In Which Gaki Runs Like the Wind

[Gaki]

So. Normal day. No power outages. There's a dark red SUV (either a Ford Explorer or Chevy Trailblazer) on Pump 18. And of course, as well all know, this will end badly.

The sound goes off for when the nozzle is put back on the machine and about three clerk heads rise up to watch him out at 18. One of them is mine. Three seconds go by before he starts moving.......and I start moving. I don't remember if I jumped over the swinging door or opened it, and I almost ran into the automatic doors but they opened and all my assistant manager said she saw was a flash of gray and red (my uniform) and all the cigarette tabs I'd stuffed into my pockets fly out like confetti. (We have to save them for inventory.)

I ran across the entire parking lot to the other side and I don't remember how I got there, but I stopped about two yards behind him to get his license plate and he threw the thing into reverse. Both I and my coworkers were very sure he was about to run me down. Nope, he was just screaming out his open window for the car in front of him to get out of his way and try to find another way to go. He didn't even bother to put his gas cap back on, it was hanging down out of the opening. He eventually got away and I was lamenting that I should have shouted something but I was too busy trying to get his license plate.

The most novel thing about the whole experience was that when I was repeating the license plate over and over in my head on the walk back, the guy from Pump 17 was walking toward me with a pen and paper, asking me if I needed it. When I asked if I could use his back to write on he said, "You do what you gotta do, girl. Damn you run FAST."

Needless to say I got tons of high fives, offers to buy me a drink (although I'm underage), and the honor of calling the cops and talking to the hot one when he came in.

Sucky asshole customer (although perhaps not really because he didn't actually buy the gas): yes.

Sucky day: No way.

As a sidenote: I got to hold my first counterfeit bill! It was a ten of all things! A TEN! But it was easy to miss when you weren't looking for it, easy to spot though if it had been a hundred or a fifty or even a twenty, we would have noticed. But not a ten. Jeez.

[Stormraven]

That's the whole point of counterfeiting tens or fives. They get less attention than the higher bills, so it's more likely they can get away with it.

[Marmalady]

Needless to say I got tons of high fives, offers to buy me a drink (although I'm underage), and the honor of calling the cops and talking to the hot one when he came in.

You rock!

Did the cops catch up with him yet?

[MrsEclipse]

This calls for a smilie party

[mharbourgirl]

[Mr Hero]

That's the whole point of counterfeiting tens or fives. They get less attention than the higher bills, so it's more likely they can get away with it.

In my first story here this was one of the reasons I thought the douche wanted his deposit back in his $100 bill instead of the $100 in small bills he paid with. So I checked those too and they passed the marker test.

[BrenDAnn]

Nice catch, Gaki! High fives from one c-store clerk to another, girl! I've had to do the same before. It's really a rush...That I'd prefer not to have to get. **sigh** By the way, 18? We have 8 pumps, total!

[Gaki]

Nice catch, Gaki! High fives from one c-store clerk to another, girl! I've had to do the same before. It's really a rush...That I'd prefer not to have to get. **sigh** By the way, 18? We have 8 pumps, total!

18 pumps! We've got two separate canopies, one with 1-8 and one with 9-18. I'm just glad I don't work at my sister's store, they've got the original 18 pumps and then eight EXTRA with a full third canopy for diesel trucks ONLY. You can't even see them from the store so they're all prepay or card only and they're on camera too. It's pretty ridiculous. I work at a "Superstore" with a full deli, etc, and she works at the "Superstore and Truck Stop" so they're all decked out for BIG stuff.

Sad to say a guy drove away today from Pump 17 even though I yelled at him through the PA. What really gets me though is that in order to avoid the sound going off, they lay the pump on the ground and then drive off. THAT GETS TO ME, BECAUSE I HAVE TO GO OUT AND HANG IT UP. I started yelling my head off that the thieving jackass could at least hang the pump up before he drives away (although I would have launched myself over the counter this time as well) because I'm sick and tired of having to do that, it's just pouring salt into the wound. It wasn't as big a drive off though so I just gave him the finger as he left and I know for a fact he saw me because he put the breaks on ever so slightly for no reason.

Woot.

What. A. Dick. I tell you, the next time someone's on 16, 17, or 18 and hits that pay inside button, I'm going out and staring at them until they go in.

Oh yeah, and nobody's come back and told me anything about my drive off so they might not have caught up with him yet. I did find out that the plate might just be stolen...D: But damn it guys, these people are going down. Sometime I bring the keys (on a stick) when I run so I can hit their car with it and claim my hand slipped to give it an identifying mark.

[Kristev]

With the gas cap off his car, odds are he'd need to buy gas again elsewhere.

[Anakah]

Just curious... You work in a gas station, right? I thought you had to be 21. I hope that jerk gets caught by the cops! Where I live you have to pay before you can even get a drop of gas near your tank. Honestly I've never understood why some places have you fill then pay....

Tehe, fake bills are neat to look at. I've seen my fair share of really crappy fakes as to where a child could spot them. There was a fake fifty that used to be a five. That was interesting. Yeah, they're counterfeiting anything they can get their grubby little hands on. I'm surprised nobody has done the old hundreds (which would be easy since there are no strips on them and they're REALLY hard to tell if they're real and no face) or ones. Meh.

Anyway, glad you ran like the wind and got that guy's stuff down. I can't believe people.

[Gaki]

Just curious... You work in a gas station, right? I thought you had to be 21. I hope that jerk gets caught by the cops! Where I live you have to pay before you can even get a drop of gas near your tank. Honestly I've never understood why some places have you fill then pay....

Tehe, fake bills are neat to look at. I've seen my fair share of really crappy fakes as to where a child could spot them. There was a fake fifty that used to be a five. That was interesting. Yeah, they're counterfeiting anything they can get their grubby little hands on. I'm surprised nobody has done the old hundreds (which would be easy since there are no strips on them and they're REALLY hard to tell if they're real and no face) or ones. Meh.

Anyway, glad you ran like the wind and got that guy's stuff down. I can't believe people.

Actually I don't know if it's different in other states or anything but you can be as young as 16 and work behind these counters. Here you have to be 16 to handle cigarettes and 18 to handle alcohol. I started working at this company when I was 17 and I have a coworker who is either 16 or 17 right now.

Truthfully we're the ONLY company that still has pump before you pay in this area and although it's brought us a lot of older customers who like to pump first because that's "how it was done" it also brings us a lot of assholes.

And as for fake money, we don't see much of it to be honest. If a hundred won't drop in our safe we won't take it, same for a fifty so it's very clever to give us a ten.

[XCashier]

I tell you, the next time someone's on 16, 17, or 18 and hits that pay inside button, I'm going out and staring at them until they go in.

Take a notebook and pen or a digital camera too, so they know you mean business. (Don't you have cameras pointed at those odd pumps?)

I agree with Anakah, pumps should all be prepay. Or, like in Oregon and New Jersey, hire people to pump the gas for the customers. Either way, no drive-offs. Thieves suck.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I agree with Anakah, pumps should all be prepay. Or, like in Oregon and New Jersey, hire people to pump the gas for the customers. Either way, no drive-offs. Thieves suck.

I gotta admit, I do like not having to pump gas. Especially when it's 103 degrees outside. (Or 20 degrees.) Even when I lived in PA, the closest gas station happened to be full serve (probably because I lived very close to the Jersey border). On the other hand, I do know how to pump gas and have successfully done so in Connecticut on my way back from a wedding in Rhode Island. All by myself ... by reading the instructions on the pump! (How novel .)

On counterfeit bills: I've seen a few over the years in the bookstore and none were higher than a ten.

[PepperElf]

wish you could make them pay first inside


though i'm glad you got to talk to the cute cop

[BrenDAnn]

On pre-pay for gas: Oh, how I wish the idjits at our corp HQ would get it through their thick skulls how much loss it would save them in the long run to implement this! Noo, they have our pumps lined up so the cars run the same way as the store--not the front or back facing us, so no way to get a license plate, and with no outdoor cameras, then wonder why people drive off! I mean, honestly!

On fake bills: I haven't actually seen any myself, but we've had epidemics...well, okay, almost-epidemics, of fake $20's. I've even heard of fake $1's. My favorite is when a customer asks "Why are you writing on that bill?" Uh...to make sure you're honest. Most of my customers know better though and just laugh it off or make a joke about "I just made it today" or something. Meh...Takes two seconds, could save the store a LOT!