Snap you in half...

[VenomX]

Our new pumps are slow. With the old ones I could just grab the nozzle hit the grade and pump the gas.

With the new ones I must tell it cash or credit. Then if they have a "rewards card". Then if They want a reciept. Then you wait until it says you can pump.

Well the other day we was busy, and cars were backed up down the road and this guy jumps out and just by looking at him you can see he is nothing but trouble. He tries to get the pump to work, I tell him I have to do it and it will not work without me. He ignores this and keeps pushing buttons. I tell him again and he still ignores me. I go over and tell him to stop playing with with the pump and Ill do it when I can get to him.

He starts yelling about he wants his gas now and tries puching the buttons again. I work over, take the nozzle out of his blazer and hang it up and tell him good bye and walk away. He asks if I am going to pump his gas and I tell him no good bye.

He tells me i have to pump it, I tell him no he can leave. He yells "you cant bar me this is America". I tell him he is infact no longer allowed back and to leave now. He says he is going to call the police. I tell him to go ahead and he keeps yelling about this is America and I cant bar himm and I have to pump his gas.

I keep saying Good bye and he yells, "I am about ready to snap you in half" and steps towards me. Wrong move, as I am near a nozzle, I grab it and hit the "fast" button" (fast as in I dont have to tell the pump how much gas they want) and stand there waiting. I hold the nozzle up and tell him to go ahead and come closer as he will be Christmas dinner because Ill fry his ass.

He is standing there yelling but not moving but his girlfriend/wife jumps over into the drivers seat and starts yelling for him to get the F in. She slams it into reverse and he finally gets in as she was going to leave him.

I hung the nozzle up and went back to work as if it never happened.

[gunsage]

Nice, though, I bet it'd have been nicer if you pistol whipped him with the nozzle first.

[earl colby pottinger]

Freedom

"Moscow on the Hudson" quote:

I came to America to have freedom to write what ever I wanted,
I found everyone else had the freedom not to read it.

Why do SC think all the rights belong only to them and not everyone else in the country?

[d962831]

wow, it's pretty sad when they aren't aware that they don't have the right to demand service and you have the right to refuse it. It is a need, it's a want, a service that one doesn't need to survive(though it makes surviving for some alot easier :P)

[gunsage]

You know, the sad part is I used to work at a couple of gas stations that WERE self service and they were bad too. Not only that, I've been to one station that wasn't self service. The people there were really nice, too. I didn't despise working at standard gas stations, but I don't think I would've been able to tolerate a non-self service station...I probably would've been in jail within the first week.

Judge: "It says here you used a...pump nozzle...to assail the prosecution..."
Me: "Ayup."
Judge: "And you struck the...oh my..."
Me: "Yup. Twice! It made me feel warm and tingly inside."
Judge: "10 years of 'Pound Me In The Ass Prison' for you!"

[BoxGirl]

Excellent! I applaud you handling of the situation. I almost wish you had drenched the guy.

[Saydrah]

You seem to get into a lot of confrontations with customers at work, and a lot of them threaten you. Do you think maybe there is something in your mannerisms that brings out the SC in people? I see three posts by you just on the first page where customers threaten you and you retaliate- unless this is several years' worth of SC stories bubbling up now that you found the website perhaps you should talk to your manager and see if he or she has noticed any ways that you could make your service less confrontational, for your own safety.

[blas]

I'm just chalking it up to the fact that Venom probably lives in a very, very bad place with a very high rate of crime and a lot of people truly do come to his station looking for trouble and an innocent clerk to rile up.

[ditchdj]

I worked in a bad part of town at a Taco Bell when I was 19 and it wasnt much different from this location. It probably would have been worse if we didnt have an off-duty police officer present for security.

[VenomX]

This is from the past 2 years..... Just found this wonderful site and thought I would share...

I'm just chalking it up to the fact that Venom probably lives in a very, very bad place with a very high rate of crime and a lot of people truly do come to his station looking for trouble and an innocent clerk to rile up.

I worked in a bad part of town at a Taco Bell when I was 19 and it wasnt much different from this location. It probably would have been worse if we didnt have an off-duty police officer present for security.

Theft, drugs, and prostitution run ranput around here. Drug dealers from Pittsburgh and Detroit are fighting for territory, they shot up a neighbothood with an AK47 this past summer. They have shot up houses and cars.

The district attorney is under investigation by the FBI.

The city is going broke, it may file bankruptcy soon.

It is bad. But remember some of mystories are from a year or more ago...

[Peppergirl]

Theft, drugs, and prostitution run ranput around here. Drug dealers from Pittsburgh and Detroit are fighting for territory, they shot up a neighbothood with an AK47 this past summer. They have shot up houses and cars.

The district attorney is under investigation by the FBI.

The city is going broke, it may file bankruptcy soon.

It is bad. But remember some of mystories are from a year or more ago...

It's all good. I enjoy your stories.

[bigjimaz]

It also doesn't help that you have Mounaineer and Wheeling Island and now Meadowlands casinos to soak up what money the people there have that isn't being spent on the drugs and hookers. I can just imagine what it's going to be like when the Majestic Star gets going in Pittsburgh.

By the way, Howdy Neighbor! I'm about 70 miles northeast of you and was born in Uniontown. A lot of my ancestors lived in Washington and Greene Counties, mostly in Richeyville, Vesta 6 and 7, Lone Pine, Nineveh and in Morris Twp near the Beulah Church on Rt. 18,

Happy New Year. Welcome to the board.

[Ree]

Nice, though, I bet it'd have been nicer if you pistol whipped him with the nozzle first.

Just a reminder, we do not condone violence unless it's a self defense issue.

Bitching about a slow gas pump does not warrant being beaten with the nozzle of the hose, not does it warrant being sprayed with a flammable liquid, even if the guy 'threatened' to snap one in half.
There was no self defense issue. It was all talk.

[blas]

I'm really glad nothing like that ever happened to me while I worked at a gas station. Seriously, after reading some of these stories, if even one incident similar to that happened to me, I would have locked the doors, walked out, called my boss and quit.

It sounds like you practically risk your life every day on the job. Is that really worth it to you?

[Saydrah]

Truly, after further reading of the OP's various posts, it does not sound like he is cut out for customer service. People who do well in customer service, especially fields with lots of SCs, long-term tend to have a few common traits:

1. A good brain-to-mouth filter- in other words, you may be thinking, "I wish this SC would fall into a trapdoor alligator's den," but you don't say so.
2. A working personal stress-relief method, whether it's yoga, deep breathing, or CS posting, so as not to take all the crap of the day home with them each day
3. A cool head under pressure.
4. The ability to calm others down.
5. The ability to push one's pride and dignity aside in order to defuse a bad situation.

Venom, have you considered trying out a sales or marketing position, or possibly a fundraising position? Those are all fields that value the ability to push for what you want, the ability to separate what will be a paying customer from someone wasting your time in seconds, and the desire to get to the preferred end result as quickly as possible. Those three traits are certainly evident in your personality, as displayed by your readiness to ban SCs from your gas station rather than try to defuse the situation or apologize.

When I worked in retail, our corporate department gave us the following steps to handle any customer complaint:

1. Listen- listen to the customer's complaint actively, repeating back to them if necessary: "So you say that you wanted $10.00 in gas instead of 20.00?"

2. Acknowledge and Apologize- Acknowledge that there was a problem and accept blame, even if it was not your fault. "I'm sorry, I understand it can be frustrating to have your budget upset like that. I must have misunderstood."

3. Solve- Offer a solution to the problem. "Unfortunately, since you did not stop the pump at $10.00, I am unable to give you the extra $8.00 of gas for free- sorry, those are the rules, and I don't make the rules. However, I can offer you $x.xx off your purchase, which equals a total discount of x% on your transaction- so effectively you're getting $18.00 worth of gas for $xx.xx."

4. Thank- thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention. "Thanks for letting me know about that. Have a good day."

The idea is that if those steps are followed, this will be the LAST time you hear about this issue. Doesn't always work, and yes it involves acting like an undignified retail slave, and the continual need to subdue one's own ego in favor of serving even rude and obnoxious customers is why few people want to make a career out of retail- and is a big reason why few college graduates are going into retail management these days. You don't get much respect working in customer service, and trying to demand it leads to confrontation. That's just the world we live in.

Someone who has trouble in customer service could easily be a star employee in an industry that values different traits. I can easily see Venom doing very well in one of my former jobs, which was canvassing for a non-profit organization. The most important thing in that job was to Qualify- in other words, determine within seconds of saying hello to someone whether or not they are going to support the group with a signature, letter, or monetary donation (preferably all three) and if not, don't waste your time on them. A positive attitude and refusal to let rudeness get you down or make you lose your self-respect was also key to success in that job. I had many co-workers who were fantastic canvassers and who had horror stories about retail- many of whom had been fired for being too confrontational with customers!

Seriously, Venom, consider it- mall kiosks (where aggressive sales tactics are rewarded, and wasting your time on jerks is not) or telephone sales (where if you let jerks get the best of you, your attitude and defeatism will translate into lower sales figures) might also be good bets for you- or possibly as a brand representative for something like an energy drink company that emphasizes attitude?