Tweet
This is an old one. this goes back to my days working at BP-Supermart
In the city I live in, there are a number of bus companies ranging from those who have fairly nice, modern busses to other bus operators whose vehicles are frankly dangerous. One exploded in flames as it left their maintenance depot. No passengers were onboard and the driver dove out the window to safety moments before the fire tore through the cabin. This vehicle belonged to a company who used to drive around old bangers for busses. Interestingly enough they shared a name spelled very similar to “Banger”...but for this we shall call them Jalopy Travel.
Here’s a picture of one of the decrepit old wrecks they used to drive around with just so you can see what the drivers and passengers were forced to live with. http://d.pr/i/1gCOC quite a stark contrast to other operators driving around in much newer vehicles. (Just to give you some kind of indication as to how old that vehicle is. That photo was taken in 06 according to the website I nicked it off of. That Busses number plate starts with the letter D so that bus is circa 1987 at it’s newest)
Anyway, Busses aside, most of the drivers for Jalopy travel were nice guys. I know this because their depot wasn’t very far from supermart and they didn’t have their own diesel supply (which with that company was probably a good thing) so at the end of the day, the drivers would bring their busses into supermart and would just pay with the fares they had taken that day. This worked well for us because the drivers never wanted to count the change they had in the box as that was time-consuming for them so when we were short on change, we would count it and exchange it for paper-money for them. Most of them were pretty damn happy with this arrangement. Except one.
There’s always one, isn’t there?
One of the drivers, whenever he came in, if we were desperate for change, he wouldn’t give us any. You got what he gave you for payment, that was it. I actually tried dressing it up once “Would you like me to count the change you have in your pot for you and reduce it to manageable paper-money? it’ll save you some time at the depot” - “No” ...well fuck you then.
Anyway, if they didn’t get a receipt for the £150 of fuel they put in the busses (small vehicles as they may be; they had huge diesel tanks in them) then the money came out of their wages. Most of the time our staff remembered to press “Cash (Receipt)” but sometimes we would forget and new guys just wouldn’t know. Of the times we would forget, the drivers would usually remember unless they were in a rush. The worst one for forgetting a receipt was Mr. No.
It wasn’t a huge problem if they forgot the receipt. We could trawl back through a day’s transactions and with the amount they spent on fuel; it stood out but doing so was a hassle.
So one day, I have ZERO change because the person on the shift before me was a twat. None of the shops that surrounded the place had change because they kept coming to see if we had any, and I had grabbed all the change from the local pub who had been kind enough to open their juke box and let me raid that for what small amount of coins were in there. I was waiting for Jalopy Travel to come and get their fuel just to alleviate my situation. Not a single one of them who came in that day had taken many passengers, so barely had enough coins on them to pay for the fuel (yes, £150 in coins is a lot but we all know how quickly you can use that up) except for Mr. No. he came in practically having to drag his change bag with him. Not only that but he needed something from me.
“I need your help. I need to get my receipt from yesterday. I forgot to ask the new girl for it” he says.
“Okay. Can you spare me some change please?”
“No way! You know I don’t do that” he replies
At this point, I am just sick of this shit. “So let me get this straight. You expect me to help you with something that is entirely your fault and your problem, but you won’t help me?” I say it’s entirely his fault because although the staff who have been there any length of time will KNOW a Jalopy travel driver will want a receipt, it’s still down to the bus driver to ask for one. After all, it’s their wages it comes out of if they don’t get one.
“I help you! I pay in change!” He protests
“Yeah, that’s not what I mean and you know it. I need more than the pound coins you are going to give me. I need just about every single coin there is. I know you have plenty.”
“How do I know you’re not giving me fake notes?”
“Borrow my anti-counterfeiting pen and check them if you like.” I reply.
“That’s gonna take TIME though” he grumbles.
“I’m gonna make this really simple. If you don’t help me; I am not going to help you.”
With that he dumps his change bag on the counter and just up-ends it. Oh my god he had EVERYTHING. He starts counting out the coins while I look for his receipt, which I found in a matter of minutes. He pays for his fuel for today with 2 fists full of coins, then ends up changing another £190 with me. By the time I had finished, the till was too heavy to stay under the counter by itself and I had to counterbalance it with a box of paper.
Oddly enough, whenever I asked him for change again he never gave me any grief.
Moral of the story people; if you want someone to help you, be prepared to help them. Particularly if it’s me
In the city I live in, there are a number of bus companies ranging from those who have fairly nice, modern busses to other bus operators whose vehicles are frankly dangerous. One exploded in flames as it left their maintenance depot. No passengers were onboard and the driver dove out the window to safety moments before the fire tore through the cabin. This vehicle belonged to a company who used to drive around old bangers for busses. Interestingly enough they shared a name spelled very similar to “Banger”...but for this we shall call them Jalopy Travel.
Here’s a picture of one of the decrepit old wrecks they used to drive around with just so you can see what the drivers and passengers were forced to live with. http://d.pr/i/1gCOC quite a stark contrast to other operators driving around in much newer vehicles. (Just to give you some kind of indication as to how old that vehicle is. That photo was taken in 06 according to the website I nicked it off of. That Busses number plate starts with the letter D so that bus is circa 1987 at it’s newest)
Anyway, Busses aside, most of the drivers for Jalopy travel were nice guys. I know this because their depot wasn’t very far from supermart and they didn’t have their own diesel supply (which with that company was probably a good thing) so at the end of the day, the drivers would bring their busses into supermart and would just pay with the fares they had taken that day. This worked well for us because the drivers never wanted to count the change they had in the box as that was time-consuming for them so when we were short on change, we would count it and exchange it for paper-money for them. Most of them were pretty damn happy with this arrangement. Except one.
There’s always one, isn’t there?
One of the drivers, whenever he came in, if we were desperate for change, he wouldn’t give us any. You got what he gave you for payment, that was it. I actually tried dressing it up once “Would you like me to count the change you have in your pot for you and reduce it to manageable paper-money? it’ll save you some time at the depot” - “No” ...well fuck you then.
Anyway, if they didn’t get a receipt for the £150 of fuel they put in the busses (small vehicles as they may be; they had huge diesel tanks in them) then the money came out of their wages. Most of the time our staff remembered to press “Cash (Receipt)” but sometimes we would forget and new guys just wouldn’t know. Of the times we would forget, the drivers would usually remember unless they were in a rush. The worst one for forgetting a receipt was Mr. No.
It wasn’t a huge problem if they forgot the receipt. We could trawl back through a day’s transactions and with the amount they spent on fuel; it stood out but doing so was a hassle.
So one day, I have ZERO change because the person on the shift before me was a twat. None of the shops that surrounded the place had change because they kept coming to see if we had any, and I had grabbed all the change from the local pub who had been kind enough to open their juke box and let me raid that for what small amount of coins were in there. I was waiting for Jalopy Travel to come and get their fuel just to alleviate my situation. Not a single one of them who came in that day had taken many passengers, so barely had enough coins on them to pay for the fuel (yes, £150 in coins is a lot but we all know how quickly you can use that up) except for Mr. No. he came in practically having to drag his change bag with him. Not only that but he needed something from me.
“I need your help. I need to get my receipt from yesterday. I forgot to ask the new girl for it” he says.
“Okay. Can you spare me some change please?”
“No way! You know I don’t do that” he replies
At this point, I am just sick of this shit. “So let me get this straight. You expect me to help you with something that is entirely your fault and your problem, but you won’t help me?” I say it’s entirely his fault because although the staff who have been there any length of time will KNOW a Jalopy travel driver will want a receipt, it’s still down to the bus driver to ask for one. After all, it’s their wages it comes out of if they don’t get one.
“I help you! I pay in change!” He protests
“Yeah, that’s not what I mean and you know it. I need more than the pound coins you are going to give me. I need just about every single coin there is. I know you have plenty.”
“How do I know you’re not giving me fake notes?”
“Borrow my anti-counterfeiting pen and check them if you like.” I reply.
“That’s gonna take TIME though” he grumbles.
“I’m gonna make this really simple. If you don’t help me; I am not going to help you.”
With that he dumps his change bag on the counter and just up-ends it. Oh my god he had EVERYTHING. He starts counting out the coins while I look for his receipt, which I found in a matter of minutes. He pays for his fuel for today with 2 fists full of coins, then ends up changing another £190 with me. By the time I had finished, the till was too heavy to stay under the counter by itself and I had to counterbalance it with a box of paper.
Oddly enough, whenever I asked him for change again he never gave me any grief.
Moral of the story people; if you want someone to help you, be prepared to help them. Particularly if it’s me
Comment