"I refuse to pay for a service that you provide! You should give it to me for free!"

[Halo_miles]

Where I work could be known as Aviator/Soaring K...it's a chain of truck stops across the states that is slowly making its way across Canada. Now, Aviator/SK is an American company, and as such, governed by a lot of the American rulings. Canadians do not seem to grasp this (at least, none of the ones I've met), and insist upon certain liberties that I, the lowly minion, can simply not provide.

However, my personal favourite thing today is the, "why do you charge for this service!? It should be free!". Sorry, but showers are free for professional drivers, because they buy a SHIT TON of diesel. The average Joe does not. As such, this is a privilege to the drivers. I will not be giving your entitled ass a free shower because I can't. The showers still use our water, our towels, our soaps, shampoos, shower gels etc. These things cost money, and lots of it. Just, "giving out one shower" costs our store nearly thirteen dollars. Imagine if a whole bunch of cashiers around the Americas gave out just, "one shower". That cost adds up.

The same applies to the RV/sewer dump service. With a card, it's five bucks. Without, it's ten bucks. Just take the damn card. It gives you discounts, takes half of the price off the RV dump, and if you don't ever want to use it, you don't have to. I will not, "unlock" the RV dump with my magical key (that does not exist), because it's still using out hookups, our electricity to run the code box, our water to flush your systems, and our sewer service to dispose of it. Which, again, costs MONEY. If you are unfamiliar with the word, "MONEY" get out of my store and stop asking for free shit.

If you make a scene and stop around like a two year old throwing a tantrum, not only will I laugh at you, but I will get my manager, he will laugh at you, and then kick you out of the store. Seriously, everyone should work one day in retail to learn a valuable lesson: treat others with respect.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I'm sorry you've had that experience with my fellow countrymen. Despite what you may think, here in Canada we also have to pay for things. Unfortunately the people you've had to deal with are twits.

[Tama]

We have one station like that around here. Showers are $7, but free if you buy >50 gallons of fuel. Which seems to me like a good idea.

[Halo_miles]

I'm sorry you've had that experience with my fellow countrymen. Despite what you may think, here in Canada we also have to pay for things. Unfortunately the people you've had to deal with are twits.

I may have misled you. I am a Canadian, located in central Canada (I cannot be too specific about my location), but for some reason, Canadians have a harder time paying for these things than Americans do. Don't get me wrong, I've dealt with an assload of horrible Americans, but at least they paid for their stuff, and didn't argue too much (except for the fact that Canada's prices are higher). But Canadians? They have a hard time accepting the fact that we charge for sewer dumps and showers. Sorry, you may have spent the night (for free) in our parking lot, but that doesn't give you the right to demand free shit.

[Mike Taylor]

Halo_miles, I tip my hat to you. I could not work a truckstop for that and many other reasons.

[Pimento]

Lol then there's the certain group of truckers who will do runs for a bit less. Run 2-3 drivers in a single rig and to avoid pit stops they cut a hole in the floor of the truck.


My buddy does transmission work on rigs and says he's turned away lots of trucks with....stuff...all underneath them.

[wolfie]

However, my personal favourite thing today is the, "why do you charge for this service!? It should be free!". Sorry, but showers are free for professional drivers, because they buy a SHIT TON of diesel. The average Joe does not. As such, this is a privilege to the drivers.

Standard practice in the industry: showers are free with a minimum 50 gallon/200 litre fill. Some places it's a minimum 75/300, but they're rare. Before the merger, "Soaring K" would do 2 free showers for a minimum 150/600 (stands to reason - the "standard" minimum is an amount a "single" can easily burn in 1 day, but teams go further and burn more fuel). Most places now can (at the desk, doesn't work on the automated system) "split" a shower credit into 2 showers that must be used the same day (don't know the details - I run single).

Note that it's a minimum fill, not cumulative fills that add up to 50/200. Industry "rule of thumb" that a lot of calculations are based on is 6 MPG - the Peterbilt of Natural Selection has a pair of 142 gallon tanks. U.S. hours of service allow 11 hours of driving in a day, so assuming a 50 MPH average speed that's over 90 gallons per day that a "single" can burn. Halo_miles isn't kidding about buying a lot of diesel.

Hell, I dated a cheap ass trucker - he assumed that because he could get a free shower when he was on the road with his truck that it meant that he could do the same when driving his car. And promptly threw a fit!

Industry standard is that shower credits on the loyalty card expire in a week. One chain's "elite" membership level (based on amount of fuel bought the previous year) has shower credits not expiring (but with a cap on how many can be on the card). Another chain has it so if you buy a certain minimum amount one month, you get unlimited showers the next month. Neither of those would have helped your ex (one of those chains has only 1 outlet in Canada, the other has none), but he could still have, while driving his car, used credits he had earned in the previous week (i.e. not yet expired).

[sms001]

And at the other end of the spectrum, I about fell over myself to fork out for a shower when I saw they were available at a stop once. I was driving Missouri to Cali and had to skip the motel I'd planned on (running late). Was resigned to showing up at my friends nasty from three days driving, but lo and behold....!

[AccountingDrone]

And at the other end of the spectrum, I about fell over myself to fork out for a shower when I saw they were available at a stop once. I was driving Missouri to Cali and had to skip the motel I'd planned on (running late). Was resigned to showing up at my friends nasty from three days driving, but lo and behold....!

I am the same way - I love being able to fork out significantly less than a motel room and getting a lovely hot shower! [even as gimpy as I am, I still tend to do long road trips by sleeping in the vehicle 2 nights and getting a room on the third. Though I can no longer find an isolated bush to pee But I am funny that way ]

[RootedPhoenix]

It's funny. If it was their store, they'd want you to pay...of course. But the should get free things, because reasons!!one!1!

[wolfie]

Forgot to mention this in my first post, but what the sucktomer was complaining about had NOTHING to do with "I know this is Canada, but because we're U.S. based we have to do things the American way". The policy of "shower is free with a large diesel purchase, but otherwise you have to pay for it" is industry-wide. It's also done at "sled dog" and "heavy-duty trailer hitch" truck stops, and BOTH of those chains operate ONLY in Canada.

[MadMike]

The same applies to the RV/sewer dump service.

...

get out of my store and stop asking for free shit.

Interesting choice of words.

[mathnerd]

When I rode along with my now ex-boyfriend I would have paid any amount of money for a long, hot shower by the time he stopped long enough to actually shower. The first time we stopped and I realized just how nice truck stop showers could be, I immediately kicked myself in the pants for not taking advantage of that service when I was driving from Seattle to Miami in my car, when I did the sleep in my car one night and get a hotel the next night thing. Of course I realize that truckers get priority, but if I'd have happened to stop during a time when they weren't busy, I would imagine they'd let a non-trucker use the service.

[Halo_miles]

Lol then there's the certain group of truckers who will do runs for a bit less. Run 2-3 drivers in a single rig and to avoid pit stops they cut a hole in the floor of the truck.


My buddy does transmission work on rigs and says he's turned away lots of trucks with....stuff...all underneath them.

Don't even get me started on those jerkoffs. Their nasty ass trucks make a mess all over our lot, and our poor maintenance man is going to shoot someone one of these days.