Please stop bouncing off our doors, they're breakable.

[astyn-dbs]

For that matter, so are our pumps.

I'm currently at that stage of exhausted that makes me cry at the drop of the hat, but it's been a sucky 3 days. These are a couple of the milder stories, I'll post the rest once I can convince myself to sleep.

Every so often at work, there'll be a loud "thunk" noise followed by the sound of vibration. That's our doors, which impatient customers can't wait for the opening of (although they open quite quickly) and bounce off. If you wait for two bloody seconds, you'll avoid the pain, embarassment, and damage to our door mechanism!

Then an older/elderly man drove into our pump. Straight into it. It's only about a metre wide, tan coloured with a large colourful poster on it. Easy to miss. Thank god he didn't hit it hard, and there was no damage to the car or pump. He wasn't in the slightest bit embarassed, he seemed to think it happens all the time. Er, no. Most people are aware that they don't have room to get around something. And he hit his left headlight, while parking in the right-hand pump. Meaning he was WAAAAY too far to the left (Edit: right. I think. Someone?)

A group of 4 mid-20s guys came into the shop and headed for the cafe to get some food. I distinctly heard the F-Bomb dropped, but wasn't sure who'd said it, so I waited to see if the swearing would continue. They were fine for a couple of minutes, then they got to the till and I heard a few more impolite phrases. I had just finished serving a customer, so I turned to them (they were at the second till, which is right beside mine, it's just one big long counter with 3 tills spread along it) and said "Which one of you keeps swearing?" All 4 guys looked at each other, semi-sheepishly. "Er, all of us probably..." "Well whoever it is, knock it off!" They looked a tad shocked, and had a laugh among themselves at my audacity in telling them to stop swearing in public, but I didn't hear anything offensive from them again .

My thought for the day: My till ain't a toilet, so don't dump your shit on it!

[BookstoreEscapee]

Easy to miss.

Evidently not...

[mattm04]

Evidently not...

Also easy to make a big boom. I drove by a gas station one day a saw a lot of fire trucks, police cars, HAZMAT people and other emergency personnel. It seems a lady on her phone smashed into one side of the pump while another person was pumping on the other side. I later saw on the news that the guy who was pumping got away with no injuries and a slightly scratched car but the lady who hit the pump had minor ijuries abd her car was tataled (ir bad + when she hit the pump fuel form the other guy pumping(in the pipes) hit her hot engine and ignited. Bye-by car.

[Leopardmadcat]

Idiots + Explosives... A lethal combination.

And people wonder why I will not work at a gas station?

"I am not stupid, I am not expendable, I am not working atop a bomb!"

[astyn-dbs]

Also easy to make a big boom.

This is why I have another pet peeve: people leaving their engines running when they pump. Aside from the drive-off risk, there is a risk of the engine sparking (apparently). Even if it is just a slight risk, even if it's a very rare risk, TURN YOUR GODDAMN ENGINE OFF! I don't want to die today. Luckily with our new computer system, we control whether or not the customer gets to pump. If you're doing something dangerous, I won't let you.

[smileyeagle1021]

This is why I have another pet peeve: people leaving their engines running when they pump. Aside from the drive-off risk, there is a risk of the engine sparking (apparently). Even if it is just a slight risk, even if it's a very rare risk, TURN YOUR GODDAMN ENGINE OFF! I don't want to die today. Luckily with our new computer system, we control whether or not the customer gets to pump. If you're doing something dangerous, I won't let you.

actually if I may raise my hand on this one... apparently diesels are perfectly safe to leave running while fueling sense they don't use spark plugs... I know this because I was on a bus the refueled while running and asked the driver about it... and I think I can trust him (translated, I hope that I wasn't sitting on a bus that could have gone ca-fricken-boom at any time).

[AriRashkae]

According to my father, they have "glow plugs", and when it's cold he actually has to plug in a tiny heater that's under the hood so the engine will start up right away the next day.

Then again, he could have been simplifying for me, since my engine expertise is "Top the fluids, change the oil, get someone with a lift and tools for everything else."

[astyn-dbs]

[QUOTE=smileyeagle1021;378418]actually if I may raise my hand on this one... apparently diesels are perfectly safe to leave running while fueling sense they don't use spark plugsQUOTE]

I've heard that before too, and it's most likely quite right. But since I can only tell if a vehicle is diesel if they're facing towards me, I tell everyone to turn their car off. Also prevents the, "But he hasn't turned his car off!" whining.

Side note: I'm currently at University studying to be a psychologist. I thought that was what I wanted to do with my life. Instead, I'm quickly becoming a whine connisseur. "But whyyyy can't I use that?" "But whyyyy do I have to show you ID?" "But whyyyy can't you do that for me?"

[wolfie]

actually if I may raise my hand on this one... apparently diesels are perfectly safe to leave running while fueling sense they don't use spark plugs...

Actually, diesels are perfectly safe to leave running while fueling because diesel fuel is less volatile than gasoline, and has a higher flash point (temperature at which evaporation is enough to produce a fuel-air mixture which can be ignited by a spark).

Gasoline is classed as flammable, while diesel fuel is classed as combustible (slightly less dangerous category, but still a class 3 hazmat). If a (multi-compartment) tanker is carrying both, it'll show the hazmat diamond for gasoline, since for emergency responders treating a diesel spill as if it were gasoline is OK, but treating a gasoline spill as if it were diesel isn't.

[Dreamstalker]

According to my father, they have "glow plugs", and when it's cold he actually has to plug in a tiny heater that's under the hood so the engine will start up right away the next day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glow_plug

My mom needed something similar in VT during the winter; it was called a block heater though (non-diesel vehicle).

[Primer]

Aren't diesel pumps usually found next to gasoline pumps? Turn the fricken engine OFF! (and it takes a LOT to get me to curse!)

[DesignFox]

and you all wonder why the state of New Jersey doesn't let people pump their own gas....

[BookstoreEscapee]

I just figure there's a reason for the big sign that says turn your engine off and I do what it says.

[Dreamstalker]

I was in Albuquerque once with my dad and we were at a Costco gas station. Near us was an RV, engine running. It started backfiring, sparks flew, the guy next to and in front of our car hit the pump killswitch and RV dude swore up a storm when the pump stopped.

No, I don't know why the tool had his engine running. Even if everything was completely safe, wouldn't burning gas as you're pumping it defeat the purpose of a fillup?

[Can I have a cheeseburger]

This is why I have another pet peeve: people leaving their engines running when they pump. Aside from the drive-off risk, there is a risk of the engine sparking (apparently). Even if it is just a slight risk, even if it's a very rare risk, TURN YOUR GODDAMN ENGINE OFF! I don't want to die today. Luckily with our new computer system, we control whether or not the customer gets to pump. If you're doing something dangerous, I won't let you.

Apparently cell phones present a similar risk, and recently I saw a girl yakking on her phone while putting gas in her car. The person inside the building came on the loudspeaker telling her to get off the phone. She complied.