The Annoyed Gas Station Clerk Thread

[FacePuncher 1,343]

Ok, so its the summer time. I work at Mobil On The Run to help pay for college. And the people just come in all the time and i want to punch them all in the face!!!!

 

First of all, there's this girl that works here. Shes on food stamps and has a baby. and SHE DOESNT SHOW UP TO WORK HALF THE TIME!!! obviously she doesnt have a lot of money and needs the work, so why does she not show up?? shes late almost every day and has called off two days in a row and three of her last 5 shifts, which fucking sucks because i work most of her shifts she does. Only reason she hasnt been fired is because we're understaffed as it is. I mean just what is the thought process on this? "Hey, im poor and need money to provide for my family, i should totally do everything in my power to get fired from my job!"

 

Lottery is also one of the stupidest things out there. People buy an insane amount of tickets! for the draw games, i mean the probability of winning is so small you might as well just insert your money in the trash can. And then the people who buy scratchers just dont understand probabilities and such. I love scratchers, and i buy one about every month. But theyre made so that they make money off of it! so ypu could buy a few scratchers and actually win some money, and if so good for you. But if you come in every day and buy scratchers, you have to understand that the odds are against you to even make your money back! not to mention the whole lottery scheme just preys on poor people. You dont have enough money, so you buy lottery tickets. You spent your money on lottery tickets so now you dont have enough money to pay for your bills. Because of you not having enough money, you buy more lottery tickets in the hope of winning money. I wish these people understood basic probabilities. Also i envy the people who invented lottery. i mean i could just say "heres some numbers, give me a dollar, oh, looks like you lost! better luck next time". Would be just about the same experience

 

Then we have two promos we do, 50 cent hot dogs when the blues win, and 50 cent drinks when the cardinals score 6 runs. I still have people constantly come in and ask "is it 50 cent hot dogs today?" no dipshit, hockey season is over! one day i had a person argue with me that it should be 50 cent drinks because the cardinals scored 6. Only problem was, I WAS AT THE FUCKING GAME! we lost 4-1, i saw it live, so i know what the hell im talking about lol, and this guy is trying to talk to me like i dont know what im talking about. ugh!

 

And then we have the pizza. the FUCKING pizza! People are so dumb with this pizza we make that we overcharge the shit out of. Im sure theres other stuff that we overcharge for, but this is one thats the easiest to see. Two construction workers came in. now i dont know much about construction work, but i assume that they dont make that much money. They got 4 slices of pizza, and since our slices are 1/4, thats a whole pizza. They had a coupon for one free slice, and it still cost them $9.60!!!!! I mean i would assume that just about everyone knows that Little Caesars sells hot-n-ready pizzas for $5 WITHOUT a coupon. I mean you could get a hand made pizza for five bucks, or you could get a frozen pizza we put pepperoni and sausage on for what adds up to be about eleven fifty. It just makes me angry to see people waste their money on this stuff. If they want to throw all this money away they can just give it to me!

 

Anyway thats my rant. Im just pissed about what happens in these gas stations. 

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Construction pays pretty well. I worked as a laborer last summer (lowest of the low, we sweeped up rooms and throw out trash and piss buckets) and got paid $12.50 an hour.

 

Hope this helps.

[Shaka 228]

Interesting point of view on the other side of the counter.

 

Waiting tables is what I did during my college years. You make money, you meet a lot of female coworkers(who are often dtf) and you get cash in hand at the end of each shift. You still have to deal with shitty, annoying human beings but at least you get more out of it than you probably do at Mobil.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by Shaka

[FacePuncher 1,343]

9 minutes ago, Shaka said:

Interesting point of view on the other side of the counter.

 

Waiting tables is what I did during my college years. You make money, you meet a lot of female coworkers(who are often dtf) and you get cash in hand at the end of each shift. You still have to deal with shitty, annoying human beings but at least you get more out of it than you probably do at Mobil.

 

 

yeah gas stations can be a bitch to work at, but it definitely comes with perks. I actually have access to a lot of benefits if i needed them, and they start off above minimum wage. Plus we don't have to operate with the same "the customer is always right" policy, which is much nicer than being fast food haha!

 

One of the most annoying things too is when people come in complaining about the gas pumps or car wash or lottery. We just maintain them, we cant fix anything if something is wrong, we have to call a person that may or may not come to fix it! lol. i try not to get mad about that though, since i assume most people dont know that we cant control that.

[Kendrick 4,741]

Funny because when I had to pay for college and had a job, we ran by the three strike rule. You get three chances to cancel a shift and if you cancel three shifts within a month you get cut. Plenty of people out there that want a job.

[FacePuncher 1,343]

24 minutes ago, .sniffuM said:

Construction pays pretty well. I worked as a laborer last summer (lowest of the low, we sweeped up rooms and throw out trash and piss buckets) and got paid $12.50 an hour.

 

Hope this helps.

interesting, i figured it was fairly unsteady work, but nice to see it pays well!

 

yeah i can see how a slice of pizza at the gas station can be convenient, but a whole pizza is just not a good deal! lol. keep that in mind if you ever are getting hot food when ypure working  

[FacePuncher 1,343]

Just now, Kendrick said:

Funny because when I had to pay for college and had a job, we ran by the three strike rule. You get three chances to cancel a shift and if you cancel three shifts within a month you get cut. Plenty of people out there that want a job.

see thats the thing, she would have been fired by now, but we're already short one person as it is! You would think that with the economy how it is we would have plenty of applicants, but nope. especially considering where i live isnt exactly a good neighborhood. seems like people dont like the prospects of working at a gas station

[Shaka 228]

Spoiler Alert:

 

She's the gas station chick @Streetlight is after.

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by Shaka

[scoop 3,447]

1 hour ago, Shaka said:

Spoiler Alert:

 

She's the gas station chick @Streetlight is after.

 

Nah dude she doesn't work there anymore

[Dangles13 373]

People are stupid as fuck. I wish they were smarter but I also wish all these lottery tickets I buy would be winners. 

[FacePuncher 1,343]

19 hours ago, Dangles13 said:

People are stupid as fuck. I wish they were smarter but I also wish all these lottery tickets I buy would be winners. 

statistically speaking, that aint gonna happen lol

[stevo 795]

On 19.6.2016 at 9:32 AM, Dangles13 said:

People are stupid as fuck. I wish they were smarter but I also wish all these lottery tickets I buy would be winners. 

[frescoelmo 1,282]

On 6/18/2016 at 11:17 PM, ADwyer87 said:

Two construction workers came in. now i dont know much about construction work, but i assume that they dont make that much money. 

 

You make real good money if you get past your apprenticeship.  I know quite a few people who bring in over 6 digits.

[Beketov 9,095]

I can't relate to all of these since the only retail I ever did was a drug store but I can definitely relate to the lottery part. How often do your regular lotto people justify it as "if I keep buying I'm bound to win sometime"? I know I heard that constantly. The manual that came with the lotto machine (I read it during one REALLY boring shift) actually had a section in it that stated we were supposed to correct people when they said that since that's simply not how probability works. If every scratcher has a 1 in 12 change of winning anything (the averages are on the back, it's usually around that though) you don't suddenly guarantee a win by buying 12 of them. Each ticket still only has a 1 in 12 chance. Selling lottery completely turned me off of the idea of buying any more often than not. I would see the same people come in week after week and drop $20+ on lotto tickets; if any of those tickets were big winners they wouldn't have kept coming in to buy them because they would have already gotten their money.

 

I think the worst customers we ever got though were the entitled "customer is always right" type because my manager just gave 0 shits about them. Anytime someone would tell me that I had to bite me tongue to avoid saying "actually, i work here, I know the rules, so I'm always right. Customers are actually wrong 99% of the time." My manage actually got something from out back for a customer once and asked how many he wanted, reminding him there was a limit of 4 for the sale price and the price went up after that. He didn't know she was the manager so told her "well I'll get as many as I want" even after she repeatedly told him of the limit. She said fine and walked out back to where I was; saying that she was going to get called to the front in about 5 minutes. 5 minutes later she gets called up and see's the same guy trying to buy about 20 at the sale price. I believe her response to him was "so, how did getting as many as you want go?"

[Baozi 1,662]

I pay into a group work lottery. The money is fairly neglible for me and I consider it as part of a social thing, just be part of the work group. Doubtful I ever win anything though.

 

Also construction types makes good money, but usually they blow it all on stupid stuff. Most construction type people aren't the smartest savers. Obviously it doesn't apply to all of them, but typically the smarter ones rise to become project leads and whatnot anyways so your avg joe constrution guy still isn't smartest when it comes to long term investment and savings.

 

I honestly don't know howmany places run on a "customer is right" policy. I mean who has time to argue with a customer anwyays at those places. Usually i find that policy only really applies to restaraunts.

Edited June 20, 2016 by tfong

[Beketov 9,095]

5 minutes ago, tfong said:

I pay into a group work lottery. The money is fairly neglible for me and I consider it as part of a social thing, just be part of the work group. Doubtful I ever win anything though.

 

Also construction types makes good money, but usually they blow it all on stupid stuff. Most construction type people aren't the smartest savers. Obviously it doesn't apply to all of them, but typically the smarter ones rise to become project leads and whatnot anyways so your avg joe constrution guy still isn't smartest when it comes to long term investment and savings.

 

I honestly don't know howmany places run on a "customer is right" policy. I mean who has time to argue with a customer anwyays at those places. Usually i find that policy only really applies to restaraunts.

Almost nowhere does, the problem is that customers have a tendency to think that it always applies anyway.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Beketov

[Baozi 1,662]

Just now, Beketov said:

Almost nowhere does, the problem is that customers have a tendency to think that it always applies anyway.

 

I feel like its more of an urban myth than an actual thing. I worked retail and service for a good part of my teen years and I've maybe heard it all of once when a guy is telling me why he wants to buy a shitty printer over the one I was recommending him (I was working at staples). It was funny because the store wanted me to push the shitty printers to get them out of inventory but since I knew they were shitty i stayed away from selling them much. I actually got a guy come back and tell me i was right when i warned him about a shitty product but he didn't believe me. Came back, returned and got the product I suggested instead lol.

[frescoelmo 1,282]

11 minutes ago, tfong said:

Also construction types makes good money, but usually they blow it all on stupid stuff. Most construction type people aren't the smartest savers. Obviously it doesn't apply to all of them, but typically the smarter ones rise to become project leads and whatnot anyways so your avg joe constrution guy still isn't smartest when it comes to long term investment and savings.

 

I mean, how much time do you have for real life examples I can share with you...  my first 3 years out of college was working as a PM.

[Beketov 9,095]

5 minutes ago, tfong said:

 

I feel like its more of an urban myth than an actual thing. I worked retail and service for a good part of my teen years and I've maybe heard it all of once when a guy is telling me why he wants to buy a shitty printer over the one I was recommending him (I was working at staples). It was funny because the store wanted me to push the shitty printers to get them out of inventory but since I knew they were shitty i stayed away from selling them much. I actually got a guy come back and tell me i was right when i warned him about a shitty product but he didn't believe me. Came back, returned and got the product I suggested instead lol.

You were a lot luckier than me haha. I didn't have many customers say it specifically but constantly had people acting as if they had the belief that they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it regardless of the rules of the store.

[Baozi 1,662]

4 minutes ago, Beketov said:

You were a lot luckier than me haha. I didn't have many customers say it specifically but constantly had people acting as if they had the belief that they could do whatever they wanted and get away with it regardless of the rules of the store.

 

I also think i generally didn't care. Its kinda like, ok you want to power trip in Disney/Staples/Safeway, you go for it.

 

You think this low fat butter has no fat, well that is totally your decision. You want this shitty inkjet instead of the his cost efficient laser printer? Go for it, I gave you my warning.

 

Like i mean unless someone is going into the store and actively trying to start shit....but that would mean they have way too much time on their hands lol.

[FacePuncher 1,343]

6 hours ago, Beketov said:

I can't relate to all of these since the only retail I ever did was a drug store but I can definitely relate to the lottery part. How often do your regular lotto people justify it as "if I keep buying I'm bound to win sometime"? I know I heard that constantly. The manual that came with the lotto machine (I read it during one REALLY boring shift) actually had a section in it that stated we were supposed to correct people when they said that since that's simply not how probability works. If every scratcher has a 1 in 12 change of winning anything (the averages are on the back, it's usually around that though) you don't suddenly guarantee a win by buying 12 of them. Each ticket still only has a 1 in 12 chance. Selling lottery completely turned me off of the idea of buying any more often than not. I would see the same people come in week after week and drop $20+ on lotto tickets; if any of those tickets were big winners they wouldn't have kept coming in to buy them because they would have already gotten their money.

 

I think the worst customers we ever got though were the entitled "customer is always right" type because my manager just gave 0 shits about them. Anytime someone would tell me that I had to bite me tongue to avoid saying "actually, i work here, I know the rules, so I'm always right. Customers are actually wrong 99% of the time." My manage actually got something from out back for a customer once and asked how many he wanted, reminding him there was a limit of 4 for the sale price and the price went up after that. He didn't know she was the manager so told her "well I'll get as many as I want" even after she repeatedly told him of the limit. She said fine and walked out back to where I was; saying that she was going to get called to the front in about 5 minutes. 5 minutes later she gets called up and see's the same guy trying to buy about 20 at the sale price. I believe her response to him was "so, how did getting as many as you want go?"

Yeah the lottery is just crazy. Tons of people come in and say that! And the thing is, even if probabilities DID work like that(if you bought twelve you had a guaranteed winner), you just spent $12 on lottery and cashed out one $5 ticket. Congrats! What kills me is always the big spenders. Some guy came in with $127 worth of winning scratchers, and then bought $150 worth. Next day he comes in and has $29 worth of winners. The crazy thing is he still spent $100 on scratchers!!!

 

i hate the entitled fucks that think they're always right. The thing that pissed me off the most with that is, not surprisingly, lottery people! One lady was royally pissed at me because I ran her ticket as 7 draws. She was bitching and moaning about how I messed something up. The thing is, as a lottery person, all I do is run the slip and press ok! I had to get my manager to take care of it since she was demanding my head lol, but I really just wanted to say "look lady, all I do is run the slip, not my fault your slip so mangled that the machine can't read it properly!"

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

On the customer is always right policy:

 

I just scan the items, I have no idea what the prices say or should be on the shelves. If the customer starts complaining about prices or company policy, I just go up the ladder and call my manager to deal with it

[diamond_ace 3,112]

6 hours ago, eaglesfan036 said:

On the customer is always right policy:

 

I just scan the items, I have no idea what the prices say or should be on the shelves. If the customer starts complaining about prices or company policy, I just go up the ladder and call my manager to deal with it

Having formerly been a manager, we usually don't know much more about it than you, other than how to get the machine to do whatever it is we want it to do, and the freedom to make a choice that commands at least a slight bit of respect from the customers, although even that's not usually much. I left being second in command at a Rite Aid for being low man at an ER, above only the floaters (the people who work a few weeks at one hospital before moving on, generally a temp spot before a full position opens up) and despite theoretically a decline in power, I'm making a lot more money and am a lot happier. Retail management is still retail and still sucks, in fact sometimes it sucks worse because you guys can pass the buck, we are the buck.

[Baozi 1,662]

Not to brag, but I'm pretty good at diffusing angry customers. Usually there is something they want and they are angry about it because they are stupid and don't want to be proven stupid. So the best way I've found to deflect customer anger is to make them angry at something else.

 

This is where you blame the guy that prints the flyers with the wrong pricing etc..etc... Basically I redirect their blame lol.

[evrydayimbyfuglien 600]

On 6/19/2016 at 11:18 PM, ADwyer87 said:

statistically speaking, that aint gonna happen lol

What are you talking about? The Ghostbusters scratch-off I just bought on Sunday said the chances of winning were 1:4.28. So if I buy 5, I'll win once, duh.