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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Complaints
So...
Im going to make this quick (cuz Im heading out in a few minutes)...
Yesterday I was serving customers at till 2 (co-worker was in till number one)...
A lady came up to till 1 and informed her that she would like to pay fro $20 gas at pump #7... But since her grandson was already pumping (we didnt know she would be comming in to pay for it, and we had cleared the pump) she had to wait for him to finish...
Nothing out of the ordinary, it happens all the time...
The grandson finishes, the old lady pays, and she leaves the store...
The old bat (she's no longer an old lady) comes in and demands to be able to speak to the manager (oh crap, we think)
Thankfully our manager was still aorund (for whatever reason) and we escorted her to the office...
She was talking with my boss for about twenty minutes...
When she left, I served customers and my co worker went to find out what the lady had to say...
Turns out we were rude...
I ignored her (I was serving other customers), and co-worker didnt cover any interesting topic conversations (in the twenty seconds it took for the gas to finish pumping)...
Apparently she even started yelling at my boss over this...
I'm not entirely sure what to think... do people actually expect me to drop everything to help them (cuz im not going to)
Im going to make this quick (cuz Im heading out in a few minutes)...
Yesterday I was serving customers at till 2 (co-worker was in till number one)...
A lady came up to till 1 and informed her that she would like to pay fro $20 gas at pump #7... But since her grandson was already pumping (we didnt know she would be comming in to pay for it, and we had cleared the pump) she had to wait for him to finish...
Nothing out of the ordinary, it happens all the time...
The grandson finishes, the old lady pays, and she leaves the store...
The old bat (she's no longer an old lady) comes in and demands to be able to speak to the manager (oh crap, we think)
Thankfully our manager was still aorund (for whatever reason) and we escorted her to the office...
She was talking with my boss for about twenty minutes...
When she left, I served customers and my co worker went to find out what the lady had to say...
Turns out we were rude...
I ignored her (I was serving other customers), and co-worker didnt cover any interesting topic conversations (in the twenty seconds it took for the gas to finish pumping)...
Apparently she even started yelling at my boss over this...
I'm not entirely sure what to think... do people actually expect me to drop everything to help them (cuz im not going to)
Children
It is with great displeasure that I present the gripe of the hour...
I have met, the single most annoying child in the entire world. I am not blowing things out of proportion at all. Trust me, I was pacing back and forth and I went outside for two bouts of 'fresh air' due to him...
He was probibly about 7 years old, and his parents had apparently sent him to the store to pick up a loaf of bread, and he had recieved 1.89 (or so) as change, which his parents seemingly told him he could spend on items for himself...
Today was really slow, so annoying him was near impossible, but I tried my best...
When he finally came up to the counter, I figured he was ready to buy something and go.
Instead, he wanted to bring my attention to the fact he didnt think he had enough money in order to buy the candy he wanted...
So I asked him what candy he wanted, and sure enough it was 2.11 (or so... I'm making these number estimates up btw)...
My feloow employee encouraged him to find something a little bit cheaper to buy, or to save his money for next time...
He pouted for a bit (in a way that did not entice me to forgo the .22 (or so) cents, and then continued his meander around the store...
He did a loop around the store and then came back up to the till again (again, I presumed he was ready to go.. again I was wrong) He now started talking about how good the candy was, but how he knew he couldn't afford it... He talked about not being able to afford it and how good it was for a few more minutes (I paused briefly to ignore him and serve other customers) and when I came back to him, I caught him mid sentance...
He was really starting to ignore me...
I finally snapped, and as politely and as sternly as I could I told him that if he went and grabbed the candy right away, I would pay the extra few cents for him...
He walked over and returned with a bottle of candy... I scanned it, cashed it through, and sent him on his way... Or so I thought... He didnt make it to the door...
He walked from the counter to the ice cream freezer...
He started pulling out things from the freezer...
After he had drooled over our selection of drumstick icecream bars for a few minutes, he returned all the things to their appropriate places and returned to the counter...
"I dont like this candy... it was gross last time... I don't like it anymore"
I was thinking to myself "you little fucker" and contemplating how effectively I could kick him in the head from across the counter...
(did I mention, I don;t like kids)
Anyways, since my flexibilty limited the kicking to zero, I decided to hear him out...
"Can I have my money back"
'Fine!' I think, and I give him back his 1.89 (or so)
"But it was more than that" (the little fucker was trying to get the money I had put in)
I ginored him... After complaining because I wasnt giving him all his money, and his complaining falling on all but deaf ears, he returned to the freezer, and pulled out one of the drumsticks, and returned to the counter...
I scan it and announce the price of 2.49 (or so)...
I don't have enough money for that... and the complaining starts up again... From the amount of bitching he did, youd think this drumstick would make him the happiest little shit in the entire universe... Like his mom was hooked up to life support but they needed .60 to power it, but he could choose to put that .60 towards his drumstick, he would choose the drumstick and all its chocolately goodness...
I of course tell him I am not going to pay for it... I may have even made mention to my retraction of the .22 (or so) cents I formerly offered him..
he went around the store, and between the aisels complainging about how much the drumstick meant to ho him and blah blah blah...
I had enough, and I went for a smoke break...
I came back, and he was still there...
My fellow employee (not in as many words) told him to shut up and choose comething cheaper, or go home...
He pouted for a bit longer, and then decided he wasnt getting anywhere, and left...
And so our story ends...
for about 15 minutes...
He comes back, claiming to have gotten money from someone on the way (why oh why wasn't it a man in a van with a puppy?)...
He still doesnt have enough though...
So if youd like to know what happens, just start reading this post from the beginning, and replace the word candy with the word drumstick...
Fuck I want to lock him in a cage and beat him with a stick...
But alas, I might have been fired (only if she didnt get a chance to see how annoying the kid is first)...
Gnight
I have met, the single most annoying child in the entire world. I am not blowing things out of proportion at all. Trust me, I was pacing back and forth and I went outside for two bouts of 'fresh air' due to him...
He was probibly about 7 years old, and his parents had apparently sent him to the store to pick up a loaf of bread, and he had recieved 1.89 (or so) as change, which his parents seemingly told him he could spend on items for himself...
Today was really slow, so annoying him was near impossible, but I tried my best...
When he finally came up to the counter, I figured he was ready to buy something and go.
Instead, he wanted to bring my attention to the fact he didnt think he had enough money in order to buy the candy he wanted...
So I asked him what candy he wanted, and sure enough it was 2.11 (or so... I'm making these number estimates up btw)...
My feloow employee encouraged him to find something a little bit cheaper to buy, or to save his money for next time...
He pouted for a bit (in a way that did not entice me to forgo the .22 (or so) cents, and then continued his meander around the store...
He did a loop around the store and then came back up to the till again (again, I presumed he was ready to go.. again I was wrong) He now started talking about how good the candy was, but how he knew he couldn't afford it... He talked about not being able to afford it and how good it was for a few more minutes (I paused briefly to ignore him and serve other customers) and when I came back to him, I caught him mid sentance...
He was really starting to ignore me...
I finally snapped, and as politely and as sternly as I could I told him that if he went and grabbed the candy right away, I would pay the extra few cents for him...
He walked over and returned with a bottle of candy... I scanned it, cashed it through, and sent him on his way... Or so I thought... He didnt make it to the door...
He walked from the counter to the ice cream freezer...
He started pulling out things from the freezer...
After he had drooled over our selection of drumstick icecream bars for a few minutes, he returned all the things to their appropriate places and returned to the counter...
"I dont like this candy... it was gross last time... I don't like it anymore"
I was thinking to myself "you little fucker" and contemplating how effectively I could kick him in the head from across the counter...
(did I mention, I don;t like kids)
Anyways, since my flexibilty limited the kicking to zero, I decided to hear him out...
"Can I have my money back"
'Fine!' I think, and I give him back his 1.89 (or so)
"But it was more than that" (the little fucker was trying to get the money I had put in)
I ginored him... After complaining because I wasnt giving him all his money, and his complaining falling on all but deaf ears, he returned to the freezer, and pulled out one of the drumsticks, and returned to the counter...
I scan it and announce the price of 2.49 (or so)...
I don't have enough money for that... and the complaining starts up again... From the amount of bitching he did, youd think this drumstick would make him the happiest little shit in the entire universe... Like his mom was hooked up to life support but they needed .60 to power it, but he could choose to put that .60 towards his drumstick, he would choose the drumstick and all its chocolately goodness...
I of course tell him I am not going to pay for it... I may have even made mention to my retraction of the .22 (or so) cents I formerly offered him..
he went around the store, and between the aisels complainging about how much the drumstick meant to ho him and blah blah blah...
I had enough, and I went for a smoke break...
I came back, and he was still there...
My fellow employee (not in as many words) told him to shut up and choose comething cheaper, or go home...
He pouted for a bit longer, and then decided he wasnt getting anywhere, and left...
And so our story ends...
for about 15 minutes...
He comes back, claiming to have gotten money from someone on the way (why oh why wasn't it a man in a van with a puppy?)...
He still doesnt have enough though...
So if youd like to know what happens, just start reading this post from the beginning, and replace the word candy with the word drumstick...
Fuck I want to lock him in a cage and beat him with a stick...
But alas, I might have been fired (only if she didnt get a chance to see how annoying the kid is first)...
Gnight
Baby Nic Addicts
Well, my title might be a bit missleading, I am not writing about infants with smoking parents...
Tonights Rant is about teenagers who try to buy cigarettes from me...
Well, as I'm sure you know, I am a slightly moral person (Quiet Shannon! you speak lies!!!)... And my boss even made mention during my last review that I am exceptional when it comes to following underage laws in regards to tobacco and tobacco related products...
But...
Over the weekend I had a customer come in and say "There are some kids outside trying to buy 'Export A Medium'"... I thanked him for informing me, and he carried out his transaction and left...
There were no other customers at the time, so I called up the non-emergency police to ask them if they could stop by...
Lesson number one learned that evening, don't bother calling the non emergency police...
They have lame hold music, and after more than ten minutes on the line, I didnt get through...
My guess is that the only receptionist was in the process of breaking up with her boyfriend... But I digress...
Since the police thing was a no go, and since I knew the brand the kids wanted, I decided to take matters into my own hand...
I vowed to refuse sale of cigarettes to anyone who came in and ordered exprt a medium, whilst the kids were still nearby...
Thisd was a potentially dangerous thing, as I was working by myself, and some people can get quite irate if you prevent them from getting their next fix (nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine)... But I figured it would send the message to the kids that they wont be able to get cigarettes at Petro when I'm at work...
Anyways... About five minutes later, a really sketch guy comes in and orders a pack of canadian classics king size and a pack of export a medium... And heres the kicker... He asks if he can get it on seperate bills!
I flat out, say no.
he asks why...
I inform him that there are youth outside trying to buy cigarettes and that I would not aid them in getting them...
He asks what I mean...
I inform him that since I know that they are trying to get export a medium, I am not going to sell cigarettes to anyone who orders them...
He freaks out and starts calling me every name under the sun...
When he calms down a bit, he tries again, this time ordering two packs of Canadians...
I tell him, again flat out, I have the right to refuse sale to anyone I want for any reason I want (well, asides from racially or sexually discriminating reasons, of course) and that he would not be purchasing cigarettes from me tonight...
(Then I fibbed a little bit)
I told him that when he went outside to give the kids back their money, to also tell them that i had already phoned the cops and that they had promised me they would be on their way...
He screamed at me more, so I said 'fine' grabbed a pack of canadians scanned them through the till, then I asked him for some ID...
He gave me his drivers liscense...
I started writing down the number, the DOB the address (actually, I got about halfway through the name before he figured out what was going on)...
He said f-it, asked for his liscense back and left... He politely lifted his central digit in support of my plight against teenage smokers when he walked past the window (heading east)...
I saw him about 30 seconds later heading west around the back of the pumps (presumably he though he was out of my view) towards the kids...
They dispersed... I was victorious!
My second story happened tonight... Whilst working with another employee...
Someone whom I know to be underage attempted to purchase Export A Lights, I tried to conceal my laughter when he asked at the counter (I was mostly successful)... In order to humour him, I asked him if he had any photo ID... he didn't, and so I informed him no...
He gave me the "buuuut I waaaaaant iiiiiiit" look that you often get from little babies (hence the title of this post) and I told him where to go (maybe not in the most polite way)...
Him and his buddies did go... Around the corner... to solicite adults to purchase them cigarettes...
Again, since I knew the brand, I knew what to look out for, but since I wasn't working by myself, I decided to play this one out a little different...
I told the person I was working with to buzz me if someone bought Export A Lights...
Nothing happened for about 15 minutes...
Then she buzzed me...
A relatively attractive young lady (with proper identification) was purchasing Export A Lights...
When she went outside, I follwed her...
And watched her hand the cigarettes off to the kids... I quickly wrote down her liscence plate, and then approached the youth...
I told them, as sternly as I could to give me the cigarettes...
They played dumb at first (how they could have missed my standing there watching them while the entire thing unfolded is beyond me) but I repeated myself, adding the lines "or I will phone her in and report her"...
They stop playing dumb a little bit, and ask "How are you going to report her?"
I show them the piece of paper with her LP on it... and add (another fib, I know) "The other GSA has her name from her liscense inside"
Being good little boys they handed over the cigarettes, I gave them back the money they paid for them with, and I told them not to come back...
I'm attempting to have at least one of the kids permanently banned from the store (I know his first name and I know hes trouble...
Anyways, just a short little update for you all...
Gnight
Tonights Rant is about teenagers who try to buy cigarettes from me...
Well, as I'm sure you know, I am a slightly moral person (Quiet Shannon! you speak lies!!!)... And my boss even made mention during my last review that I am exceptional when it comes to following underage laws in regards to tobacco and tobacco related products...
But...
Over the weekend I had a customer come in and say "There are some kids outside trying to buy 'Export A Medium'"... I thanked him for informing me, and he carried out his transaction and left...
There were no other customers at the time, so I called up the non-emergency police to ask them if they could stop by...
Lesson number one learned that evening, don't bother calling the non emergency police...
They have lame hold music, and after more than ten minutes on the line, I didnt get through...
My guess is that the only receptionist was in the process of breaking up with her boyfriend... But I digress...
Since the police thing was a no go, and since I knew the brand the kids wanted, I decided to take matters into my own hand...
I vowed to refuse sale of cigarettes to anyone who came in and ordered exprt a medium, whilst the kids were still nearby...
Thisd was a potentially dangerous thing, as I was working by myself, and some people can get quite irate if you prevent them from getting their next fix (nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine)... But I figured it would send the message to the kids that they wont be able to get cigarettes at Petro when I'm at work...
Anyways... About five minutes later, a really sketch guy comes in and orders a pack of canadian classics king size and a pack of export a medium... And heres the kicker... He asks if he can get it on seperate bills!
I flat out, say no.
he asks why...
I inform him that there are youth outside trying to buy cigarettes and that I would not aid them in getting them...
He asks what I mean...
I inform him that since I know that they are trying to get export a medium, I am not going to sell cigarettes to anyone who orders them...
He freaks out and starts calling me every name under the sun...
When he calms down a bit, he tries again, this time ordering two packs of Canadians...
I tell him, again flat out, I have the right to refuse sale to anyone I want for any reason I want (well, asides from racially or sexually discriminating reasons, of course) and that he would not be purchasing cigarettes from me tonight...
(Then I fibbed a little bit)
I told him that when he went outside to give the kids back their money, to also tell them that i had already phoned the cops and that they had promised me they would be on their way...
He screamed at me more, so I said 'fine' grabbed a pack of canadians scanned them through the till, then I asked him for some ID...
He gave me his drivers liscense...
I started writing down the number, the DOB the address (actually, I got about halfway through the name before he figured out what was going on)...
He said f-it, asked for his liscense back and left... He politely lifted his central digit in support of my plight against teenage smokers when he walked past the window (heading east)...
I saw him about 30 seconds later heading west around the back of the pumps (presumably he though he was out of my view) towards the kids...
They dispersed... I was victorious!
My second story happened tonight... Whilst working with another employee...
Someone whom I know to be underage attempted to purchase Export A Lights, I tried to conceal my laughter when he asked at the counter (I was mostly successful)... In order to humour him, I asked him if he had any photo ID... he didn't, and so I informed him no...
He gave me the "buuuut I waaaaaant iiiiiiit" look that you often get from little babies (hence the title of this post) and I told him where to go (maybe not in the most polite way)...
Him and his buddies did go... Around the corner... to solicite adults to purchase them cigarettes...
Again, since I knew the brand, I knew what to look out for, but since I wasn't working by myself, I decided to play this one out a little different...
I told the person I was working with to buzz me if someone bought Export A Lights...
Nothing happened for about 15 minutes...
Then she buzzed me...
A relatively attractive young lady (with proper identification) was purchasing Export A Lights...
When she went outside, I follwed her...
And watched her hand the cigarettes off to the kids... I quickly wrote down her liscence plate, and then approached the youth...
I told them, as sternly as I could to give me the cigarettes...
They played dumb at first (how they could have missed my standing there watching them while the entire thing unfolded is beyond me) but I repeated myself, adding the lines "or I will phone her in and report her"...
They stop playing dumb a little bit, and ask "How are you going to report her?"
I show them the piece of paper with her LP on it... and add (another fib, I know) "The other GSA has her name from her liscense inside"
Being good little boys they handed over the cigarettes, I gave them back the money they paid for them with, and I told them not to come back...
I'm attempting to have at least one of the kids permanently banned from the store (I know his first name and I know hes trouble...
Anyways, just a short little update for you all...
Gnight
Friday, June 24, 2005
Cake Taking
OKay, so I've complained about stupid people making stupid mistakes for well over a year now, but I think this one takes the cake...
If I had to retire this blog today, I think I could live a satisfactory life with this post being the big finally..
Don't worry, it wont be... but I dont think its going to go much higher than this...
An older lady was pumping gas... It was very slow, and most of my chores had been completed... so needless to say, I had involved myself in people watching...
And since she was the only one in the parking lot, she was the one getting watched...
Her [grandaughter?] had also gotten out... I think to coach her through the pumping proceedure... She was wearing a basebaall uniform, stained with grass, so I assume they were comming home for a game...
Neither of them really seemed to know what was going on, but since they managed to get the nosal into the car, i figured there wouldnt be any problems...
And there werent...
Untill...
Don't you love the suspense?
I bet you all are hanging off my every word...
I could go on like this for quite a while, and most of you will keep reading...
But I wont, back to the story...
At $20.00 the lady stopped pumping (I could see oth on the pump and on the till), but until the nosal is hung up, there is always the potential to start pumping again...
Apprently she didnt realize this, and when she puled the nosal out of her car, she was still holding the handle on...
Gas was now pouring out of the pump (at a rate of approximately 0.4L/sec-- personal estimate as to how fast our pumps go)...
She panicked (gasoline can be damaging to paint) and stopped pointing the nosal at her car, and proceeded to whip it around...
She is now pouring it all over her granddaughter...
Panicking again, she turns around more, wrapping the hose around her feet and tripping (still not releasing the nosal)...
It is only when she is sitting on a pool of gasoline next to her petrol soaked car and grandaughter that she lets go of the nosal, and gas stops pumping... At $22.34 = 2.6L (gas was 89.9) = 6.5 seconds
My first though is "Holy shit, so ass is going to light a cigarette and we're all going to die"... remember, cigarettes appear to be common practice with patrons of our store...
My second though is "where is that TBS number to call and ask 'how funny is this'" so they can tell me I'm allowed to be rolling on the ground crying because my diaphragm hurts so much...
Then I though... I should really get the absorbal and clean up the mess as much as I can...
They were both drenched in gasoline...
And I had no idea what to do (I dont think there is a section in our safety manual that says "if a customer rolls around in spilled gasoline, then..."
I told them to dry off as best as possible... After I sent them to the public washroom in order to wet down the gas stained articles of clothing as much as possible... And it took an entire bucket of absorbal to contain the spill...
If I had to retire this blog today, I think I could live a satisfactory life with this post being the big finally..
Don't worry, it wont be... but I dont think its going to go much higher than this...
An older lady was pumping gas... It was very slow, and most of my chores had been completed... so needless to say, I had involved myself in people watching...
And since she was the only one in the parking lot, she was the one getting watched...
Her [grandaughter?] had also gotten out... I think to coach her through the pumping proceedure... She was wearing a basebaall uniform, stained with grass, so I assume they were comming home for a game...
Neither of them really seemed to know what was going on, but since they managed to get the nosal into the car, i figured there wouldnt be any problems...
And there werent...
Untill...
Don't you love the suspense?
I bet you all are hanging off my every word...
I could go on like this for quite a while, and most of you will keep reading...
But I wont, back to the story...
At $20.00 the lady stopped pumping (I could see oth on the pump and on the till), but until the nosal is hung up, there is always the potential to start pumping again...
Apprently she didnt realize this, and when she puled the nosal out of her car, she was still holding the handle on...
Gas was now pouring out of the pump (at a rate of approximately 0.4L/sec-- personal estimate as to how fast our pumps go)...
She panicked (gasoline can be damaging to paint) and stopped pointing the nosal at her car, and proceeded to whip it around...
She is now pouring it all over her granddaughter...
Panicking again, she turns around more, wrapping the hose around her feet and tripping (still not releasing the nosal)...
It is only when she is sitting on a pool of gasoline next to her petrol soaked car and grandaughter that she lets go of the nosal, and gas stops pumping... At $22.34 = 2.6L (gas was 89.9) = 6.5 seconds
My first though is "Holy shit, so ass is going to light a cigarette and we're all going to die"... remember, cigarettes appear to be common practice with patrons of our store...
My second though is "where is that TBS number to call and ask 'how funny is this'" so they can tell me I'm allowed to be rolling on the ground crying because my diaphragm hurts so much...
Then I though... I should really get the absorbal and clean up the mess as much as I can...
They were both drenched in gasoline...
And I had no idea what to do (I dont think there is a section in our safety manual that says "if a customer rolls around in spilled gasoline, then..."
I told them to dry off as best as possible... After I sent them to the public washroom in order to wet down the gas stained articles of clothing as much as possible... And it took an entire bucket of absorbal to contain the spill...
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Comfort Level
It happens that humans, being social creatures, are quite succeptable to forming relationships.
AT leasts thats been my understanding from the various discovery and TLC shows on human behavior have lead me to believe...
And, judging from my experience in the gas station, I would most likely say that it is indeed true...
And I am starting to be on the conversational safe list with several of my regular customers...
Some I dont mind...
For example, the guy who works at the movie store... He gave me his band website...
http://www.myspace.com/manphetamine
And the lady that works for the rocky mountain express tells me about her treks each week (this week shes going to Jasper and Back)...
But I am also becomming popular with the nutballs, too... (I know, it probibly sounds like all my customers are nutballs... but just a fraction of a percent of them are... a very vocal fraction of a percent)
"Do you smoke pot? Cuz im selling"
"I met the chief of the reserve in Kelowna last October"
"My kids don't like it when I talk to their friends"
"can I take this stack of sports action tickets?"
These aren't from the same person, but that would be quite scary...
And people just offload their problems on me... Things I won't bother repeating... Mostly cuz I can;t think of a funny way to say "I think my kids are stealing money from my purse" or "if my boyfriend comes back tonight Im going to kill him"
hardee har har...
Peace out (lol, what a lame way to end this)
AT leasts thats been my understanding from the various discovery and TLC shows on human behavior have lead me to believe...
And, judging from my experience in the gas station, I would most likely say that it is indeed true...
And I am starting to be on the conversational safe list with several of my regular customers...
Some I dont mind...
For example, the guy who works at the movie store... He gave me his band website...
http://www.myspace.com/manphetamine
And the lady that works for the rocky mountain express tells me about her treks each week (this week shes going to Jasper and Back)...
But I am also becomming popular with the nutballs, too... (I know, it probibly sounds like all my customers are nutballs... but just a fraction of a percent of them are... a very vocal fraction of a percent)
"Do you smoke pot? Cuz im selling"
"I met the chief of the reserve in Kelowna last October"
"My kids don't like it when I talk to their friends"
"can I take this stack of sports action tickets?"
These aren't from the same person, but that would be quite scary...
And people just offload their problems on me... Things I won't bother repeating... Mostly cuz I can;t think of a funny way to say "I think my kids are stealing money from my purse" or "if my boyfriend comes back tonight Im going to kill him"
hardee har har...
Peace out (lol, what a lame way to end this)
Monday, June 20, 2005
POS Down
So... My streak of relatively eventless nights has been broken...
At about 2am this morning, PetroCan had a major malfunction... And all of the POS systems went down...
Now, under normal circumstances, this wouldnt be a problem... Of course normal and interac are not two words that go together in Canada... We still have the higest rate of interac usage, leaving a lot of people depndant on the service...
Now, knowing that no interac was going to be quite the problem, signs were placed in strategic places...
On a 12" by 12" plastic board (which happens to be the same yellow/amber colour that is used for road warning signs) were the words "INTERAC UNAVAILABLE"...
We placed these on each of the pumps (In the very centre, right beside where it tells you how much you've pumped), on each side of the glass entry door (slightly below eye level for me, inside and out), at the bank machine (when POS goes down, so does the ABM... we placed it over top of the LCD display)
We also had one on the counter over top of the lotto display...
Get ready for the stupidity...
Guy outside pumps gas, walks through te glass entry door, comes right up to the counter, asks for two packs of cigarettes, and tosses his debit card on the counter...
I gave him the bankest stare I could conjure...
I seriously couldn't believe what I was seeing...
"Well?" he interrupted... I was still staring in disbelief... Blinking occasionally...
"Debit's down"... I wanted to yell and throw the sign at him... But at this point in time, I felt someone had just knocked the wind out of me... with their stupidity...
I had now resorted to trying to blink him away...
Needless to say, it didnt work...
"Why didnt anybody tell me?"
*blink blink blink*
I pointed at the 6 signs I could see from where I was standing (I continued pointing at each one until he looked directly at it, then moved on to the next, and the next, etc)...
He paid with cash, and left... My eyes hurt from blinking...
Not five minutes later aguy pulls up to the pump, gets out, and puts his debit in to pay at the pump...
Fellow employee goes out to inform him that there IS A HUGE YELLOW SIGN THAT SAYS YOU CANT PAY WITH DEBIT! (like my strategic use of caps lock for effect? heh heh heh)
Well, he actually told him debit was unavailable, or something to that accord (I didnt listen in on the conversation)...
Employee comes back in, and we watch the guy at the pump (well... technically we watched the computer (he was behind pump 1 so we couldnt see what he was doing...)
anyways... The computer was giving us the play by play...
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
Finally he comes inside (now you have to imagine this with a very thick chinese accent)
"Pump no wurkeen"
"Interac is unavailable"
"I put een card, pump no wurkeen!"
"You cannot pay with interac... you have to pay with cash"
"oh"
and he drove off...
At about 2am this morning, PetroCan had a major malfunction... And all of the POS systems went down...
Now, under normal circumstances, this wouldnt be a problem... Of course normal and interac are not two words that go together in Canada... We still have the higest rate of interac usage, leaving a lot of people depndant on the service...
Now, knowing that no interac was going to be quite the problem, signs were placed in strategic places...
On a 12" by 12" plastic board (which happens to be the same yellow/amber colour that is used for road warning signs) were the words "INTERAC UNAVAILABLE"...
We placed these on each of the pumps (In the very centre, right beside where it tells you how much you've pumped), on each side of the glass entry door (slightly below eye level for me, inside and out), at the bank machine (when POS goes down, so does the ABM... we placed it over top of the LCD display)
We also had one on the counter over top of the lotto display...
Get ready for the stupidity...
Guy outside pumps gas, walks through te glass entry door, comes right up to the counter, asks for two packs of cigarettes, and tosses his debit card on the counter...
I gave him the bankest stare I could conjure...
I seriously couldn't believe what I was seeing...
"Well?" he interrupted... I was still staring in disbelief... Blinking occasionally...
"Debit's down"... I wanted to yell and throw the sign at him... But at this point in time, I felt someone had just knocked the wind out of me... with their stupidity...
I had now resorted to trying to blink him away...
Needless to say, it didnt work...
"Why didnt anybody tell me?"
*blink blink blink*
I pointed at the 6 signs I could see from where I was standing (I continued pointing at each one until he looked directly at it, then moved on to the next, and the next, etc)...
He paid with cash, and left... My eyes hurt from blinking...
Not five minutes later aguy pulls up to the pump, gets out, and puts his debit in to pay at the pump...
Fellow employee goes out to inform him that there IS A HUGE YELLOW SIGN THAT SAYS YOU CANT PAY WITH DEBIT! (like my strategic use of caps lock for effect? heh heh heh)
Well, he actually told him debit was unavailable, or something to that accord (I didnt listen in on the conversation)...
Employee comes back in, and we watch the guy at the pump (well... technically we watched the computer (he was behind pump 1 so we couldnt see what he was doing...)
anyways... The computer was giving us the play by play...
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
**Card Inserted**
**Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable** **Debit Uavailable**
Finally he comes inside (now you have to imagine this with a very thick chinese accent)
"Pump no wurkeen"
"Interac is unavailable"
"I put een card, pump no wurkeen!"
"You cannot pay with interac... you have to pay with cash"
"oh"
and he drove off...
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Patience, Please
I'm sure you can imagine, working in a place where there are a lot of customers, and a lot of tasks to do, there needs to be room for a little bit of oversight... Especially in regards to customers that are doing slightly illogical things...
For example... (we're going back in time to Thursday, because I totally forgot this happened until this morning)
I was doing my other tasks whilst my fellow employee was serving customers...
To be specific, I was changing garbage bags and stocking products...
When I had finished (took about 15 minutes) I loaded myself up with more than an armful of collapsed boxes, and a half dozen relatively full garbage bags- and I headed towards the door, and onward in the dumpster...
Once outside, I noticed the was a car angle parked in the blindpot we have in full serve... The blind spot is the point where both the pillar holding up the building, and pump 7 block the view to any vehicles at pump 8... Normally, you can spot cars at pump 8 when you are walking around the store (as I was) but because she was agle parked, there wasnt a hope in heck of us seeing her, unless one of us happened to go outside..
Why you would angle yourself like that is beyond me... But I shall continue...
I didnt just drop all of the things I was carrying... I made eye contact with the lady, and nodded my head, then walked around the corner and placed all of the junk in a pile out of the way, and then hurried over to full serve...
Now imagine this...
A little old grey haired lady, driving an old ford tempo, with a handicap sign in the rear view mirror...
Now imagine this...
She glares at mean, revs her engine, and speeds out of the parking lot...
And flips me the finger on her way out...
hmm...
For example... (we're going back in time to Thursday, because I totally forgot this happened until this morning)
I was doing my other tasks whilst my fellow employee was serving customers...
To be specific, I was changing garbage bags and stocking products...
When I had finished (took about 15 minutes) I loaded myself up with more than an armful of collapsed boxes, and a half dozen relatively full garbage bags- and I headed towards the door, and onward in the dumpster...
Once outside, I noticed the was a car angle parked in the blindpot we have in full serve... The blind spot is the point where both the pillar holding up the building, and pump 7 block the view to any vehicles at pump 8... Normally, you can spot cars at pump 8 when you are walking around the store (as I was) but because she was agle parked, there wasnt a hope in heck of us seeing her, unless one of us happened to go outside..
Why you would angle yourself like that is beyond me... But I shall continue...
I didnt just drop all of the things I was carrying... I made eye contact with the lady, and nodded my head, then walked around the corner and placed all of the junk in a pile out of the way, and then hurried over to full serve...
Now imagine this...
A little old grey haired lady, driving an old ford tempo, with a handicap sign in the rear view mirror...
Now imagine this...
She glares at mean, revs her engine, and speeds out of the parking lot...
And flips me the finger on her way out...
hmm...
Zieg Heil
Don't be fooled by the clever name of my post... I have not sold my soul in order to be a part of the up and comming fourth reich... My name is just a seguay into my story of the day...
I have officially met the most racist person in the history of the world...
Now, keep in mind, that this is a very large shoe to fill... I have grown up a 'redneck' family, and honky terms for people of other nationalities are not always plesant...
From a very young age I knew what a spic was, and what a wop was, and I could tell you the difference between a chink and a jap (I didnt learn what a gook was until I learned that korean people werent chinks... kidding, please no hate mail)...
Well, needless to say, catching me off guard with racist terms, is a feat...
Well, travel back with me,
to last night, at 11:53
I had just recieved an automated phone call telling me that at 11:59pm, I needed to change the price from 86.9 to 102.2... huge, jump, I know...
Needless to say, in order to avoid any complaining customers, I changed the price of the road sign before I activated the prices at the pump... A long time before...
Now, shortly after I changed the road sign, a lady in a white car pulled up to pump one... At this point in time, the price at the pump was still 86.9, and there were still several other cars pumping gas (at the low price)...
When all the other vehicles had finished pumping (and with the road sign announcing 102.2, not too many new vehicles were comming in), I was waiting on the lone car with a female inside to decide wether she wanted to pump or not...
She was talking on her cell phone, and making no indication of wanting to pump gas... But I still waited..
When she got out of her vehicle, she came straight into the building...
Perhaps she saw the pay-at-the-pump sign... (bwahahahhahahaahaha)
When she came inside, she announced she wanted a pack of dumaurier regs, and headed straight for the washroom (assuming I would have them ready for her when she got back)
Now, under normal circumstances, I would take this to mean 'I just want cigarettes and a toilet'... and as such, I immediately started to change the prices at the pump (I figured I could finish before she got back)...
I missjudged how long it would take, and the price change report was printing just as she got back...
"whats that" she asked...
"its the printoff I get when I activate the prices"
"You changed the prices to 102.2? I'm not going to pay that! Why would you do that? You fucking kike! No you're worse than a Jew! Your worse than a nigger! you're a fucking nigger-jew!" (no, I am serious, this is the chain of logic she followed)
She repeated it a few times before she finally added 'goddamn' before 'nigger-jew'...
So now I'm on a quest...
Being someone of the chirstian persuasion, I know all about being goddamned... In fact, there are entire denominations devoted to picking out the 'god-damned' and seperating them from the 'god-blessed'...
But now I need to find out what a nigger-jew... Is it like a jewgaboo? If you are reading this, and you are in fact a nigger-jew, please inform me, what, exactly, defines you, or your culture...
Anyways, she didnt buy gas, and I totally through her off guard when I yelled "I love you" when she walked out the front door (she gave me the 'are you fucking kidding me' look when she turned around...)
The guy behind me thought the whole ordeal was hillarious... And she flipped me the finger as she drove off...
Goddamn Nigger-Jew hater!
I have officially met the most racist person in the history of the world...
Now, keep in mind, that this is a very large shoe to fill... I have grown up a 'redneck' family, and honky terms for people of other nationalities are not always plesant...
From a very young age I knew what a spic was, and what a wop was, and I could tell you the difference between a chink and a jap (I didnt learn what a gook was until I learned that korean people werent chinks... kidding, please no hate mail)...
Well, needless to say, catching me off guard with racist terms, is a feat...
Well, travel back with me,
to last night, at 11:53
I had just recieved an automated phone call telling me that at 11:59pm, I needed to change the price from 86.9 to 102.2... huge, jump, I know...
Needless to say, in order to avoid any complaining customers, I changed the price of the road sign before I activated the prices at the pump... A long time before...
Now, shortly after I changed the road sign, a lady in a white car pulled up to pump one... At this point in time, the price at the pump was still 86.9, and there were still several other cars pumping gas (at the low price)...
When all the other vehicles had finished pumping (and with the road sign announcing 102.2, not too many new vehicles were comming in), I was waiting on the lone car with a female inside to decide wether she wanted to pump or not...
She was talking on her cell phone, and making no indication of wanting to pump gas... But I still waited..
When she got out of her vehicle, she came straight into the building...
Perhaps she saw the pay-at-the-pump sign... (bwahahahhahahaahaha)
When she came inside, she announced she wanted a pack of dumaurier regs, and headed straight for the washroom (assuming I would have them ready for her when she got back)
Now, under normal circumstances, I would take this to mean 'I just want cigarettes and a toilet'... and as such, I immediately started to change the prices at the pump (I figured I could finish before she got back)...
I missjudged how long it would take, and the price change report was printing just as she got back...
"whats that" she asked...
"its the printoff I get when I activate the prices"
"You changed the prices to 102.2? I'm not going to pay that! Why would you do that? You fucking kike! No you're worse than a Jew! Your worse than a nigger! you're a fucking nigger-jew!" (no, I am serious, this is the chain of logic she followed)
She repeated it a few times before she finally added 'goddamn' before 'nigger-jew'...
So now I'm on a quest...
Being someone of the chirstian persuasion, I know all about being goddamned... In fact, there are entire denominations devoted to picking out the 'god-damned' and seperating them from the 'god-blessed'...
But now I need to find out what a nigger-jew... Is it like a jewgaboo? If you are reading this, and you are in fact a nigger-jew, please inform me, what, exactly, defines you, or your culture...
Anyways, she didnt buy gas, and I totally through her off guard when I yelled "I love you" when she walked out the front door (she gave me the 'are you fucking kidding me' look when she turned around...)
The guy behind me thought the whole ordeal was hillarious... And she flipped me the finger as she drove off...
Goddamn Nigger-Jew hater!
Friday, June 17, 2005
The things I Put up with...
I decided to put up a repetitious name for expressive reasons...
You see, I feel like a broken record, complaining about the same stupid things over and over... and the sad thing is (and anyone in service feel free to back me up) this is because the people I deal with do not improve in intelligence in any way shape or form...
I am dealing with the same stupid issues, often with the same stupid people...
Point and case...
A gentleman comes in and starts screaming at my coworker because the pump charged him an extra $0.42, which he, himself was not willing to pay...
If you read back to last summer, this story has a striking resemblence to the debit lady...
I had a guy come in and very sterly tell me that my piercings are the stupidest thing he's ever seen in my life (I hope his little daughter turns out exceptionally whorish when she grows up... and ends up starring in a piercing fetish gangbang porn flick)
But, again, this is (more or less) what happended last summer...
I've been offered drugs on more occasions than I dare to count; I've seen car accidents caused by people leaving their cars in neutral; and I had to tell mor people not to smoke at a gas station (potential ignition source + volitile liquid + Me = pissed off me)...
Ugh!
And I had to tell more under age punks that their addiction to tobacco means absolutely nothing to me, and that I am not willing to risk losing my job and getting a fine so that they can pretend to be cool...
On the plus side, I am learning basic punjabi (polite greetings, numbers, and a brief explaination of why they shouldn't use fullserve) and I got another raise today (apparently I'm doing an okay job... hehehe... if she only know)
You see, I feel like a broken record, complaining about the same stupid things over and over... and the sad thing is (and anyone in service feel free to back me up) this is because the people I deal with do not improve in intelligence in any way shape or form...
I am dealing with the same stupid issues, often with the same stupid people...
Point and case...
A gentleman comes in and starts screaming at my coworker because the pump charged him an extra $0.42, which he, himself was not willing to pay...
If you read back to last summer, this story has a striking resemblence to the debit lady...
I had a guy come in and very sterly tell me that my piercings are the stupidest thing he's ever seen in my life (I hope his little daughter turns out exceptionally whorish when she grows up... and ends up starring in a piercing fetish gangbang porn flick)
But, again, this is (more or less) what happended last summer...
I've been offered drugs on more occasions than I dare to count; I've seen car accidents caused by people leaving their cars in neutral; and I had to tell mor people not to smoke at a gas station (potential ignition source + volitile liquid + Me = pissed off me)...
Ugh!
And I had to tell more under age punks that their addiction to tobacco means absolutely nothing to me, and that I am not willing to risk losing my job and getting a fine so that they can pretend to be cool...
On the plus side, I am learning basic punjabi (polite greetings, numbers, and a brief explaination of why they shouldn't use fullserve) and I got another raise today (apparently I'm doing an okay job... hehehe... if she only know)
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Things I Put Up With Cuz I Am Paid to Do It
Perhaps the longest title I have ever used... Generally I like to keep them short, but I suppose I'll let this one slide...
Okay, I know your probibly think "holy gees! Another update?"
Well, I'm trying to inflate my ego as much as I can, and the more you guys check back here looking for updates the faster my pave view counter will climb...
Mwahahaha... I'm an evil genius...
Just so you guys dont get your hopes up, this is more a complaint about a lame vehicle than a lame person... And everyone knows I complain better about people than I do about inanimate objects... (although some inanimate objects are significantly more intelligent than some of the people I deal with)...
Well... on to the story...
Two ladies come through full serve...
Actually, they came to get gas and ended up in full serve... They missed the full serve sign (adding to my case towards getting a 'fucking' sign... bwahahaha)...
They didnt really care they were in full serve, as they were in a company vehicle paying with a complany card. Must be nice, eh?
Well, they both step back into the cab of the truck to continue their conversation and leave me to fill their tank...
unbknownst to me, this was going to be the most difficult thing I had ever done (much MUCH more difficult than passing calculus)...
You see, I dont think this truck was designed to fit a conventional gas nozzle...
And by that I mean, the nosal was hard as hell to get in... Thankfully I am the king of getting big things in small holes... or was that small things in big holes... I can never remember...
Regardless... I get the nozzle in there and start pumping away...
Well, if by away, you mean to $0.07... Then, yes, away I went...
Now, I would like to think I know a lot about filling gas tanks up with gasoline... And im pretty certain I know most of the tricks in the book about avoiding the auot kickoff...
But this thing was just retarded... I was angling, I was holding back I was putting the gasoline in so goddamn slow that there is no goddamn way the goddamn thing should have goddamn kincked off...
But it did... After several minutes of fighting, and making it to $2.30 in $.03-.07 incriments, I finally sought out the aid of the two ladies in the car...
Their advice... Turn the nozzle upised down and pump slowly...
I follwed half of their advice (as I wanted to get away from this vehicle of satan as fast as I could), and when it started pumping smoothly, I was so relieved...
...that i forgot that turning the nozzle upside down would render the automatic kickoff completely useless...
...which it did...
...and spilled gasoline... and a lot of it...
I felt like such a tool... Standing there in full serve with litres and litres of gasoline on the ground (well.. it was probibly significantly less than a litre, but that didnt decrease the 'tool' potential)...
Worse yet, there were two tanks to be filled and I was only half way finished (joy!)...
The second thank, I took at a much more leisurely pace... And I was turning red from embarassment... So standing out there for the few minutes that it took felt like death...
I had hoped to retire from the petroleum distribution profession victorious... But this will forever put a smear on my name... and my childrens names...
how will I ever show my face again?
Oh! mac'n'cheese is ready!
Okay, I know your probibly think "holy gees! Another update?"
Well, I'm trying to inflate my ego as much as I can, and the more you guys check back here looking for updates the faster my pave view counter will climb...
Mwahahaha... I'm an evil genius...
Just so you guys dont get your hopes up, this is more a complaint about a lame vehicle than a lame person... And everyone knows I complain better about people than I do about inanimate objects... (although some inanimate objects are significantly more intelligent than some of the people I deal with)...
Well... on to the story...
Two ladies come through full serve...
Actually, they came to get gas and ended up in full serve... They missed the full serve sign (adding to my case towards getting a 'fucking' sign... bwahahaha)...
They didnt really care they were in full serve, as they were in a company vehicle paying with a complany card. Must be nice, eh?
Well, they both step back into the cab of the truck to continue their conversation and leave me to fill their tank...
unbknownst to me, this was going to be the most difficult thing I had ever done (much MUCH more difficult than passing calculus)...
You see, I dont think this truck was designed to fit a conventional gas nozzle...
And by that I mean, the nosal was hard as hell to get in... Thankfully I am the king of getting big things in small holes... or was that small things in big holes... I can never remember...
Regardless... I get the nozzle in there and start pumping away...
Well, if by away, you mean to $0.07... Then, yes, away I went...
Now, I would like to think I know a lot about filling gas tanks up with gasoline... And im pretty certain I know most of the tricks in the book about avoiding the auot kickoff...
But this thing was just retarded... I was angling, I was holding back I was putting the gasoline in so goddamn slow that there is no goddamn way the goddamn thing should have goddamn kincked off...
But it did... After several minutes of fighting, and making it to $2.30 in $.03-.07 incriments, I finally sought out the aid of the two ladies in the car...
Their advice... Turn the nozzle upised down and pump slowly...
I follwed half of their advice (as I wanted to get away from this vehicle of satan as fast as I could), and when it started pumping smoothly, I was so relieved...
...that i forgot that turning the nozzle upside down would render the automatic kickoff completely useless...
...which it did...
...and spilled gasoline... and a lot of it...
I felt like such a tool... Standing there in full serve with litres and litres of gasoline on the ground (well.. it was probibly significantly less than a litre, but that didnt decrease the 'tool' potential)...
Worse yet, there were two tanks to be filled and I was only half way finished (joy!)...
The second thank, I took at a much more leisurely pace... And I was turning red from embarassment... So standing out there for the few minutes that it took felt like death...
I had hoped to retire from the petroleum distribution profession victorious... But this will forever put a smear on my name... and my childrens names...
how will I ever show my face again?
Oh! mac'n'cheese is ready!
Tiresome People
My title for this is slightly misleading... There is actually only one person whom was really tiresome...
I'll give you a hint she was a customer... and she was bitchy...
Thats right, a bitchy customer...
Well, I bet you all know I have a story to tell...
I was in the midst of serving a customer (my co-worker was stocking the potato chips) when a full serve pulled up...
I was just waiting for the debit to go through, so I yelled to my co-worker that all was fine, and that I would get the full serve so she could continue putting away the salty-packaged-bags-o'-potato-goodness...
Enter the bitch...
She had come running in from the full serve pump (keep in mind this is a period of about 20 seconds between swiping the card, customer entering debit info, and recipt getting printed... we are the most debiting country in the world, you should all be familiar with the process)... She throws (and I mean balls up and physically tosses) a $5 bill at me all the while saying in a raised and angry tone "If we have to prepay there should be a fucking sign"
I wanted to shout back "If you didnt see the fucking full serve sign then why the fuck would you see the prepay sign?"
but I didnt...
The moral of the story is i want to now petition to put up a sign that says "fucking only"... or something... That was whenever someone tells me I "need to have a fucking sign" I can point to it...
I'll give you a hint she was a customer... and she was bitchy...
Thats right, a bitchy customer...
Well, I bet you all know I have a story to tell...
I was in the midst of serving a customer (my co-worker was stocking the potato chips) when a full serve pulled up...
I was just waiting for the debit to go through, so I yelled to my co-worker that all was fine, and that I would get the full serve so she could continue putting away the salty-packaged-bags-o'-potato-goodness...
Enter the bitch...
She had come running in from the full serve pump (keep in mind this is a period of about 20 seconds between swiping the card, customer entering debit info, and recipt getting printed... we are the most debiting country in the world, you should all be familiar with the process)... She throws (and I mean balls up and physically tosses) a $5 bill at me all the while saying in a raised and angry tone "If we have to prepay there should be a fucking sign"
I wanted to shout back "If you didnt see the fucking full serve sign then why the fuck would you see the prepay sign?"
but I didnt...
The moral of the story is i want to now petition to put up a sign that says "fucking only"... or something... That was whenever someone tells me I "need to have a fucking sign" I can point to it...
Monday, June 13, 2005
Weekend
So its been a few days since my last update.. I apologise.. I worked a lot this weekend and time that I wasn't working, I wasn;t sitting on my ass in front of the computer (I know its hard to believe but youre going to have to just accept it)...
Where to start...
If I said that I just had the most entertaining weekend of work ever, I would be lying out of my ass... It was, more or less, painful from the very get go...
Thursday night started off alright, I had reached my upsell quotient before 11pm (I know, woot woot) Thats when it all went to hell... People just stopped comming... Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be complaining about this, buts it has been a long while since I worked a weekday graveyard, and I have to say, it was dead... I was taking back to back smoke breaks to pass the time after I had done all my chores and whatnot...
And then, during the last hour where I'm supposed to prep the store to switch shifts (change the mop water, brew the different flavors of coffee etc), people just started swarming the store... Welcome to the weekday commute... Which I had totally forgotten about... Next thing I know, Im selling out of coffee as fast as I can make it, I have customers lined up at the pumps and at the till, I can't get the store in to lockdown to change the mop water, and I havent even started counting cigarettes...
The morning staff thought it was hillarious...
After getting home and having a brief nap, I woke up to go tux shopping 9cuz i needed a tux)... Follwed by movies with friends followed by another graveyard shift...
And let me say, this one was fun...
It started off busy (as fridays usually do)... My friends (who stopped by) noted how many more people are at our gas station as compared to the gas station of another friend... I had already attempted for 20 minues to clean up an amazing large slurpee spill (I think somneone somehow managed to hook a hose to the slurpee dispenser and allow it to flow directly onto the floor) of which no customer thought to inform me... but judging by the number of foot prints trudged through the store, they all went out of their way to walk through it... I was failing, more or less, at the cleanup, but I was at least able to get most of the colour gone... just not the goo-stick that I so much detest...
So back to my story... My friends are trudging through the store, trying to entertain themselves until I have a few free moments (doesnt happen too often, but they were hopeful) when Shannon (shannonspoetry.blogspot.com) informs me that someone had knocked over a conatiner of $0.05 candies... She then points at the purp. whom was trying to conceal his identity over at the sunglasses and magazine station of the store... I'm still trying to serve customers, so i bribe shannon and sharon (sharessharing.blogspot.com) with slurpees to clean it up for me...
After they are finished, and we have chatted a little bit, the guy finally comes up to the counter to pay for his things (a bottle of pop and a few candies) and informs me
"I may have spilled a few candies"
First off, this is several minutes after the initial incident, and a few minutes after the cleanup (which he was standing next to, and not participating in), and it was a large tub of candies... not a few... And why the fuck would you walk away from sucha big mess... And why the fuck would you admit to it, and then not apologise? Did he not see that i had to get patrons of my store to clean it up for him? did he not see that there was a lot of candy that can no longer be sold because of his actions?
I know, Im getting upset over candies... And I think I handled it really well... but I think I burned a hole through his jacket with my glaring...
And thats not where it ends folks (well.. thats where that story ends...)
Not more than a few minutes after this guy, two sketch guys come into the store and make some relatively sketch purchases on a totally sketch credit card, that had conviniently lost the magnitivity of its magnetic strip...
O of course, phoned visa...
It took about 10 minutes (maybe 15... I can never really be sure, Im horrible at guessing time)... But visa gave me clearance on the card, and everything was hunky dory... Except for the fact, that this entire time, I was not able to serve any other customers... who were lining up in throngs... and looking angrier by the minute...
I was throwing out free coffee and slurpees like confetti at time square to appease the horde...
I finally managed to get my baking started at 130 that night (normally it would be done and I would have been doing dished by that time) So needless to say, nothing got done... Especially when you consider that some drunk wench (I'm talking sleazy bar wench, not hot pirate ship wench) spent like 25 minutes going through the store looking for something to eat to make herself feel better... she was obviously upset about something... maybe she finally realised how whoreish kneehigh stilleto boots, short-shorts and a clevage based tanktop (sans bra) made her look... but who am I to jusdge, right?
While she was looking for comfort food, I was forced to do only duties which can be done in plain sight of the entirity of the sotre... ie: stock things, and clean counters...
Now, I dont know about you, but once youve cleaned a counter, it generally remains clean for quite a while (unless children are buying slurpees nearby)... so towards the end of her little shopping experience, I was banging my hear on the glass lotto display to pass the time...
My night ended rather abruptly... Like I said, I didnt have a chance to getmost of my work done, and so I was frantically running around to get things done when the morning staff showed up...
Saturday was a bit more entertaining...
A friend from highschool... Well, sorta a friend, we got along quite well, but we stopped talking after our school split up into clayton/tweedsmuir... Came in and ordered cigarettes... now my friend isn't actually the eldest looking fellow, but since he was in my grad class, he is, at the very least, 20 years old, and so giving him his cigarettes wasn;t a problem at all... in fact, I will go so far as to say it was a problem free transaction... Well... My having not asked for I.D. gave balls to the twelve year olds in the store, who proceeded to come up to the counter with (I'm not making this up... I don't think I could make this up) a bottle of orange crush, a pack of bubbalicious bubble gum, and, here's the punchline, asked for a pack of captain blacks...
I tried my darndest not to laugh... (It's happened 'fore that a person whom I though looked no more than 15 had two pieces of photo identification, and a health care card prooving that he was 27... I felt like an ass...) I asked for some ID, they said they didnt have any, I said no ID no sale...
The words that came out of their mouth after that was something I will not repeat here... I'm sure you can guess what sort of explatives they used (a few of them I've already used in this post)...
Then they go off on "you let that last kidbuy smokes without ID" to which I replied "you mean tyler whom I've known for 8 years and who graduated the same year as I?"
That shut them up... and they ended up not buying their candies and pop...
Fucking pretentious little shits...
But I digress...
Finally, I got called in for a shift sunday evening (I covered for a sick staff member... not because I need the added stress, more because I know that if I ever need a day off, it's better to have specific instances to refer to)
It was just a four hour shift... But we couldn't keep the slurpee off of the floor...
It was just spill after spill after spill...
I was considering doing a 'Hulk' like thing and picking the slurpe machines up off the floor and throwing them though the large glass wall at the front of the store, and then running through the streets causing havoc...
But I didn't...
And that was my weekend...
(I also ate quish, kabobs, lamb, basil, and pepperoni somewhere in there, too... but I figured that was implied...)
Where to start...
If I said that I just had the most entertaining weekend of work ever, I would be lying out of my ass... It was, more or less, painful from the very get go...
Thursday night started off alright, I had reached my upsell quotient before 11pm (I know, woot woot) Thats when it all went to hell... People just stopped comming... Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be complaining about this, buts it has been a long while since I worked a weekday graveyard, and I have to say, it was dead... I was taking back to back smoke breaks to pass the time after I had done all my chores and whatnot...
And then, during the last hour where I'm supposed to prep the store to switch shifts (change the mop water, brew the different flavors of coffee etc), people just started swarming the store... Welcome to the weekday commute... Which I had totally forgotten about... Next thing I know, Im selling out of coffee as fast as I can make it, I have customers lined up at the pumps and at the till, I can't get the store in to lockdown to change the mop water, and I havent even started counting cigarettes...
The morning staff thought it was hillarious...
After getting home and having a brief nap, I woke up to go tux shopping 9cuz i needed a tux)... Follwed by movies with friends followed by another graveyard shift...
And let me say, this one was fun...
It started off busy (as fridays usually do)... My friends (who stopped by) noted how many more people are at our gas station as compared to the gas station of another friend... I had already attempted for 20 minues to clean up an amazing large slurpee spill (I think somneone somehow managed to hook a hose to the slurpee dispenser and allow it to flow directly onto the floor) of which no customer thought to inform me... but judging by the number of foot prints trudged through the store, they all went out of their way to walk through it... I was failing, more or less, at the cleanup, but I was at least able to get most of the colour gone... just not the goo-stick that I so much detest...
So back to my story... My friends are trudging through the store, trying to entertain themselves until I have a few free moments (doesnt happen too often, but they were hopeful) when Shannon (shannonspoetry.blogspot.com) informs me that someone had knocked over a conatiner of $0.05 candies... She then points at the purp. whom was trying to conceal his identity over at the sunglasses and magazine station of the store... I'm still trying to serve customers, so i bribe shannon and sharon (sharessharing.blogspot.com) with slurpees to clean it up for me...
After they are finished, and we have chatted a little bit, the guy finally comes up to the counter to pay for his things (a bottle of pop and a few candies) and informs me
"I may have spilled a few candies"
First off, this is several minutes after the initial incident, and a few minutes after the cleanup (which he was standing next to, and not participating in), and it was a large tub of candies... not a few... And why the fuck would you walk away from sucha big mess... And why the fuck would you admit to it, and then not apologise? Did he not see that i had to get patrons of my store to clean it up for him? did he not see that there was a lot of candy that can no longer be sold because of his actions?
I know, Im getting upset over candies... And I think I handled it really well... but I think I burned a hole through his jacket with my glaring...
And thats not where it ends folks (well.. thats where that story ends...)
Not more than a few minutes after this guy, two sketch guys come into the store and make some relatively sketch purchases on a totally sketch credit card, that had conviniently lost the magnitivity of its magnetic strip...
O of course, phoned visa...
It took about 10 minutes (maybe 15... I can never really be sure, Im horrible at guessing time)... But visa gave me clearance on the card, and everything was hunky dory... Except for the fact, that this entire time, I was not able to serve any other customers... who were lining up in throngs... and looking angrier by the minute...
I was throwing out free coffee and slurpees like confetti at time square to appease the horde...
I finally managed to get my baking started at 130 that night (normally it would be done and I would have been doing dished by that time) So needless to say, nothing got done... Especially when you consider that some drunk wench (I'm talking sleazy bar wench, not hot pirate ship wench) spent like 25 minutes going through the store looking for something to eat to make herself feel better... she was obviously upset about something... maybe she finally realised how whoreish kneehigh stilleto boots, short-shorts and a clevage based tanktop (sans bra) made her look... but who am I to jusdge, right?
While she was looking for comfort food, I was forced to do only duties which can be done in plain sight of the entirity of the sotre... ie: stock things, and clean counters...
Now, I dont know about you, but once youve cleaned a counter, it generally remains clean for quite a while (unless children are buying slurpees nearby)... so towards the end of her little shopping experience, I was banging my hear on the glass lotto display to pass the time...
My night ended rather abruptly... Like I said, I didnt have a chance to getmost of my work done, and so I was frantically running around to get things done when the morning staff showed up...
Saturday was a bit more entertaining...
A friend from highschool... Well, sorta a friend, we got along quite well, but we stopped talking after our school split up into clayton/tweedsmuir... Came in and ordered cigarettes... now my friend isn't actually the eldest looking fellow, but since he was in my grad class, he is, at the very least, 20 years old, and so giving him his cigarettes wasn;t a problem at all... in fact, I will go so far as to say it was a problem free transaction... Well... My having not asked for I.D. gave balls to the twelve year olds in the store, who proceeded to come up to the counter with (I'm not making this up... I don't think I could make this up) a bottle of orange crush, a pack of bubbalicious bubble gum, and, here's the punchline, asked for a pack of captain blacks...
I tried my darndest not to laugh... (It's happened 'fore that a person whom I though looked no more than 15 had two pieces of photo identification, and a health care card prooving that he was 27... I felt like an ass...) I asked for some ID, they said they didnt have any, I said no ID no sale...
The words that came out of their mouth after that was something I will not repeat here... I'm sure you can guess what sort of explatives they used (a few of them I've already used in this post)...
Then they go off on "you let that last kidbuy smokes without ID" to which I replied "you mean tyler whom I've known for 8 years and who graduated the same year as I?"
That shut them up... and they ended up not buying their candies and pop...
Fucking pretentious little shits...
But I digress...
Finally, I got called in for a shift sunday evening (I covered for a sick staff member... not because I need the added stress, more because I know that if I ever need a day off, it's better to have specific instances to refer to)
It was just a four hour shift... But we couldn't keep the slurpee off of the floor...
It was just spill after spill after spill...
I was considering doing a 'Hulk' like thing and picking the slurpe machines up off the floor and throwing them though the large glass wall at the front of the store, and then running through the streets causing havoc...
But I didn't...
And that was my weekend...
(I also ate quish, kabobs, lamb, basil, and pepperoni somewhere in there, too... but I figured that was implied...)
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Customer Loyalty Cards
I hope everyone here understands the purpose of customer loyalty cards... And why places like Save-on, Safeway and petro can use them... So we can track the spending habits of an indivual that we know the (age group, gender and marital status) of, providing us with needed information as to what sorts of items that (agre group/gender/marital status) is buying... This information is extremely valuable in regards to marketing, and far outweighs the cost of providing discounts to the consumer... We are, after all a profit driven private enterprise (thank you privitization of canadas natural resources several decades ago)... Anyways...
A guy comes in this evening, and gives me all boat loads of heck because I can't manually override the compute to take 3.5 cents off per litre (thus defeating the purpose of the 3.5 cents per litre in encouraging the consumers to use the very valuable card)...
I kept trying to beat it into his ever thickening skull that I am not able to provide him the benefits of a program which he refuses to participate in...
Then he goes into 'rage' script one section b (we've all heard it before): "blah blah blah you're incompetent... blah blah blah I'll call you're boss... blah blah blah enjoy working tonight cuz you're going to be fired tomorrow... blah blah blah I'm never shopping here again..."
*yawn*
Do people not realize that once you aknowlege you will be refraining from purchasing items or services, companies have no interest in providing those services and items... A person on a forum once told me that is why you get such crappy service when you cancel a cell phone or a long distance plan... Thats where the trainees or the "inch away from being fired"'s are put...
Like my boss is going to bend over backwards to help a customer who openly admits to never comming into our store again, so that he can rip her off 3.5 cents for every litre he puts in his dodge minivan...
I'll start looking for a new job on monday...
A guy comes in this evening, and gives me all boat loads of heck because I can't manually override the compute to take 3.5 cents off per litre (thus defeating the purpose of the 3.5 cents per litre in encouraging the consumers to use the very valuable card)...
I kept trying to beat it into his ever thickening skull that I am not able to provide him the benefits of a program which he refuses to participate in...
Then he goes into 'rage' script one section b (we've all heard it before): "blah blah blah you're incompetent... blah blah blah I'll call you're boss... blah blah blah enjoy working tonight cuz you're going to be fired tomorrow... blah blah blah I'm never shopping here again..."
*yawn*
Do people not realize that once you aknowlege you will be refraining from purchasing items or services, companies have no interest in providing those services and items... A person on a forum once told me that is why you get such crappy service when you cancel a cell phone or a long distance plan... Thats where the trainees or the "inch away from being fired"'s are put...
Like my boss is going to bend over backwards to help a customer who openly admits to never comming into our store again, so that he can rip her off 3.5 cents for every litre he puts in his dodge minivan...
I'll start looking for a new job on monday...
This'll be fun
Generally, I loathe sentimentality, so I have reservations about doing this... but I feel guilty cuz I participated on a different blog, and have yet to put his on my own... I'll sandwich this between a story, which I'll try to post right away...
01. Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
02. I will then tell what song/movie remind me of you.
03. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, it would be...
04. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
05. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you.
06. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
07. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
08. Put this in your journal.
(In case you noticed, these are not necessarily serious questions so I will not necessarily put heartfelt and deep answers)
01. Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
02. I will then tell what song/movie remind me of you.
03. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, it would be...
04. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
05. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you.
06. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
07. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
08. Put this in your journal.
(In case you noticed, these are not necessarily serious questions so I will not necessarily put heartfelt and deep answers)
Monday, June 06, 2005
Mop
So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I have to mop the the store at some point during my shift...
Its sad but true (I think I've mentioned mopping before, but never as an active complaint)
This weekend, mopping became my least favourite chore...
Imagine this... You arrive to work to find a note in your internal log (I'm sorry but I broke the mop).. followed a few pages later by "I think the replacement mop isn't broken" followed a few pages later still by "the dinkt little mop doesnt work at all"...
Joy!
So, I'm sure your all wondering, how does one mop a store with no mop?
A ha ha ha ha ha
You use a push broom which you have to dip in water every 10 seconds...
And it doesnt really 'mop' per se...
It more or less just pushes muddy water around the store...
but with repeated dipping and pushing, the water gets less and less murky...
Result: after 2 hours of mopping a store that looks like it has brown tiled flooring... and an employee whom looks like he wants to go home...
As a side note... If you are reading this, and your blog is listed on left hand side, and you have not updated your blog recently (I'll let you decide what recent is) I suggest you do so... I need something to read as well...
Its sad but true (I think I've mentioned mopping before, but never as an active complaint)
This weekend, mopping became my least favourite chore...
Imagine this... You arrive to work to find a note in your internal log (I'm sorry but I broke the mop).. followed a few pages later by "I think the replacement mop isn't broken" followed a few pages later still by "the dinkt little mop doesnt work at all"...
Joy!
So, I'm sure your all wondering, how does one mop a store with no mop?
A ha ha ha ha ha
You use a push broom which you have to dip in water every 10 seconds...
And it doesnt really 'mop' per se...
It more or less just pushes muddy water around the store...
but with repeated dipping and pushing, the water gets less and less murky...
Result: after 2 hours of mopping a store that looks like it has brown tiled flooring... and an employee whom looks like he wants to go home...
As a side note... If you are reading this, and your blog is listed on left hand side, and you have not updated your blog recently (I'll let you decide what recent is) I suggest you do so... I need something to read as well...
Friday, June 03, 2005
Multiple Purchases
Today was an alright day -- I was lazy as heck, but thats besides the point ;)
Anyways, an extended Sikh family comes in to the (I say extended because the three women look excpetionally alike and were wearing matching clothing... well their clothing was made of matching fabric... really nice silk...)
They brought with them children, who inevitably ran straight for the slurpee machine... Each person grabed a slurpee cup, filled it up and came back to the till... Otherwise, these would have been perfectly acceptable customers, had what transpired next not occured...
I ring in the slurpees, announce the total, ask for a ptro points card, offer the upsell (doritos for $0.79) and grab the method of payment. A mastercard.
I swipe it through and the computer goes through the verification process... I return the card...
It usually takes about 6 seconds, there is a timer on the computer...
About 4 seconds in to the verification, one of the ladies announces she would like a pack of Peter Jackson light kingsize.
I grab it, and ask for a method of payment, she slides the credit card back across the counter...
O...kay...
I ring it through...
This is where the boyfriend comes from out of nowhere, and puts bottles of pop on the counter, announcing this too (the recipt from the smokes transaction is already printing)...
I ring the bottles of pop in, ask how theyd like to pay for this, the credit card comes sliding back...
This time I check... "Is this everything?" I ask sheepishly...
*nods*
I swipe the card a third time, verification again...
The boyfriend is halfway across the store grabbing bags of chips before the recipt starts printing...
He comes back with two bads of doritos (on special for 2/$5), for the final transaction on the card...
So now I'm standing here waiting for him to sign for all four purchases (each recipt is a must sign) thinking "I hope he gets a paper cut"...
No such luck...
My last hope is that he gets charged an exhorbant amount when he exceeds a certain number of transactions...
Anyways, an extended Sikh family comes in to the (I say extended because the three women look excpetionally alike and were wearing matching clothing... well their clothing was made of matching fabric... really nice silk...)
They brought with them children, who inevitably ran straight for the slurpee machine... Each person grabed a slurpee cup, filled it up and came back to the till... Otherwise, these would have been perfectly acceptable customers, had what transpired next not occured...
I ring in the slurpees, announce the total, ask for a ptro points card, offer the upsell (doritos for $0.79) and grab the method of payment. A mastercard.
I swipe it through and the computer goes through the verification process... I return the card...
It usually takes about 6 seconds, there is a timer on the computer...
About 4 seconds in to the verification, one of the ladies announces she would like a pack of Peter Jackson light kingsize.
I grab it, and ask for a method of payment, she slides the credit card back across the counter...
O...kay...
I ring it through...
This is where the boyfriend comes from out of nowhere, and puts bottles of pop on the counter, announcing this too (the recipt from the smokes transaction is already printing)...
I ring the bottles of pop in, ask how theyd like to pay for this, the credit card comes sliding back...
This time I check... "Is this everything?" I ask sheepishly...
*nods*
I swipe the card a third time, verification again...
The boyfriend is halfway across the store grabbing bags of chips before the recipt starts printing...
He comes back with two bads of doritos (on special for 2/$5), for the final transaction on the card...
So now I'm standing here waiting for him to sign for all four purchases (each recipt is a must sign) thinking "I hope he gets a paper cut"...
No such luck...
My last hope is that he gets charged an exhorbant amount when he exceeds a certain number of transactions...
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Full Service
I love doing full serve... Nothing makes me happier than charging someone 118.9 cents a litre to put premium gas into a vehicle that would more than likely survive on regular; simply for the fact that 1) the oerson is too dumb to pump the gas themselves and 2) they dont know that high octane fuel is not necessary for the health of most cars...
But thats not my complaint about full serve today...
Oh golly no... You should know my blogs better than that...
I go outside to do a full serve... I wash the windows, check oil, and put on the biggest and brightest Tiny Tim smile at the meager tip I get (as if it's going to make this years Christmas the best Christmas Ever! God Bless Us, Everyone!!!), complete the transaction, etc etc etc...
I stayed behind for a few seconds, because I noticed the full serve garbage can was approaching the overflow capacity... And its really lame trying to get those garbage bags from the waste receptical to the dumpster if they're full...
I then go inside to continue my duties as the best Petro Can GSA in Canada (plaque pending)...
A few seconds after entering through the main door, I am informed that there is another car pulling into full serve...
I say pulling in, because it makes the next part of the story that much more obscene (please note my fellow GSA saw the car pull in, I did not)...
I get outside, the windows down and the automatic gas door is open already... and as no attempt on the part of the occupants to remove their persons from the vehicle, so I assume this is a legitimate full serve... (we get a lot of illigitimate full serves... people that pull up, and are out of their cars as we walk up... I try to stand just slightly off to the side of the giant sign that says "FULL SERVE" in these situations, as it makes them feel that much more stupid for having missed it in the first place... Combined with the fact that it allows them to come to the realization themselves, that they did something stupid, and that way I dont have to discipline them... But i should really get back to my story)
I walk around to the drivers door, trying to be as polite as possible; making eye contact, smiling slightly, standing just away from the vehicle so as not to appear to threatening (as a male with piercings, I find that people geta little scared by me)...
What happens next caught me really off guard...
She starts yelling at me for taking so long and shes been waiting for ten minutes and she has to get home because her baby needs to have his diaper changed and she has to get the roast in the oven because it needs to be cooked for when her husband gets home and she thought she would take full serve because its quicker and more convenient except today because I took my sweet assed time getting outside and now her entire day is ruined and shell call my manager and tell her all of this and Im going ot be so sorry that I took so long because shes going ot make such a big deal out of this and did she mention that shes pregnant again and its really hard for her to stand up and she didnt want to have to pay the extra four cents a litre but she was sure that it would be quick but it wasnt and shell never take full serve at this petro can location again and I should reimburse her for the extra four cents because the amount of time I took was uncalled for and....
I'm sure you get the idea...
Keep in mind that:
1) I was supposed to reimburse her for gasoline I didnt put in her car
2)My co worker saw her pulling in...
3) I could have filled her tank in the time it took her to rant on and on like that...
Fini
But thats not my complaint about full serve today...
Oh golly no... You should know my blogs better than that...
I go outside to do a full serve... I wash the windows, check oil, and put on the biggest and brightest Tiny Tim smile at the meager tip I get (as if it's going to make this years Christmas the best Christmas Ever! God Bless Us, Everyone!!!), complete the transaction, etc etc etc...
I stayed behind for a few seconds, because I noticed the full serve garbage can was approaching the overflow capacity... And its really lame trying to get those garbage bags from the waste receptical to the dumpster if they're full...
I then go inside to continue my duties as the best Petro Can GSA in Canada (plaque pending)...
A few seconds after entering through the main door, I am informed that there is another car pulling into full serve...
I say pulling in, because it makes the next part of the story that much more obscene (please note my fellow GSA saw the car pull in, I did not)...
I get outside, the windows down and the automatic gas door is open already... and as no attempt on the part of the occupants to remove their persons from the vehicle, so I assume this is a legitimate full serve... (we get a lot of illigitimate full serves... people that pull up, and are out of their cars as we walk up... I try to stand just slightly off to the side of the giant sign that says "FULL SERVE" in these situations, as it makes them feel that much more stupid for having missed it in the first place... Combined with the fact that it allows them to come to the realization themselves, that they did something stupid, and that way I dont have to discipline them... But i should really get back to my story)
I walk around to the drivers door, trying to be as polite as possible; making eye contact, smiling slightly, standing just away from the vehicle so as not to appear to threatening (as a male with piercings, I find that people geta little scared by me)...
What happens next caught me really off guard...
She starts yelling at me for taking so long and shes been waiting for ten minutes and she has to get home because her baby needs to have his diaper changed and she has to get the roast in the oven because it needs to be cooked for when her husband gets home and she thought she would take full serve because its quicker and more convenient except today because I took my sweet assed time getting outside and now her entire day is ruined and shell call my manager and tell her all of this and Im going ot be so sorry that I took so long because shes going ot make such a big deal out of this and did she mention that shes pregnant again and its really hard for her to stand up and she didnt want to have to pay the extra four cents a litre but she was sure that it would be quick but it wasnt and shell never take full serve at this petro can location again and I should reimburse her for the extra four cents because the amount of time I took was uncalled for and....
I'm sure you get the idea...
Keep in mind that:
1) I was supposed to reimburse her for gasoline I didnt put in her car
2)My co worker saw her pulling in...
3) I could have filled her tank in the time it took her to rant on and on like that...
Fini
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