Don't shoot the messanger!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Blah, last Thursday there was a total pump failure when all the pumps just shut down simultaniously. I got to be the lucky person who had to go outside and tell all the customers that our pumps had gone kaput and so they firstly had to come in and pay for what they had gotten out of their pump, and secondly had to go to another petrol station. I had about ten people yelling at me at the same time, and felt my stress levels rise about a hundred notches. Here are the yellings, as I remember:


"Turn the pumps back on!"

"Why did you switch the pumps off?"

"I can't believe this, I'm going to be late for my meeting!"

"Why can't you just do your job properly? I pay your wages!"

"I don't want to go to *nearest petrol station*! I won't get *store card* points!"

"Why can't you just get me some petrol out the pump?!"

"This is unbelievable! I'm going to complain about this."


Plus variations on the theme. -.- I tried my hardest to explain that we didn't know why the pumps had shut off, my manager and collegue were doing their best to sort it all out, no, we couldn't put the pumps back on, and telling people where the nearest petrol station was, but none of them would listen. Eventually tho, they were forced to concede the point and they went in, paid, and finally buggered off.

I closed off the forecourt, complete with explanitory sign, and still people kept coming into the petrol station to bitch. Why the hell can't people just accept what they're told, rather than attacking the person who tells them?

[Jester]

Why the hell can't people just accept what they're told, rather than attacking the person who tells them?

Because a good portion of people are blithering idiots with unsatisfying jobs and miserable home lives?

[South Texan]

Why the hell can't people just accept what they're told, rather than attacking the person who tells them?

Because few people have the ability to fully assess a situation in a split second and to reign in their frustration at whatever has happened to block their expectation. It is the same phenomenon that causes people to pull on a store's locked door five times and then get mad when they want the store to be open.

As the employee who has told them of the problem, you are the physical representation of both the company and the problem, so their first reaction is to voice their frustration about the problem at you. That doesn't make it right, but it is what is happening.

[TravisRB69]

Not everyone actually has to WORK for a living or get their hands dirty, sometimes people are born with the proverbial silver spoon and get everything handed to them from the start, or they make more than a gas station worker (probably for twiddling their thumbs behind a desk all day rather than actually getting their hands dirty or actually...........DOING anything) and think that what they make makes them better than everyone else, and therefore entitled to more.

Generally speaking, these inept, useless twits are the ones who cause all the problems.

I've said it on more than one occasion, it should be a requirement for citizenship in this country (if not going into the military) that everyone should be required to do at least two years in either retail or restaurant work. So everyone will have a better idea of what we go through on a daily basis.

[RetailWorkhorse]

For some reason I have this huge desire to stand in your Petrol Station parking lot and throw frisbees at these people.

I'm trying really hard not to go for the machete, can you tell?

[jerkface11]

I've said it on more than one occasion, it should be a requirement for citizenship in this country (if not going into the military) that everyone should be required to do at least two years in either retail or restaurant work.

Yeah right. We'd just get more people saying "I used to work in retail/fastfood I KNOW you're doing it wrong!!!!"

[Lace Neil Singer]

For some reason I have this huge desire to stand in your Petrol Station parking lot and throw frisbees at these people.

I'm trying really hard not to go for the machete, can you tell?

I would love you to give in to that urge. XD That is, if you're ever in my part of England.

[karma_gypsy]

Did you check the backroom? I bet that's what it was .... I bet you were unaware that there is a magical switch back there that turns all the pumps back on, gives discounts & freebies, makes the pumps work faster and even does the customers' taxes ....

[Gibbo]

Whenever we have to close our forecourt for whatever reason we get people coming in to bitch. We don't have any closed signs anymore as they were all knocked over by cars and were wrecked, so we would block the forecourt with cones and we would always have someone driving through and ignoring them and when the driver was then told we were closed they would whine "but there's no sign!!!"

We would also have someone who just HAD to have fuel otherwise they wouldn't have any for the day, but when we told them that there is an Asda petrol station nearby they would say "but I'm not going there because it's card only!!"

[AirHostess]

I would just tell them to f*ck off.

I have had it up to here with passengers having a go at me. I just walk away now and they end up spouting off to empty space. Otherwise I would end up killing them.

[Mordecai]

Not everyone actually has to WORK for a living or get their hands dirty, sometimes people are born with the proverbial silver spoon and get everything handed to them from the start, or they make more than a gas station worker (probably for twiddling their thumbs behind a desk all day rather than actually getting their hands dirty or actually...........DOING anything) and think that what they make makes them better than everyone else, and therefore entitled to more.

Mr. Show had a great sketch about people like that. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF8wLg5Asgo

[Jay 2K Winger]

I've said it on more than one occasion, it should be a requirement for citizenship in this country (if not going into the military) that everyone should be required to do at least two years in either retail or restaurant work. So everyone will have a better idea of what we go through on a daily basis.

For maximum effect, they should also have to work at least one Christmas/holiday season.