Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sweet Old Ladies Need Gas Too

My favorite kinds of customers are the sweet old ladies that come in and need their gas pumped. Usually they are so small and tiny and so adorable that I can't help but go outside and assist them, even if it is -2 degrees outside.

I was at the register a few months back...

“Miss, can you hear me?” I look down to see a little old woman staring up at me. She’s so cute and has to be at least 90 years old.

“Oh I’m sorry. I guess I was daydreaming. How can I help you?”

“Miss, I’m having trouble pumping my gas. Can you help me please?”

Normally I'd find another sucker, I mean employee, to pump her gas, but she was so cute I couldn't resist. I started to follow the little old lady out the door to her car.

I pumped her gas while she sat in her car and chatted away about things only little old ladies can chat about. After her car was filled up, the little old lady got out of her car.

“Oh thank you so much, Miss. Here, let me give you some money for pumping my gas.” She started to reach into her purse.

“Oh no, that’s okay," I said, freezing my ass off.

“Oh no dear, I insist. Here, wait a second.” I don't like taking tips from people. I will always refuse and the only way I take it is if the customer insists and actually leaves it on the counter and walks away from it.

“Really, we aren’t allowed to take tips but thank you!” I said with a smile. I started to walk away from the woman but she grabbed onto my arm with a superhuman strength that I didn’t know was possible from an old lady.

“Here you go sweetie. Take this for your trouble.” She smiled sweetly at me as she pressed something into my hand.

She had handed me a quarter.

She's lucky she was adorable, keeping me out in the winter weather for a quarter.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

No You May Not Use the Bathroom.

I come to you with yet another bathroom story.

As you know, we keep it out of order because we are tired of people stealing stuff and abusing the bathroom. But we DO let regular customers use it and people who seem honest enough.

The other day, one of our male employees was working. A customer came in, wanting to use the bathroom. Since no one had ever seen this guy before, the employee told him it was out of order.

Customer: But I really need to go. My stomach is rumblin' bad. (Yeah, that's a definite no.)

Employee: Sorry, but it's out of order.

Customer: Well where else am I supposed to go?

Employee: I don't know. You could try across the street, or go behind the bushes like everyone else.

Customer (getting enraged): If you don't let me use the bathroom, I'm going to beat the shit out of you.

Employee: Sir, the bathroom doesn't work. It's not our fault that people steal parts out of it. If you have a problem with that, I can call the police.

Customer: F*** You. I'll meet you outside later. (For what, a fight at recess?)

And with that he walked away. Hmm...an employee getting threatened for not letting someone use the bathroom? Come on, people. Go before you leave the house! Isn't that what we teach children?

Would you ever threaten someone if they didn't let you use the bathroom? If it were me and I was considered crazy, then I'd probably poop on the floor to make a statement rather than threaten to beat someone up.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Nobody's Forcing You To Donate, Jerk

This year I'm doing the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure walk for breast cancer. Working at a gas station, I decided to put out a donation jar to reach my goal.

90% of the customers were cool and donated, some of them even donating every time they came in.

About 10% of the customers didn't want to donate, and just shook their head no, or said they couldn't at this time. Which is fine, too.

However, there was one jerk that just HAD to make a comment about the whole thing.

Me: Would you like to donate for the 3 day breast cancer walk?

Jerk Customer (out of nowhere): You know, I'm so sick and tired of hearing about breast cancer. Everywhere you go it's breast cancer this and breast cancer that. I have heart disease, nobody ever does anything for that!

Me (shocked that he would even say anything): Um, I'm sure the people that HAVE breast cancer are sick and tired of having it.

Jerk Customer: ...

And that was it. That brief interaction though, was enough to piss me off the whole day.

Why?

1. He could have said nothing, we don't get mad if people don't want to donate. Nobody forced him to.
2. He complained about having heart disease yet he was in there BUYING CIGARETTES.
3. He could have said nothing, because now we think he's a jerk.

I ended up walking away from him and he left. The next day he came in and wanted a 'truce', and ended up putting a dollar in the donation jar. I almost handed it back to him saying I didn't want his 'hate money', but then I realized that the donations were for a good cause, and not about me.

And thanks to the customers, I DID end up reaching my goal.

Friday, March 26, 2010

It's Friday, Go Away

Here I am, another day at the register.

Customer: "Excuse me, miss, do you have a tire gauge that I can use?"

Me: "No, sorry, we don't." Is it time to go home yet?

Customer: "How am I supposed to check the air in my tires if you don't have a tire gauge?"

Me (what I want to say): "I don't know, I just work here, asshole. Pull the one out of your ass and use that."

Me (what I really say): "We have them for sale, sir."

Customer: "That's bullshit. I'm not going to pay for one. This is a gas station, you should have them here for us to use."

And so goes my Friday. If this guy wouldn't have been such a shithead, I would have explained to him that we USED to have tire gauges that customers could use, but they end up taking them.

We've probably gone through hundreds of tire gauges over the years because people ask for one and never bring it back in. So what does that mean? We've stopped letting customers use them. And that means that if you want to use a tire gauge, you will have to pay $1.99 and buy one yourself.

Please don't let this be an indication of how my weekend is going to go.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Leaving Your Valuables Behind

We get tons of people leaving stuff behind at the counter. Wallets, cell phones, keys, driver's licenses, cigarette butts, you name it, we've seen it left behind.

Usually one of the cashiers will notice it and stick it behind the counter until the person comes back. Many times even customers will see it on the counter and tell the cashier about it.

However, if you happen to leave something behind outside, then you're pretty much screwed.

I don't know why people set items up on the pumps while they are pumping gas. There are many other places to put things, such as on the top of your car or even IN your car. But no, people usually place their wallets, keys and other valuables right on top of the pumps.

And then what happens? That's right, they forget them.

Things being forgotten outside are pretty much lost forever. Customers rarely turn things in that they've found outside. They probably think that since no one saw them out there, then it's finders keepers.

Usually we will get an honest customer saying they found a credit card laying on the ground outside. Sometimes though, the dishonest people will take that card and run. Run right to the stores and start spending your money.

One time a customer left his credit card on the counter. I didn't notice it there, but apparently the next customer I rang up did. She was a regular customer that would come in many times a day.

Well, looking back on the security tapes, she takes this guy's credit card and puts it in her purse while I'm ringing her up. She then proceeds to leave and go to various stores around town using it. You know, the Chinese restaurant, the dollar store, places like that. Lucky for him she wasn't smart enough to go spending at bigger places.

We found out she had taken his card when the police came in with a picture of her using the card at another store. We recognized her right away and it was only a matter of days until she came in again trying to use the card and that's when we got her.

If you do pump gas and need a place to store your stuff, open your car door back up and put it in there. That way you won't forget it and it'll save you the hassle of having cash stolen or calling the credit card companies to cancel your cards.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

When Will Thieves Ever Learn?

Why do people think they can get away with stealing? We have signs EVERYWHERE that say you are on camera and you will be prosecuted if caught.

We had a teenager come in yesterday on his way to school. We proceed to see him on camera set his bookbag down on the ground and stuff it full of drinks. Unfortunately we didn't know this until after he had left.

So we called the cops, and they came to take a report. We had the kid on camera doing this, but the bad part was that he walked to school, so we didn't have any kind of a license plate or anything to catch him.

Except that he was wearing a distinguishable plaid hoodie.

So, since we didn't have anything else to do, we walked over to the school around the time he was getting out.

After awhile we seem him walking with his girlfriend, so we call the cops that we talked to and walked over to the kid.

After being confronted, he denied everything at first and his girlfriend's mom started sticking up for him saying he's not going to talk to anyone until the police arrive. Fine.

Once the police showed up, he admitted that he had been thirsty that morning and didn't have any money to buy anything.

Thirsty? Thirsty would be stealing ONE drink. Of water. Not shoving six or seven Gatorade's in your backpack so you can share them with all your friends.

Apparently he should stay in school if he couldn't read our hundreds of signs in the store about being watched on camera.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Minimum is $2.00, Please.

We have a minimum purchase amount for credit cards. It's $2.00. That means that you can't use your credit card for any purchase under $2.00. Simple, right?

Not to some people.

We get tons of people in everyday pissed off because they can't charge their 35 cent gum or their 75 cent newspaper. We don't have this rule because we want you to buy all this shit in the store, we have it because credit card companies charge businesses fees for taking credit cards. We just want our fees back.

The worst customer I ever had from this issue was this guy that came in one morning. He got a coffee refill, which cost 75 cents, and wanted to charge it on his credit card. I told him that he had to reach $2.00, and he freaked out.

The next thing I know he's outside at his car, on his cell phone. Then he comes in, still on his cell phone, but taking pictures of our store. Then he comes up to me at the register and says he's on the phone with his credit card company and that we're not allowed to do that. Well, this pissed me off.

I watched as he continued to talk irately to the person on the phone, while taking pictures of the signs in our store at the same time. So I waited for him to get off the phone and asked him what his problem was.

He told me that it wasn't right that he didn't have enough money for his coffee refill and wanted to charge it instead. So then, he pulls out change from his pocket, telling me that all he had was 60 cents or so.

I then told him that he just made himself look like the biggest asshole by going through that whole thing with taking pictures and stuff, and that if he would have just told me all he had was 60 cents, I would have put the rest of the money in for him.

After that he immediately calmed down and started apologizing. I told him to give me his 60 cents, and that I would pay the rest, and that it would probably be best if he didn't come into the store again.

He said thanks and left.

Really? You didn't want to spend another $1.25 to make the credit card limit? You didn't seem to hold back on the fancy car you were driving, you jackass.

I'm glad I haven't seen that asshole since.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Guest Post: Parking Lot Clean Up

Today's post comes from my fellow employee, we'll call her "S". "S" gets just as frustrated as I do with people sometimes, but she goes the extra distance and actually cleans up the parking lot. She's got more guts than I do, because I would probably pass out from things I would find there. Or get stuck with a stray used needle sticking out from the grass.

This time though, the parking lot hasn't been cleaned since before the snow started.

"Every once in awhile I like to step away from my register and venture out among the living. Today was a day for that adventure. I was assigned to rake the grass primarily to pick up all the loose paper and other items that accumulated in the grassy area during the winter. I started in the highly traveled area of the grass and raked up the usual accumulation of leaves.

Perusing further, I catch a glimpse of a few other items:

Cigarette butts, LOTS of cigarette butts

Tin cans

A used latex glove

Oh, I found a dime

Eww, a used condom

A cigarette box

And, what is that round thing? I get closer, and I poke at it with my rake. It's hard as a rock. What could it be? I get closer, UGH, it's a pile of puke, hardened over the winter."

Friday, March 19, 2010

Step Away From the Doughnuts

Lots of convenience stores sell fresh doughnuts every day. Usually these are delivered in the middle of the night to stores so that they can have fresh ones for the morning customers.

This is great, if you like doughnuts. However, there is only one good time to get those doughnuts. After that, you don't want to have anything to do with them.

My advice? Only buy those fresh doughnuts if you work early in the morning. I get to work at 6am. The doughnuts are usually delivered sometime around 4am. So I can't vouch what has happened to them by the time I get there 2 hours later, but I can tell you what I observe.

Usually around 6:30am we get our first morning rush. These people are usually okay, because they are often too tired to eat and just want their coffee. The doughnuts are not usually touched at this time.

Our 7am customers are a little more awake and are looking for some food before getting to the office.

They will then spot the doughnut case.

It is then that I see, during this morning rush, doughnuts picked up, inspected, then put back down.

I will see people pick up a doughnut, decide they don't want it and put it back down, then lick the frosting or glaze off their fingers and then go pick up another one. Usually they take that one, but I've seen people put that one back too and continue to pick up various doughnuts with their recently licked fingers.

I've seen people poke doughnuts to see how soft they are and then grab another one that they didn't just touch.

I've seen people cough and sneeze all over the doughnuts in the case.

I've even seen people drop a doughnut on the floor, pick it up and then put it back in the case. (That is when I step in, pull it out of the doughnut case and make them pay for it).

I am very observant. And 99% of the time I will never buy a fresh doughnut past 7am.

Conclusion: You only have a half hour window in which to get fresh, untouched, unsneezed, unlicked and undropped doughnuts: 6:30am - 7am. If it's after that time, you'd be better off eating from a garbage can.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Check Your Lotto Tickets

We gets tons of people in our store every day playing lottery. They range from customers that have never played before and want to try their luck on a $1 ticket to those that are obsessed and often spend $300 or more a day trying to hit the big one.

One thing I notice, with new and seasoned lottery players, is that sometimes they will hand me a lottery ticket and ask if I can run it through the machine to see if it's a winner.

I don't advise people to do this, unless you fully trust the cashier.

Why? Because it's so easy for me to say 'No, sorry, it's not a winner.' and hand it back to you. By then, I'll have run it through the machine to cash it, but am handing it back to you now unusable because I already cashed it in. If I ever did this to people, I'm sure many of them would not notice.

Also, always know what amount your ticket is for. I get even more people coming in thinking they won $1 when they actually won $10.

One time I had a customer playing tickets right in front of me. He ran up to me all excited because he won $200. I cashed his ticket and saw that it wasn't $200, it was $2,000. I could have easily taken the extra $1,800 and ran, because this guy was expecting just $200.

I always warn my customers that they should never walk into a store not knowing what they won. And that it's too easy for cashiers to lie.

Luckily for my customers they have a trusted cashier like moi.

Have you ever done this? Just handed your ticket to someone you don't even know and trusted them to tell you what you've won?

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What's That Smell? Oh, It's You.

What do you think my most valued item in the store is?

You might have guessed hand sanitizer, but no. While it is immensely valuable and useful, having things on my hands doesn't bother me as much as smelling stuff.

The item I can't live without? The air freshener can.

Over the years I've learned not to smell things or people. When I was a smoker, I lost my sense of smell so I didn't have to worry about anything. Once I quit smoking though, it was like a whole world of evil opened up onto my nostrils.

I can't believe some people leave their house smelling like they do. I smell everything from cigarettes, body odor, marijuana, body odor, perfume, stale beer, soap and body odor.

While I'm used to some of these smells, there are some that I try to run from as far as I can. Those being? The ones I can't identify.

We had a customer come in one time that was really weird. He was a tall guy and had the longest beard. Never said a word to us, but whenever he came in, I swear people passed out from the smell that came from him.

I've never smelled death before, but I think if I had to describe it, it was him. It was so strong that it instantly made me and others start gagging. I can't even explain it. It was like he killed an animal, shit on it, then killed another animal and pissed on it, then rubbed that whole concoction all over his body. And made sure not to shower for a month to let the flavors marinate.

This guy would come in once a week, and whenever we saw him outside we'd all start arguing about who was going to get stuck ringing him up.

The bad part; whenever he came into the store, other customers didn't realize it was him that smelled, so I'd watch as they scrunched up their nose, while assuming that it was probably me that smelled!

The last time I saw him, my co-worker got stuck ringing him up. He had some goopy food stuck in his beard that day, along with the smell. After he left, one of the customers started gagging because the smell from this guy usually stuck around for a few minutes. So my coworker went outside, and politely told the guy that he couldn't come in the store anymore because customers were complaining about him.

We never saw him again. My sense of smell wasn't that upset about it.

But my point? I'd like to kiss the person that invented air freshener in a can. Thank you, on behalf of all cashiers everywhere. It's something I use on a daily basis. After the smelly customers leave the store, of course.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sneeze Money

I know people get colds. I know people cough and sneeze. What bothers me is when they sneeze or cough up at me when I'm ringing them up. Usually though, I can dodge out of the way.

What I can't stand is when people sneeze into their hands, and then hand me the money that was crumpled into that hand.

I don't want your booger money! But I have no choice but to take it.

It's really hard to cover up that I'm dry heaving. I try really hard, but when my eyes start watering from being so grossed out, I can't stop my natural reflexes.

Most of the time I will pick up the bills by their corners. But it's really hard to do that with coins. Usually I will tell them to set the change on the counters. Then I will spray the hell out of them with Windex.

And then, just like I figured, a few days later I get sick.

So please, if you have to sneeze, sneeze into your arm or something. Not with the hand that has the money in it.

Monday, March 15, 2010

The Top Newspaper

I would just like to know why people never take the top newspaper?

What's wrong with the top one? Every morning I will watch as people try and pull a paper out from pretty much the bottom of the pile, nearly knocking all the top ones over, just to get to that paper.

I mean, don't they all eventually end up as the top one?

I've been confused by this for a very long time now. I've asked some customers, but all they do is shrug and smile.

It's especially amusing to watch on a Sunday, when the newspaper is nice and thick. All the papers get messed up on Sundays just from people trying to pull one from the bottom.

I'm still waiting for the day when the whole pile of newspapers comes crashing down on someone.

Can anyone shed some light on this topic for me?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Watch Your Kids, Please.

I don't mind seeing little kids in the store, I think many of them are so adorable.

What I don't like is when a parent comes in with their kids, and then lets them run around the store touching/breaking stuff while the parent is talking on their cell phone.

We see tons of little children every day in the store with their parents. And about 95% of them stick next to their parents and are quiet, not saying a word. They are especially cute when I try to talk to them and they get all shy and hide behind their parent's leg.

It's that 5% that make me want to pull my hair out.

I don't mind if someone lets their kids roam the store. But make sure they aren't picking items up and trying to open them (candy bars, bags of chips). I can't stand it when I see parents on their cell phones while their kids run wild and we, the cashiers, are left to babysit them.

And on the rare occasion that one of us actually says something to these parents, we are then made to look like the bad ones, not them.

We are not babysitters. Don't abandon your children so you can have a good time talking on the phone to your BFF.

We get a lot of weirdos in the store. Heck, there's a lot of weirdos all over the world. If you aren't paying attention to your children, these weirdos might be. And when you are on your phone and not watching your children, these weirdos may take them. Pay attention to your kids at all times.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

I Ran Out of Gas, Can I Have Yours?


Man Busted Siphoning Gas with Hose in Mouth


Caught siphoning gas from a court house parking lot. Really? Couldn't you have picked a place that didn't have a lot of cops hanging around?

I'm surprised I haven't seen this at my store. Since we really don't have drive-offs anymore due to our 'Pay First' policy, I thought I'd see people trying to steal gas in other ways.

Instead, what I usually see are people hanging around outside asking customers for money. These people will come up with some sob story about how they ran out of gas and need to get to the hospital to pick up their grandma.

These people probably make a good living every day by claiming they need gas money.

Usually when I see people do this, I will go outside and tell them to leave, because I know it makes our regular customers uncomfortable.

If someone was outside of a store asking me for money, I probably wouldn't go back to that store if there were many others like it around. Would you?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Did I Ask For Your Opinion?

I always dread getting a haircut or wearing new clothes at work. Why? Because customers notice everything and always comment on it.

I can always tell when they don't like my hair. I hear things like:

"You changed your hair."
"You did something different to your hair."
"What'd you do to your hair?"

Of course, there are the rare awesome customers that say things I like to hear:

"Ooh, you changed your hairstyle. I like it!"
"Your hair looks good."

And so on.

Same with clothes. I can tell when I'm wearing something that isn't flattering, because I won't hear a word about my outfits. If I decide to dress in what I consider nice, I'll hear compliments all day long.

And then there's the customers that just stare at you and say nothing, and I can't tell if they like something on me or not.

For the ones that make the not-so-nice comments, it makes me wonder why they do that to a complete stranger. I didn't ask whether or not they liked my hair or clothes, I just showed up for work.

Sometimes it's just better to keep your opinions to yourself.

Would you ever walk into a store and tell a cashier that you didn't like how they looked?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Can I See Your ID?

Why is it that people get mad when they get carded for cigarettes or alcohol?

It's not everyone that gets mad though. It's usually the ones that just turned old enough to buy them.

Last night I had some kid get all angry at me because I carded him for a pack of smokes. He had just turned 18 a few days before. Come on, really?

Am I supposed to know that you just turned 18? I told him he looked 12. He didn't like that very much.

The older customers never get mad. They are probably happy to be carded, just like I am on the rare occasions that it happens to me.

I actually love telling the young ones that they can't buy cigarettes without their ID. I usually get a violent response. Many have given me the evil eye on the way out or called me names. I even had one person pull up to the window with their car, give me the middle finger, and then peel away in the parking lot.

I have no sympathy for you if you don't have your ID on you. I especially don't care when you start to give me an attitude about it. I am hoping one day when one of these little kids peel out of the parking lot all angry, that a cop is there to see it.

We'll see who has the last laugh then.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Live From Night Shift

So here I am, working the graveyard shift and it's been pretty busy for a Monday night, which can only mean that I will get all the freaks and weirdos in throughout the night.

9pm: Just as I figured. My first customer irritated me by taking forever to hand me her money. This created a long line of customers behind her who then gave me dirty looks because they had to wait so long.

10pm: The parade of weirdos continues. Some guy came in buying beer. As he was walking up to the register, I thought it had snot hanging out of his nose, but it was just a green nose ring. I have also noticed a lot of people lingering around in the parking lot.

11pm: Still more of the same. Once I shut beer down for the night, it usually gets pretty quiet.

12am: If you walk around in my store with your hands in your pockets while staring at me to see if I'm going to watch you steal, then yes, I am watching you while you attempt to steal.

Ahh, the joys of working night shift. Please go to bed, people. You don't need to buy cigarillos or Black & Milds at midnight. Get a job and be in bed like most people.

12:47am - Yay, almost time to shut beer down! Finally, some peace around here.

2am: Just had a customer stand here and talk to me for an hour. That's the only bad part about night shift. People think you have nothing to do but sit and bullshit with them. Although, I don't really have anything to do but blog I guess.

I haven't had a customer walk in for about an hour. Maybe the freaks aren't going to be out all night. Or maybe I just jinxed myself....

2:14am - Reading the newspaper. Nothing interesting. I'm bored.

2:31am - Still bored. Maybe I should go do some work? Still debating it.

3:10am - Geez, people sure do scramble in here when the fresh doughnuts come in!

4:08am - Okay, someone just walked in and tripped onto the floor. Then they got up and left the store. That reminds me of the time I was at the movies and a kid was walking down the steps to go get snacks and tripped on the ground where everyone saw him fall. He never came back to watch the rest of the movie. Probably the most embarrassing $9.00 he ever spent.

4:55am - The night is over, thank God! Until next time.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sunday Morning Crazies

Sunday mornings I always get a lot of weirdos in. I think they are the crazies left over from Saturday night festivities.

This morning, I came in to work at 6am and was told there had been a car parked out at the pump for about two hours. The person had come into the store and wanted to take a gas can because they claim they broke down up the road.

First, I have no idea how this person just found another car to drive to our store, because they were the only one in the car that had been sitting there for a few hours.

Second, whenever I hear a car has been there all night with someone inside, I usually call the police to get it out of there or to tell the person to leave.

Customers were coming in this morning telling me that someone was sleeping in that car. When they are sleeping, it usually means they are drunk.

So just as I was about to call the police, the car door opens and a woman steps out. She comes inside, and starts playing lottery. Then she starts telling me how men are all slobs and that she 'ain't gonna be picking up after none of 'em'. I could care less and was actually praying for another customer to come in to save me from this babbler. I almost hugged the next customer that walked through that door.

But it didn't matter. This woman just went on to look at our greeting cards for another half hour. GO HOME LADY. PLEASE.

I think she was drunk with the way she kept going on; and she probably noticed that every customer was peering into her car to see what she was doing in there.

Here's a tip from your friendly cashier: If you pull into my gas station to sleep off your drunkenness, then I will probably call the cops on you. You can then sleep it off in a jail cell.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Wet Crusty Money

I always get scared when people hand me wet money. Especially if it's not raining or snowing. Wet money could be one of three things:

1. A mysterious substance

2. Sweat

3. A mysterious substance

Mysterious substances can be many things. I often wonder what people do with their money in order to make it crusty or soaking wet. I don't even want to think about what the crust is in a handful of change.

Usually when I'm handed a bunch of dirty crusty money, I will refuse to take it. I know this probably sounds mean and money is money, but come on. I don't know what you did to get that money looking like that, and it's not fair to me that I have to clean it.

We've also gotten many bills with what has looked like blood on them. I've even seen fresh blood on the bills that were handed to me.

Please don't torture us like that. Be aware of your money and what it looks like. Don't hand me cruddy change and look up at me going 'Oops, well at least it's money'.

It may be money, but I don't have to take it or touch it.

Would you ever hand dirty money to your friendly cashier? Or, like me, would you keep it and clean it later because you are too embarrassed to give it out to anyone?

Friday, March 5, 2010

More Western Union Scams

We had this woman come in the other day who wanted to send money through Western Union. Once again, it was being sent to Nigeria.

I felt bad for this woman, she was older and used a walker. She wanted to send $400 to someone in Nigeria that said she had won the lottery. She even showed us the email she had printed out. Classic scam.

So we advised her not to send the money and that we thought it was a scam. She listened to our reasoning and finally agreed with us. She said she's been scammed twice before, and that last time they had emptied out her bank account.

How does this poor woman not realize they are scamming her???

So hopefully by us talking to her, she woke up and realized what was happening.

These Nigerian scammers don't care who they take money from.

One of our regular customers came in not too long ago. She's deaf, but she wanted to let us know she wanted to send money to someone through Western Union. Upon looking at the paperwork she filled out, we saw that it was Destination: Nigeria. She was apparently going to send $200 to some Deaf Foundation and get triple her money in return.

We ended up trying to tell her it was a scam, and that we refused to send the money. She got very angry and showed us text messages that the Nigerian person had been sending to her. Texts like 'Did you send the money yet?' 'Are you at the store?' and things like that. The reason the person was texting and wanting to know exactly when the money was sent, was so that they could hurry up and claim it.

Once the money is picked up, you can't cancel the transaction and get your money back. It's gone. Forever.

So finally this woman left but she was very angry that we didn't send her money. I just hope she didn't go down the street and send it from someone else.

Like I said, these Nigerian scammers will abuse anyone. They have no sympathy.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Western Union Scams

I can't believe that there are people that still fall for these Western Union scams. How does it make any sense to send someone $200 and you will receive a $500,000 check?

We do Western Union money transfers at our store, and recently we've gotten people in who had no idea they were being scammed. But we did.

About a year ago this regular customer came in wanting to send money to Nigeria. That's warning number 1 right there; sending money to Nigeria. I think he was going to send something like $50.

I asked him if he knew the person and he's like 'Oh yeah, it's this girl I know.' Warning number 2: Most of the time it's a girl pleading to guys that they need money, when in actuality it's some big, fat, bald guy with a really high voice.

So on further investigation with this customer he told me that he's sending money to this girl he's been talking to online. She lives in Nigeria and needs money to get to the airport so that she could go see him. How $50 will get her from Nigeria to the U.S., I have no clue.

So I told him that there were scams going around and that he shouldn't send this money. He assured me that he knew the woman, and insisted that I send his money, so I did.

I didn't see him for awhile, but I did notice throughout the next few months that he had sent more money to this girl in Nigeria. Always in amounts of $50.

About a year later I finally saw him again. I asked him if that Nigeria girl ever visited him and he's like 'Nah, that thing was a scam.' And blew it off like it was no big deal. I wanted to tell him 'I told you so', but I didn't want to make it worse. He ended up saying that she (who was probably a big massive Nigerian guy), kept asking him to send money, which he did, and she never came to visit him once.

All I want to say is that you should always listen to your friendly cashier. I watch enough Judge Judy to know that people are still getting scammed by these Nigerian people, lottery scams and various other 'foundations'. If we tell you that we think what you are involved in is a scam, then please listen. We do actually know what we are talking about.

Has anyone out there been scammed by anything like this? Or do you know anyone that fell for a scam?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Going for a Drive

I would just like to say, that if you run into anything on our property with your car, then yes, it is your fault.

Awhile ago we had this guy come barreling into our parking lot and ended up running into a big wooden crate that we keep firewood in. He claimed that his brakes stopped working while he was on the road, so he decides to stop into a gas station in the hopes that he could find something to stop his car. Gee, I guess I'm glad he didn't choose a gas pump to do that with.

Anyways, he ends up running into this huge crate, and then puts up a fight telling us that he won't pay for anything because there wasn't any damage.

So he goes to straighten the crate out that he hit, and once he touches it the thing falls apart.

My point, though, is that this happens a lot. People will run into something in our lot and then blame everyone but themselves. Many of our outdoor trash cans and planters are beat to shit because people don't know how to back their cars up properly.

We always have tons of accidents in our lot, because once again, people don't know how to back their cars up properly. And they decide to drive these huge boats where they can hardly see over the steering wheel. Cars hitting other cars in our parking lot has become such a regular thing now, that I don't even look up when I hear things like "Excuse me, who owns that White Ford out there?"

So if you ever notice planters and trash cans all beat up and looking crappy and unsightly at a gas station, just remember that we never replace them because they will always continue to get hit by people in their cars.

Oh, and make sure to watch your car in the parking lot when you go inside. I've seen plenty of people hit another customer's car and then just drive off without saying anything.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Doing Drugs

We get our share of drugs in the store. There have been many times I've found little baggies of weed on the floor, or near the pumps, or even in the bathrooms.

A lot of our customers come in smelling like pot, probably because they just got done smoking it in the car before they came in.

Saturday night, however, was a first.

We have one of those lottery machines by the front door, where you can insert money and play tickets from it.

Well, there were three young guys, probably in their early 20s, that had been there for awhile playing those instant lottery tickets.

After about a half hour, my co-worker started noticing that they kept staring up at the register. So, he decided to keep an eye on them from the cameras.

They would put their money into the lottery machine, get their tickets, and scratch them while talking to each other. They looked like they were drunk or something.

After awhile they ended up leaving, but we were curious as to what they had been doing over there and why they had kept watching us.

So we look on the camera and rewind it back to when they were in. After catching them staring at us, we noticed what they were actually doing.

While playing tickets, one of the 3 guys had gone around the corner to where our bait cooler is, which is on the floor.

We then see him take something out of his pocket, put it on top of the cooler, and start making 'chopping' movements. While he was doing this, he kept watching us at the front counter, while trying to hide what he was doing.

What was he doing? He was cutting up his cocaine so he could snort it.

Because then we see him bend down and do it. All on camera.

It makes me mad to see this because people should keep their drug habits at home, not out in public. Also, what would you say to this person? He may be so high on drugs that he pulls out a gun and shoots one of us for confronting him.

So we just have to take it and hope it doesn't become a bigger problem.
 

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