At least I still have a job. If some of my co-workers did just a LITTLE more than what is absolutely required, I'd be a happier guy, but apparently everybody feels OK about leaving practically everything for me. At least somebody emptied the outside garbages earlier on Wednesday, or I could've been a further half-hour behind.
Some blessings -- I didn't get any Major Assholes in the store on Wednesday night, & the drunks & hoods weren't that hard to deal with. At least it didn't get TOO crazy screaming busy, to the point where I couldn't keep up.
There was no yelling -- I COULDN'T yell, and nobody yelled at me either.
Tonight, I have a beer order I might have to price & stock. & I'm still sick. We'll see how that works out.
And the hits just keep on comin'....
But tonight will be better, just because it's not my Monday anymore.
Comments?

Gas prices up 20 cents in a week!

Greetings, Happy New Year and Sorry Again for the delays.
I'm posting here again because the price for a gallon of Regular gasoline at my little store has gone up 20 cents in a week -- from $3.39 per gallon to $3.59.
The national news media says this price spike is due to oil refineries shutting down to switch from their Winter-blend gas to their Summer blend.
I don't know, maybe. Sounds like a hype to me, though. Is the Summer blend thinner? Thicker? Sweeter? What?
To sort-of counteract this, and at roughly the same time, my boss recently dropped prices on beer and cigarettes -- the two biggest items people come into my little store for.
Cigarette prices drop by 40 cents per pack if you buy 2 or more packs. Beer prices, meanwhile, have dropped a dime each for 24-ounce cans up to $2 on 12-packs and 18-packs.
All this happened just in time for the Super Bowl -- good timing. We reportedly now have the cheapest beer prices in town. And our cigarette prices are pretty reasonable too -- for Washington state, where there's really no such thing as "cheap smokes." Before the price change, our cheapest pack of cigarettes was $6.39 plus nearly-9-percent sales tax.
My boss has made these price reductions -- which come straight out of his profit-margin -- because business has been pretty flat since at least September -- and the Summer wasn't the business bonanza we'd all expected, either. I was surprised that we even received Christmas bonuses this year. The boss is trying to come up with more reasons for people to come INTO the store -- because that's where he makes his profit, not on the gas.
Every time I hear something on the national news about how the economy's improving, I just think about how slow things have been at work, how many people are still on Food Stamps or Unemployment, how we've all had to redefine what "a busy night at work" means.
There are still a few people out there with money ... but we haven't seen too many of them, lately.
How are things in your neck of the woods...?

In other updates, our last Real Worker left in December, and now I'm mostly surrounded by a crew that's just collecting a paycheck. A LOT of stuff is left for me to take care of at night -- when I allegedly have All The Time In The World. Stocking, cleaning, emptying garbages, vacuuming, taking care of customers -- you name it, I do it all.
We hired a couple of new people before the holidays, but on a bad day neither of them do all that much, and there were a LOT of things Management apparently didn't tell the newest of our employees. She ALWAYS has questions whenever she works, and she can't seem to remember all that much.
I can always tell when I've had a couple of days off, because when I go back to work on Wednesday evening, the store is usually a shambles and it's clear that nothing much has been stocked since I went home Sunday night.
I've complained about this a couple of times, but my manager just shuts me off. Just a little more effort out of everyone else would make me a happier guy. I know they all have demands on their time, but they sure don't seem to Do Much. And if that's the case, why do I always feel like I'm running around like a crazy person...?
Our store motto sometimes seems to be: Let the 53-year-old bald tired stressed-out guy do it.
But it's always been like this, and I don't see it changing much until I can't keep up anymore.
At least they're still paying me....
So, stop in and see me sometime!

9 YEARS!!!

Hey there. Sorry for the delays.
Celebrated NINE YEARS working at the gas station on Nov. 7 -- the longest I've ever worked for any employer other than the Air Force, and the longest I've worked in one location EVER.
So, how's it going? Glad you asked.
Things seem a little easier lately. WAY easier since new electronics for the gas pumps were installed this past July.
Doesn't mean the job isn't occasionally stressful, but there's half as much to stress about now as there used to be.
I do occasionally get a little wound-up, but usually as long as I can keep my cool, the customers keep theirs. Maybe I've mellowed a bit -- or maybe the customers have. Not sure which. But most nights seem way less trouble lately.
Course part of that's because Winter is coming on strong and it's getting seriously colder at night -- fewer people want to mess around at night if it's 35 degrees and raining.
Still have some busy nights -- Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays seem to be the best bets for business. Other nights of my work week seem practically dead compared to days past.
The fact that gas prices have been dropping helps a little bit. When I left work Sunday night we were at $3.49 for a gallon of Regular gas -- $3.39 if you've got enough discount points piled-up -- the cheapest prices we've had for awhile.
A month or so back, I was hearing "experts" on the national news talking about $3-per-gallon gas by the end of the year, and I'm hoping for that. It would do the economy good.
And I'm in favor of anything that means less screaming and yelling.
Lately, the biggest thing on my mind has been the fact that I'm one of only TWO employees who actually WORK at my store -- stock the coolers, clean up, mop floors, empty garbage cans, clean the bathroom, etc. Everybody else just seems to take money, chat a lot, and pick up a paycheck.
I've been fighting against this for years, but it's becoming more and more obvious that my main job is just to PICK UP AFTER EVERYONE ELSE. Make everyone else Look Good.
When I come in to work on Wednesday evening -- my Monday -- the place is usually a wreck and it's usually abundantly clear that nobody has stocked the beer or soda coolers since I went home Sunday night.
I wonder how stupid management thinks I am...? "We don't have to work very hard -- let's let the balding, high-strung, stressed-out 53-year-old do the job! He'll do anything! He'll clean up after anybody! He'll make us all look good! And we won't REALLY have to do SHIT!"
That's what I get paid for.
Shit, I get worked up just WRITING ABOUT IT.
I've been trying to figure out for years how to approach this topic with my boss so that she won't immediately turn me off. But there's no way to win this discussion because SHE'S PART OF THE PROBLEM. Any time I try to address this issue, she starts up with "Everybody here works hard, we all put in long days, we all have things that make us crazy...." And that may be true.
But I do everything I can to make my co-workers' jobs EASIER, so they hardly have to THINK about what they're doing. And I hardly see anybody doing anything to make my job easier.
And I know from past experience that if I choose NOT to do certain things at work, to save time or stress or overwork, all that'll get me is a big ugly yellow note from the boss.
And then I'll still have to do the work....

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't bitch. These days, any paying job is a good job. And at least I can keep up with my bills. And I've survived 9 years and reached the point where it's almost all automatic now. I can almost go through a whole evening's shift without thinking.
And that's got to be good, right?
I just wish it were easier. I feel like I run my ass off EVERY NIGHT.
And maybe that's what they pay me for. But I don't see ANYBODY ELSE doing it.
Maybe I'm getting too old for this.
But I can't quit.

All new gas pumps!

Or: It takes so little to make me happy....
And other things....

First off, my apologies to the dozen or so of you Out There who read here -- it's been awhile since I've updated. Sorry about that....
Back in the last week of July, my little gas station received all-new electronics for our 10 gas pumps, which means that for the first time in 3 years, almost everything WORKS LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO.
I'd been waiting anxiously for this for quite awhile. I've joked with customers for years that the job-related stress was what made all my hair fall out....
Naturally, there were a few minor problems. Two gas pumps started running IMMEDIATELY, charging you money even though the pump wasn't actually pumping any gas into your gas tank. And some idiot was so distraught about his cat throwing up all over his new car that he drove off without hanging up the nozzle ... so that after 2 weeks, we already had 3 gas pumps that were DOWN and unavailable.
There were other, minor things. One pump printed nothing but BLANK receipts. Another wouldn't accept any punched-in zip codes -- a step used as an anti-fraud device.
But overall, things are much smoother and quieter at my work now -- proving again that the challenge of my job isn't so much THE WORK (a trained monkey could do that) -- it's more about dealing with PEOPLE'S WEIRDNESS. And of course that never ends....
This summer's been quieter than others, though. There have been a few freaks around -- and the hot weather we had last week (mid-90s, which is hot for us) did bring more of them out. But it could be worse. Has been many times. I'm happy to report that life at Work is actually ... sort of good. Been awhile since I've been able to say that.

On other fronts, I note that the Media is At It Again, predicting that a fire at a huge oil refinery in Richmond, California, three weeks ago might jump West Coast gas prices by 50 cents to a dollar per gallon.
There HAS been a jump -- when I left work Sunday night we were at $3.95 for a gallon of Regular, up about 20 cents in the 3 weeks since the refinery fire.
And I have seen competitors' prices as high as $4.09 per gallon, which is way too much. But their prices were higher than ours from the start.
But a 20 cent jump is in no way 50 cents or a dollar per gallon.
Once again I have to conclude that The Experts consulted by the Media are full of shit, alarming people for their own reasons. Which will, of course, go unrevealed.
Don't be sucked in.

If you enjoy the ranting I sometimes do here, please feel free to join me over at my other blog, TAD's Back-Up Plan, where I sometimes rant about Strange Music and off-the-wall books. I tend to be a lot sillier over there, and have a lot more fun. Got to figure out a way to import some of that silliness over here....

I turned 53 years old today, and life is good. Hope you all are the same.
More soon....

$3.44!

Wow, this is the lowest price we've had for a gallon of Regular gas since ... well, since I don't remember when. And I've been driving around the area a little bit lately and noticed that practically all the gas stations in my area have higher prices than we do! Some of them are 15 cents higher or more....
Of course all of this holiday-weekend good-feeling could change in the next couple weeks, when our station is supposed to get all new electronic innards for the gas pumps. That should lead to a whole new round of headaches.
But I've been waiting for this stuff for more than 2-1/2 years, since back in the days when I still had hair ... before it all fell out due to job-related stress. So I'll keep you posted....