It's only been two days and I've already had enough.

[Gibbo]

Last night we were really busy. I was filling in a non payment form with a customer when I heard this.

SC: You've got no towels or gloves out there. Do you have a manager I can speak to
CW: She's just left
SC: Why don't you have any gloves
CW: We can't because the taxi drivers take it all for themselves...
SC: So what am I supposed to do then. And you've got cones out
CW: Those cones are out because those pumps aren't working
(A couple of our pumps weren't working so there were cones in front of them.)
SC: There are cones all over the place. This is the worst forecourt I've ever been to.
CW: Customer services is the place to complain to...
SC: So you disagree with me?
CW: No, I'm just saying go to customer services...
SC: You are disagreeing with me. This is the worst forecourt I've ever been to!
CW: No I'm not. I'm saying that if you have a complaint then go to customer services.
SC: You're disagreeing with me.
CW: I'm refusing to talk to you anymore
SC: Now you're insulting me

At that point he left and I think that he did go to customer services but I haven't heard anything since.

Also later people started moving the cones that were in front of the broken pumps and then getting annoyed because they wouldn't start working. Not to mention the number of people who were just standing there holding the pump nozzle in the air and wouldn't put it into the car when we told them to.

Then today I had someone who tried to give me a £20 note that is no longer legal tender and tried to insist that he got from a cash machine earlier today, Yeah right... and there was someone who got annoyed with a security guard after he told them he couldn't use jump leads while being next to a pump.

Whenever we tell anyone why they can't use jump leads on the forecourt they genuinely cannot grasp why we don't let them.

[Teskeria]

So for the jump leads, get some nice liability waivers that include that they will pay for any and all damages, ask them to sign them and have a couple witnesses. Just may make 10% back off.

[Dave1982]

Out of curiosity, in what way was the £20 note not legal tender? Was it counterfeit?

If not for the fact that it'd injure innocent bystanders and damage the property I'd almost say let the idiots with the jump leads blow themselves up....

[SongsOfDragons]

Out of curiosity, in what way was the £20 note not legal tender? Was it counterfeit?

We recently finalised the change of design for our new £20 notes. Over the last...year maybe? New notes had been mingling into the system, retaining the purple and I think adjusting the dimensions (please correct if that's wrong), as well as adding new security features and a total redesign. In July ish, the old £20 note became illegal tender, replaced with the new design.

It's still got the phizog of EIIR on the obverse; the reverse has changed. Our currency is Serious Business. You should have seen the fear around when the report came that they were changing the age-old designs of our coinage: no more portcullis, Britannia, Prince of Wales badge? Then we saw the design of a kind of awesome little jigsaw of the Royal Standard shield - and most rejoiced anyway. You can't just slap old Presidents on our money; someone like Spencer Perceval might even cause Brit Riots...

[Dave1982]

Interesting.....here in the US whenever they introduce new currency designs the old ones remain legal tender and are slowly withdrawn from circulation and destroyed as they are processed through the Federal Reserve Banks. Every now and then though a really old bill crops up from somewhere, but as long as it's genuine it's still legal tender.

[Hibble]

The old notes have been removed by the bank of England from circulation over the last 1-1/2 years. For the next 1/2 - 1 year all banks will swap your old notes for new ones. and if you still have a old note after that you can swap it at the bank of England itself. you never lose your money as such.

A Newspaper reviled at the time that some banks who have cash machines where you can pay money in give the money back out again as they cant tell the difference between a new and old notes.

We have been told to take old notes and the boss takes them to the bank himself to swap for new ones.

[SongsOfDragons]

Well, as I said, our currency is a big point patriotically for many UK residents. It's just another interesting contrast between the two countries and how they do things. Also our notes are a bit more colourful than yours; and we're much smaller than you (I think it was about two British Isles can be squidged into Texas alone?) so maybe we can put a little more effort into making them.

Aaaaaand I'm going seriously off topic, so I will comment that the lady was a bit silly because a. the new and old £20 notes look quite different, and b. there have been notices everywhere about it for aaaaaages.

[Marmalady]

Yes but as we all know, customers don't read notices.......

I did post another thread on here a couple of months back about how an elderly man tried to give me a £5 that had the Duke of Wellington on the back.... those went out of circulation in 1991.

[MoonCat]

Oh, darn, you mean that old currency I saved as a souvenir from my 1982 trip to London is no good anymore?

[Marmalady]

Actually if you take it to a bank, yes - the Bank of England honours all its notes, but shops and businesses won't take them. You wouldn't get any adjustment for inflation though - if the note says £5, a new £5 note is what you'll get back.

[Hyndis]

Interesting.....here in the US whenever they introduce new currency designs the old ones remain legal tender and are slowly withdrawn from circulation and destroyed as they are processed through the Federal Reserve Banks. Every now and then though a really old bill crops up from somewhere, but as long as it's genuine it's still legal tender.

The old bills are replaced with new ones as the old ones wear out. The old ones are no longer printed and so when they wear out and are replaced they get replaced with new ones. There will always be the occasional old bill floating about, but after a few years they become so rare that you will almost never see one.

Money doesn't actually last that long. The fed destroys mountains of money each day, both bills and coins.

[Sleepwalker]

And yet someone always hangs on to a 50 or 100 more ancient than any 1 or 5 I've ever seen. >.<

[Bloodsoul]

That reminds me, I was once instructed to look up the serial number and the Department of Treasury signature to see if my two 1934 Series A $10 notes are legit.

[blas]

Gloves for pumping gas? Pardon my ignorance, but why would you need them?

I think Lace has a few stories on here about SCs moving around or completely running over traffic cones at the store she works at.

[Nyx]

Lspeak to
SC: There are cones all over the place. This is the worst forecourt I've ever been to.
CW: Customer services is the place to complain to...
SC: So you disagree with me?

"I am sir, you're forgetting about that forecourt you went to in Minnesota."

Also, gloves? What for? This is the first I've heard of stations having gloves.