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I hate scammers!!!
And boy, have we had a day of them.
Two aborted fuel scammers:
1. Motorbike pulls up. Passenger jumps off, driver stays on (big health and safety risk) and starts trying to pump fuel. I warn Coworker 1, who's seen it anyway and doesn't authorise the pump. Coworker 1 heads outside for a gas bottle and tells biker he can't straddle the bike while filling it. Passenger jumps back on bike and they roar off.
2. Car this time. Our Hot-Plate alarm goes off, warning that the number plate is recognised as either stolen, a repeat drive-off offender or a repeat unable-to-pay-and-never-comes-back offender. Awesome Assistant Manager (AAM) heads out to let them know that they need to prepay, passenger jumps back in and they roar off. Funny that.
Then there was this "lady". I was cleaning the shelves, and she needed access to a shelf I was blocking, so I pulled my cleaning trolley out of the way and stood there in a daydream, patiently waiting till she was finished so I could get back to it. We're a petrol station, so people don't generally take long choosing what they want. The trolley was between us, so I couldn't actually see what she was doing without stepping around it - this is important.
Her: "Do you have to have the trolley there?"
Me: "Yeah, sorry, but there's nowhere else to put it." *if I put it anywhere else it would block the aisles*
......
Her: "It's quite disconcerting having you watching me."
Me:
"I'm not watching you Ma'am, I'm just looking out at the forecourt."
......
Her: "Don't you have something else you could be doing?"
Me: *alarm bells going off* "No, I'm just cleaning the shelves at the moment."
Her: "I'm sure you could be doing something else."
......
Her: "Do you want me to make a complaint?" *said in a very calm, quiet tone as if she didn't want other people hearing her. Also the voice you'd use with a small child*
Me:"I'm not watching you, I'm watching the forecourt while I'm waiting for you to finish. I'm not paying any attention to you."
Unfortunately, I saw that Coworkers needed help on the tills. Thankfully, the free till was the one with the best view of what she was doing, so I headed behind the counter and served customers while keeping a very close eye on her. When I was finished, I alerted Coworker 1 to keep an eye on her as well and went into the kitchen to watch her on the monitor.
She didn't get away with stealing anything this time, but I alerted AAM to the incident so that if a complaint does come in, my ass is covered.
The whole thing was very confusing, because I'd met her a couple of times before at the bus stop, and on both occasions she'd been quite chatty, even though I had headphones on and wasn't interested (AARGH MAJOR PET PEEVE!). Then I clicked why she was so familiar - a couple of years ago, when I worked for the same company at a different site, she'd come in with a gift voucher that could only be used for petrol, and wanted to buy milk with it. It's quite possible that she didn't know that - I only found out because I read the front quite closely, since I hadn't handled one of those vouchers before. I explained that to her, and she threw a major hissy fit. The only part of the outcome I remember is that as a result, she was blacklisted from receiving that type of voucher ever again, due to her attitude. I told AAM this as well. With any luck she'll keep trying to scam/steal from us and we'll get her banned too.
But the best one of all was the other day. X energy drink is running a promotion at the moment where 1 in 3 cans wins you a free can. A guy came in the other day, put an empty can down on the counter and said "I want my free can."
Me: "Um, I think this is actually an internet promotion, just a sec."
*reads the can* "Yup, you need to go to this website and enter your code there."
Him: "Yeah, I did that. It told me I won so now I want my free can."
Me: "Ok, did they give you a barcode or coupon to print out?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "........do you have it with you?"
Him: "Na. I want my free can!"
Me: "You need to bring the coupon in for us to scan, so we can ring up the free can."
Him: "I'm not doing any of that &$%^, I won a &%^#ing free can now I want my free can!!"
*my totally awesome, Big Maori Boy (his choice!) Coworker appeared behind me* "Is there a problem?"
Him: *goes pale, leaves yelling* "I want my free can!"
Me: "I'll give you your free can. Glue it to a broomstick and ram it right up your Oh my God I didn't see you there...."
*four customers waiting patiently crack up laughing*
Oops!!
Two aborted fuel scammers:
1. Motorbike pulls up. Passenger jumps off, driver stays on (big health and safety risk) and starts trying to pump fuel. I warn Coworker 1, who's seen it anyway and doesn't authorise the pump. Coworker 1 heads outside for a gas bottle and tells biker he can't straddle the bike while filling it. Passenger jumps back on bike and they roar off.
2. Car this time. Our Hot-Plate alarm goes off, warning that the number plate is recognised as either stolen, a repeat drive-off offender or a repeat unable-to-pay-and-never-comes-back offender. Awesome Assistant Manager (AAM) heads out to let them know that they need to prepay, passenger jumps back in and they roar off. Funny that.
Then there was this "lady". I was cleaning the shelves, and she needed access to a shelf I was blocking, so I pulled my cleaning trolley out of the way and stood there in a daydream, patiently waiting till she was finished so I could get back to it. We're a petrol station, so people don't generally take long choosing what they want. The trolley was between us, so I couldn't actually see what she was doing without stepping around it - this is important.
Her: "Do you have to have the trolley there?"
Me: "Yeah, sorry, but there's nowhere else to put it." *if I put it anywhere else it would block the aisles*
......
Her: "It's quite disconcerting having you watching me."
Me:
"I'm not watching you Ma'am, I'm just looking out at the forecourt."......
Her: "Don't you have something else you could be doing?"
Me: *alarm bells going off* "No, I'm just cleaning the shelves at the moment."
Her: "I'm sure you could be doing something else."
......
Her: "Do you want me to make a complaint?" *said in a very calm, quiet tone as if she didn't want other people hearing her. Also the voice you'd use with a small child*
Me:
"I'm not watching you, I'm watching the forecourt while I'm waiting for you to finish. I'm not paying any attention to you."Unfortunately, I saw that Coworkers needed help on the tills. Thankfully, the free till was the one with the best view of what she was doing, so I headed behind the counter and served customers while keeping a very close eye on her. When I was finished, I alerted Coworker 1 to keep an eye on her as well and went into the kitchen to watch her on the monitor.
She didn't get away with stealing anything this time, but I alerted AAM to the incident so that if a complaint does come in, my ass is covered.
The whole thing was very confusing, because I'd met her a couple of times before at the bus stop, and on both occasions she'd been quite chatty, even though I had headphones on and wasn't interested (AARGH MAJOR PET PEEVE!). Then I clicked why she was so familiar - a couple of years ago, when I worked for the same company at a different site, she'd come in with a gift voucher that could only be used for petrol, and wanted to buy milk with it. It's quite possible that she didn't know that - I only found out because I read the front quite closely, since I hadn't handled one of those vouchers before. I explained that to her, and she threw a major hissy fit. The only part of the outcome I remember is that as a result, she was blacklisted from receiving that type of voucher ever again, due to her attitude. I told AAM this as well. With any luck she'll keep trying to scam/steal from us and we'll get her banned too.
But the best one of all was the other day. X energy drink is running a promotion at the moment where 1 in 3 cans wins you a free can. A guy came in the other day, put an empty can down on the counter and said "I want my free can."
Me: "Um, I think this is actually an internet promotion, just a sec."
*reads the can* "Yup, you need to go to this website and enter your code there."
Him: "Yeah, I did that. It told me I won so now I want my free can."
Me: "Ok, did they give you a barcode or coupon to print out?"
Him: "Yeah."
Me: "........do you have it with you?"
Him: "Na. I want my free can!"
Me: "You need to bring the coupon in for us to scan, so we can ring up the free can."
Him: "I'm not doing any of that &$%^, I won a &%^#ing free can now I want my free can!!"
*my totally awesome, Big Maori Boy (his choice!) Coworker appeared behind me* "Is there a problem?"
Him: *goes pale, leaves yelling* "I want my free can!"
Me: "I'll give you your free can. Glue it to a broomstick and ram it right up your Oh my God I didn't see you there...."
*four customers waiting patiently crack up laughing*
Oops!!
.
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