Night shift drunks are my favorite people (long)

[Bented]

I've taken over night shift on the weekends at the gas station. It is a decent job, quieter, and I don't have to hear the ranting and raving between co-workers because I'm on my own. It would be perfect, if not for the bar across the street.

Store policy is that everyone must prepay between 9 pm and 6 am. This is usually not a problem. Usually.

Not two minutes after I logged onto the register last night, someone hit the "Pay Inside" button on pump 3, which means I get to listen to the register beep until the guy actually listens to the intercom when I tell him he has to prepay. He comes storming in, slams the door open, and stomps up to the counter.

Not funny
Me:
Loud Drunk Guy: LDG
Co-worker getting ready to leave: R

LDG: I DON'T GET THE PREPAY CRAP. I COME IN HERE EVERY NIGHT AND I NEVER HAVE TO PREPAY!
Me: *gritting my teeth* I'm sorry sir, but that is the store policy.
LDG: *points to R* HE NEVER MAKES ME PREPAY! HOW'S THAT FOR YOUR STORE POLICY?!?!
Me: It's still the store policy. *Considers telling him to leave the store*
LDG: THIS IS TOTAL CRAP! I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER! *leans over the counter*
Me: *hand reaching toward silent alarm* The manager will be in between 6 and 2 tomorrow. Sir...
LDG: *Grins and interrupts me* Hey, I was just messing around. Can I get $10 on pump 3?
R: Man, you're lucky. She was reaching for the baseball bat under the counter.

I wish there was a baseball bat.

This is not a bank

On night shift, we are not allowed to keep more than $80 in our drawer. This causes problems for people who want cash back, but we have an ATM in the store, so they can get money if they want it. It also means we can't accept large bills.

Shrew: I want $5 on that pump out there *hands me a hundred*
Me: I'm sorry, I can't take anything larger than an twenty on this shift
Shrew: Oh, really? Well, here. *hands me a fifty*
Me: I'm sorry, I still can't accept this bill.
Shrew: *catbutt face* Well what am I supposed to do? I need gas!

Thankfully, she stomped out before I could open my mouth and say "If you need gas that bad, you could buy about $40 dollars worth, and I'd make an exception for the fifty. Considering the behemoth you are driving, it would take it. Or you could use the debit card or several credit cards I can see in your wallet. Even better, you could use any of the twenties you sorted through to dig out the fifty and hundred!


Your story is not my reality

This one happened last week, but I didn't get a chance to post it.

This guy came in with a group of 18-21 year olds, and all of them reeked of booze. All of them wanted cigarettes, and I carded each one, so it isn't like the last guy of the group didn't see it coming.

Guy: Pack of Marlboro.
Me: ID, please.
Guy: I don't know why you're carding me. It's after 10 pm. Kids can't be out now, so you don't have to card.
Me: I'm sorry, but it's store policy (side note: I am so sick of having to say that!)
Guy: No! I used to work in a gas station downtown, and I know the policy. You don't have to card after curfew.
Me: Actually, the stings.."
Guy: *interrupting cow* No! The cops can't sting you because they can't use minors after curfew!
Me: I know that. But our company sends in adults under 25 to see if we are carding people according to policy.
Guy: *blinks* No they don't.
Me: Do you have your ID, sir?
Guy produces his ID, buys his cigarettes, and leaves with his friends who are smoking outside.

But I still prefer night shift to day shift.

[blas]

Curfew schmerfew.

Who cares if the cops don't do stings at night? 10 pm doesn't stop kids from wandering around town and causing trouble and trying to buy cigarettes.

Yeah, once or twice while I was working at the gas station, I had other gas station employees (from other stores) come in and throw huge fits over being carded and try to challenge me on who to card.

It took everything I had not to say "Fuck you, go back to your own store."

[bainsidhe]

Carding for cigs and alcohol isn't just policy, it's the law. Too bad the police don't hang around your station, they could start arresting the drunk drivers.

[Bented]

The cops did use our lot to catch the drunks a few years ago, but they started getting complaints from the arrestees who were claiming that parking so close to a bar was entrapment.

[EvilEmpryss]

If these guys don't want to be carded, and they know that another station won't card them after 10 pm, then by all means, they should go there instead and stop harassing the people who are trying to obey the law and keep their jobs.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I really hate having to constantly say "It's store policy" too. -.- And I only say it usually when a kid throws a bitch fit after being IDed.

[Arcade Man D]

The cops did use our lot to catch the drunks a few years ago, but they started getting complaints from the arrestees who were claiming that parking so close to a bar was entrapment.

Just more proof that alcohol kills brain cells, there.

For those who don't know:

Entrapment is only if the cop entices you to commit the action. If you go to a bar and start your car, the cop could pull you over from the lot across the street, and it wouldn't be entrapment. However, if the cop handed you your keys and told you to head on home while he was at the bar and his partner pulled you over, it would be, as the cop enticed you into the action.

[ottid]

I was just thinking the same thing for drunk drivers, could you not call the cops and give them the number plate of the drunk guys buying petrol off you? Even if the cops don't hang out around the bar, you can still let them know when people are driving drunk, I'd sure as hell be happy the more times they get pulled over, they may somehow learn a lesson.

[Whiskey]

Guy produces his ID

What the...?

But I still prefer night shift to day shift.

I don't know what it is about the night shift, but I'm with you. Nights are great.

[Skelly]

Guy produces his ID, buys his cigarettes, and leaves with his friends who are smoking outside.

You mean it isn't illegal to smoke on the premises of a gas station where you're at?

[Bented]

Arcade Man D: Yeah, I still don't know why the cops caved on that one. I think the big wigs just wanted to make sure the DUI busts were squeaky clean. Of course, that didn't stop the cop cars from parking in the darkened lots of the restaurant, apartment complex, and manufacturing complex that were each about a half mile down the road (in different directions). The only thing the drunk drivers got from the change was the ability to waste a tiny bit more gas before they get pulled over.

As far as calling the cops to report them, I'd have to get the license plate number for the report to be of any help, and it is hard enough for me to get those for the drive-offs during the day while the cars are still on the property. I think I need better glasses.

Skelley: I don't know what the local law is, but we have an ashtray by the door, and my co-workers that smoke stand outside and light up. Sometimes while talking to the cops who stop in for coffee. We only have two rules about smoking at the store. 1. No smoking inside the store; and 2. No smoking when you're dipping the tanks. For the laymen, that means you can't smoke when you have the lids to the tanks open and are shoving a giant ruler into the tank to get a reading on the gas levels. I was warned about this my first day, and I've still caught co-workers doing it!

[Whiskey]

You mean it isn't illegal to smoke on the premises of a gas station where you're at?

I thought it was only within a certain footage of the pumps was illegal? If its not illegal to smoke in a gas station, period, it should be.

[dalesys]

You mean it isn't illegal to smoke on the premises of a gas station where you're at?

To quote Walter Cronkite: "Ignition!! And we have lift off!!"

[Juggler]

To quote Walter Cronkite: "Ignition!! And we have lift off!!"

A cigarette won't ignite gasoline vapors in normal air. You need an oxygen rich environment. The lighter used to light the cigarette is another story altogether.

[Andara Bledin]

A cigarette won't ignite gasoline vapors in normal air. You need an oxygen rich environment. The lighter used to light the cigarette is another story altogether.

And even then, static electricity is far more likely to cause problems than practically anything else.

^-.-^