The joy of being a pump b****

[astyn-dbs]

This first lady wasn't sucky, but lord it was a headache. She came in to pay $20 of petrol, but also wanted to pay $5 that was apparently owed to us, because her son had taken $5 worth of petrol but not paid for it. She had no receipt or documentation, no idea of when it happened, and couldn't come back tomorrow when the Assistant Manager would be here. She didn't know whether he'd done an Unable to Pay or a Drive-Off - the two have different forms to be filled out. I searched but couldn't find any evidence of a $5 UTP or Drive-Off, and didn't know what the hell to do. She was pretty sure her son had paid it already, but wanted to make doubly sure, and wasn't worried about getting the money back if he had. In the end I convinced her to leave her details so that hopefully the AM can sort it out.




Whilst writing up this little incident, I came across a notation in our incident report book that made me giggle. I work in the richest area of town, and many of our customers are self-important anuses who look down on everyone who works there - just for the record, I'm studying Psychology, planning to do my Masters Degree in Forensic Psychology, and the majority of the workers are also at University. We're not idiots. But this particular rich person had driven over a nail, which had punctured his tyre. Fine. There is atleast one tyre chain in this city which offers free puncture repairs. But he couldn't possibly do that. He examined the nail and apparently found "no evidence of road wear". He therefore decided that the nail must have been lurking on our forecourt, lying in wait for him, and since he, and I quote, "spends around $10,000 per annum at your site", he assumed immediately that the company would cover the cost of repairs. He even kept the nail for evidence purposes. I can't wait to get back to work and ask someone what happened in that particular case.




On another occasion, I was filling two gas bottles for a customer who had been very chatty and friendly. I filled his first bottle but found that the second bottle was leaking. "That's fine, just put a little bit in, it'll be ok." "I'm sorry sir, I can't put any gas into this bottle, it's a safety hazard to both myself and you." At this he went NATO, screaming abuse, how dare I refuse to fill his bottle, I should be (expletive) glad I'm not working for him, I'm useless, etc, etc. I wasn't used to taking abuse like this, particularly not from a customer who had been so polite, so I went out back and .




Tonight was fun. Cold as a witch's breast, and 5 minutes before I'm meant to leave a woman comes in and asks for petrol. The guy doing graveyard offers to do it but I was happy to, thinking it would only take a minute or two and then I could go. Not quite. Apparently our petrol was on the go-slow tonight, probably a problem with the pumping mechanism. It took me 15 minutes standing in the cold to put 45 litres in the woman's tank - it should've taken 5 at the most. She didn't care of course, she was standing in the warm ignoring the fact that it was taking so long and it was freezing. In revenge, I ignored the fact that for some reason the nozzle hadn't clicked off, and had spilled a good 2 or 3 litres on the ground - at around $1.85 per litre. Oops .

I know I've got a ton more, but I think that's enough for my first post. Enjoy .

[Sylvia727]

I hope I'm not reading your last story right. It sounds like a customer asked you to pump her gas, which your coworker offered to do instead, but you agreed to either do your job or to do a favor for a customer. Then, when you realized that it was cold outside and the equipment wasn't working properly, you "took revenge" on the customer by deliberating pouring 1-2 litres of fuel on the ground, which is both dangerous and childish. I hope this is incorrect.

And as for the guy with a nail in his tire...we call those Entitlement Whores, since they think the world owes them everything. I bet if his iPod had broken, or if he'd dropped his wallet, he'd still have expected the company to reimburse him. *dramatic voice* Because on this small patch of concrete, they have the powers of a GOD, and control each atom's movement.

[chainedbarista]

dangerous and childish and finable by law; by the spelling of tyre, i'm guessing you're in england somewhere or one of the canadian provinces. i'm not sure how the governments there handle enviormental hazards, but i'm betting that what you did could not only get you fired, but fined and possibly jail time.

be careful about revenge, because it can bite you in the ass harder than karma, sometimes.

for the first one, at least she has a concience; most would have taken great joy at 'sticking it to the man.'

the gas container guy? hell no, a saftey violation for an idiot, and a potential lawsuit from said idiot? not gonna happen; if he doesn't like it, he can take his defective canister and shove it in the orifice of choice. when you add in the cursing and abuse, it's time to extend an invitation to leave...now.

[Pagan]

Cold as a witch's breast,

*Checks the girls* Nope, mine aren't cold. Where the heck did this expression come from anyway?

In revenge, I ignored the fact that for some reason the nozzle hadn't clicked off, and had spilled a good 2 or 3 litres on the ground - at around $1.85 per litre. Oops .

Unless, and even if, there's more to this story, I've gotta agree....not a cool thing to do. As much as all of us here have fantasies of doing so, taking actual revenge is generally not a good idea.

But, still, to !

[Fenrus]

<snip> at around $1.85 per litre. Oops .

1.85/litre?!?! Where are you from! I'd kill for those prices!

~Seraphim, who just spent 3.29/gal to fill up his car. T_T

[Pheonixfyre]

1.85/litre?!?! Where are you from! I'd kill for those prices!

~Seraphim, who just spent 3.29/gal to fill up his car. T_T

1.85/liter is about 7.00/gal.

[Fenrus]

Oops... way to do the math there, Seraphim. *hides in the corner*

[Sylvia727]

*Checks the girls* Nope, mine aren't cold. Where the heck did this expression come from anyway?

"Cold as a witch's tit in a steel brassiere" is the phrase I've heard used, and used myself on occasion. I believe, and could very well be wrong, that around the Salem era when the definition of a witch was any woman who had congress with the beast, witches were supposed to be cold-blooded. Or something. Their flesh was cold because souls warm the blood. Or something.

EDIT: Well, I googled it and couldn't find anything definitive, but two more theories are: (1) since witches are in league with Satan, they have no maternal feelings, and no desire to nurse an infant, so their breasts are cold, and (2) since witches were alleged to breastfeed their familiars, inquisitioners presented wounds on their breasts as evidence of their witchcraft. Having to uncover their breasts in a room with no central heating for extended periods of time left them very cold. Also, I couldn't find my theory about the soul warming the blood anywhere, so scratch that out. Bottom line: witches are evil so they're cold.

(All of the above opinions are the sole property of their bigoted Puritan originators and have nothing to do with Sylvia727 Enterprises or its associates in any way.)

[Andara Bledin]

On that last story, I got the impression that the failure was in the mechanism, not a deliberate act.

The deliberate act was making the patron pay for something that wasn't her fault and that she had no knowledge of and couldn't have changed even if she did. That's just being unprofessional, disrespectful, and full of misplaced anger.

^-.-^

[blas]

I agree...the last story is very sucky on the OP's part. I can understand being cold and gas taking forever.......with self serve gas, when it gets below zero here in Wisconsin (which is like every day in the winter) gas pumps very slowly.....but can you honestly blame the customer for staying in her vehicle and staying warm? I certainly wouldn't want to go outside and do it myself....that's why I'd go to a full service station if there were any around here.

[karma_gypsy]

1.85/liter is about 7.00/gal.

Ouchies. How can you folks pay that? Are there more fuel efficient cars over there? My husband complains about filling up at $3.30+ a gallon - I guess I need to remind him on what other people have to pay ....

Although I see people with their big humvees who have the need to rev their engines at stop lights ....


Back on topic ...


The second guy ... so he's willing to let gas just drip out of the container like that? That's baaaad. Sorry bud, gas is too expensive to just put in a leaky container ...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Tonight was fun. Cold as a witch's breast, and 5 minutes before I'm meant to leave a woman comes in and asks for petrol. The guy doing graveyard offers to do it but I was happy to, thinking it would only take a minute or two and then I could go. Not quite. Apparently our petrol was on the go-slow tonight, probably a problem with the pumping mechanism. It took me 15 minutes standing in the cold to put 45 litres in the woman's tank - it should've taken 5 at the most. She didn't care of course, she was standing in the warm ignoring the fact that it was taking so long and it was freezing. In revenge, I ignored the fact that for some reason the nozzle hadn't clicked off, and had spilled a good 2 or 3 litres on the ground - at around $1.85 per litre. Oops .

I have to agree with the rest--very sucky on your part. You shouldn't take it out on the customer because it's taking longer for you to pump her gas and you don't want to be out in the cold.

[Seshat]

Ouchies. How can you folks pay that? Are there more fuel efficient cars over there?

Do we have any choice?

Most of the time, my family walks (or in my case, rides the mobility scooter). But we pay fuel costs at the checkout - everything is a bit more expensive because of it. And sometimes you just can't get where you need to go as a pedestrian or by public transport.

[edible_hat]

The second guy ... so he's willing to let gas just drip out of the container like that? That's baaaad. Sorry bud, gas is too expensive to just put in a leaky container ...

I got the impression it was butane/propane/LPG/barbecue gas, which is an actual gas (as opposed to what Americans call gas which is a liquid. Leaky gas bottles are a might higher risk than leaky petrol tanks.

If the OP had filled it and the SC had gone home, connected it to a barbecue, lit it, and it had exploded then the OP and their employer would have a serious lawsuit coming their way.

[bainsidhe]

~Seraphim, who just spent 3.29/gal to fill up his car. T_T

Wha? I just paid $3.49 per gallon and that's the cheapest in town. Ah, if only our public transit wasn't so sucky, I'd probably save gas money that way.