"You're lucky we have cash!!"

[Becks]

Background: our lottery machine is automatically shut down from midnight to 3 am every day.

So I'm doing the work thing {quoting the ever useful, and sadly to/by me overused "I'm not even supposed to be here today!!"} when someone pumps about $5 worth of gasoline.

He comes into the store with a woman, they do a quick saunter around the store, then approach the counter with scratched off lottery tickets in hand.

When they get to me, I ask if they have fuel - knowing full well they do, they're my only customers in the last 10 minutes - they say yes, tell me what pump they used, and start to hand over the tickets.

"I'm sorry," I say not unkindly, "but I can't check your tickets until 3 am."

"You're fucking kidding me, right?!?!?!?!?"

"No, sir, I assure you that it shuts itself down every day for 3 hours. Same time every time, too."

{filler noise, just be aware that unhappiness ensued}

Finally between them they pulled out wads of bills and handed me whatever amount they owed (really, not a lot, $5 or $10) and uttered the gem that is the thread title.

No, sir, YOU are lucky that you had cash. You see, our registers give people up to 20 minutes to pay for their fuel before it starts beeping and flashing. That means that you pay up or have it be registered as a drive off.

I hope you realize that that's not a good thing. No one is happy when that happens.

**********************************

This isn't the first time that someone has tried this. Different person last time.

Why do people think that the middle of the night is the best time to try to pay for gasoline based on potential lottery winnings?

[Dreamstalker]

We've had people try to pay for their groceries with a scratch ticket, after the service desk (only place that can process lottery anything) is closed.

They know when it closes and just like to be abusive/difficult.

[bainsidhe]

Same goes for returns after midnight when the service desk closes. It may be a 24hr store, but why do you need to return clothing at 1am??

Interesting bit about the beeping and flashing after 20 minutes. Then again, I imagine most people browse the store, having an idea of what they already want to buy.

[Monterey Jack]

Reminds me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where Bob Hoskins gets a check for a snooping job, then displays it to a ticket-taker on a bus, who cracks, "What do I look like, a bank?"

[BrenDAnn]

No, sir, YOU are lucky that you had cash. You see, our registers give people up to 20 minutes to pay for their fuel before it starts beeping and flashing. That means that you pay up or have it be registered as a drive off.

Before I address the SCs, let me say that I'd love to have this technology at the C-Store. Then again, if we just stopped letting people pump before they pay....but that's another rant, for another day. As to your lovely *cough*asshole*cough* SCs, I'd have had a hard time not retorting how luck they were to not be getting stopped by the cops for driving off with gas. Of course, they probably wouldn't listen, but whatever. They're the ones who thought it'd be wise to rely on a form of payment that couldn't be used at that time of night. Not your fault they aren't smart enough to add two and two together.

[Jack T. Chance]

Before I address the SCs, let me say that I'd love to have this technology at the C-Store. Then again, if we just stopped letting people pump before they pay....but that's another rant, for another day. As to your lovely *cough*asshole*cough* SCs, I'd have had a hard time not retorting how luck they were to not be getting stopped by the cops for driving off with gas. Of course, they probably wouldn't listen, but whatever. They're the ones who thought it'd be wise to rely on a form of payment that couldn't be used at that time of night. Not your fault they aren't smart enough to add two and two together.

I'd seriously like to know who the braindead moron is that decides it's a good idea to still let customers Pump First, Pay Second in 2016? Because here in Maryland, ALL gas stations I've gone to since at least the 1980s have been Pay First, Then Pump! So, at that point, the owner of the gas station you work for must WANT to have fuel stolen on a regular basis!

[Kagato]

A lot of petrol stations here in nz allow to pump gas before paying, mainly because a lot of people like to fill their tanks and it is a pain in the rear to set an arbitrary "pre authorise" value when a lot of people are on limited budgets (unmanned stations that work off credit/debit cards will not let you pump ANY gas unless it can put through a pre-authorise for $150, even if you only want $20 worth of gas)

[Becks]

I'm not so sure about other places, but I live out in the sticks now, and it's company policy that we give the "guests" () options and oh my damn insisting on mandatory prepay might offend them.

[wolfie]

A lot of petrol stations here in nz allow to pump gas before paying, mainly because a lot of people like to fill their tanks and it is a pain in the rear to set an arbitrary "pre authorise" value when a lot of people are on limited budgets (unmanned stations that work off credit/debit cards will not let you pump ANY gas unless it can put through a pre-authorise for $150, even if you only want $20 worth of gas)

Why don't they do what the Husky stations around here do? Never used the "pay at the pump" (always paid inside with cash), but in addition to having a default amount (should be enough to fill any spark-ignition vehicle) you can preset to a dollar value or a specified number of litres. Presumably if you choose one of those, it will pre-authorize for that much, and cut off after pumping that amount.

[Racket_Man]

I'm not so sure about other places, but I live out in the sticks now, and it's company policy that we give the "guests" () options and oh my damn insisting on mandatory prepay might offend them.

Most of the gas station type places around my area are mostly pump-first then pay with the possible exception of the outer pumps and say after 10pm.

Now if you want to talk say Chicago or Milwaukee a LOT of those have either pay at the pump or pay first then pump

[Minflick]

Here in California, I haven't seen a non-pay first station in decades. Anywhere.

[Becks]

Prepaying or paying at the pump would save me a LOT of time, and some trouble.

Oh, well.

[Food Lady]

I'd seriously like to know who the braindead moron is that decides it's a good idea to still let customers Pump First, Pay Second in 2016? Because here in Maryland, ALL gas stations I've gone to since at least the 1980s have been Pay First, Then Pump! So, at that point, the owner of the gas station you work for must WANT to have fuel stolen on a regular basis!

You've been here. You know how backward this state is.