Is it wrong for me to be laughing?

[blas]

There's this tiny BP gas station on the corner by where I go tanning.

It's owned by a little man. This has nothing to do with the fact that he isn't white or that he's an immigrant. It's the fact that he is an asshole.

He's much like the angry old fart that works at the Holiday gas station in the city I used to live in. He follows customers all over the store and has the predetermined notion that every customer is a shoplifter or scammer. I've been there a handfull of times and seen firsthand how he treats customers.

One day I had to use the ATM. My own fault I forgot to at the other gas station I'd just been at. I only got $20, and I needed change. There's a change machine where I work, but the largest bill it will make change for is a ten. So two tens would have been just fine for me.

I feel bad asking for change, because I remember how customers always asking for change used to piss me off. But these people were always asking me to break 50s and 100s, not 20s. And it was nearly noon. Not at 8 am opening time.

I asked him for change and he shook his head and said "No change, I no give change, you buy something or get out!"

I could have been an SC and gotten a 25 cent pack of gum, but I remember how customers doing that just for change used to piss me off. I'd already gotten cigarettes and milk, and I didn't really NEED anything. But I grabbed a BIC lighter. For a dollar. A dollar.

So it was $1.06.

So I got $18.94 back. The idiot was already losing a ten, a five, and three ones ANYWAY!

What did he expect me to buy and not get change back for??

That happened this last....Wednesday?

I'm sorry this makes me a bad person, but when I drove past the BP this morning on the way to the tanning salon and I saw a FOR SALE sign.....meaning he is going out of business....I had to laugh. I really did. And no, there is no surrounding property that would be for sale. It's kind of a long strip mall of various stores. Only his station is for sale.

Sorry, but it's funny.

[Rapscallion]

I suspect part of the problem is that when your business is failing, it's a rare person that doesn't turn into an arsehole. It's the fault of the customers who didn't come in the door, or those who did who didn't spend enough and complained about the prices of fuel...

Been close to that a few times. Probably been that person a few times.

Rapscallion

[blas]

I haven't lived in this part of town to know how long he's owned the place or how long business has been declining.

I'm assuming with much larger gas stations with more than 3 pumps and every brand of cigarette and alcohol available, and nachos and fresh take home pizza, small gas stations are failing.

The only reason the gas station I used to work at survived the attack of big gas stations was because we had kerosine in bulk in the winter and because so many companies had accounts with us to charge to company vehicles. We were the only station in town that did stuff like that.

[GayleShy]

Yeah, he could have been more polite, but he might have had a good reason to watch people like a hawk. And if he was selling his business, there's the added stress to that, because I'm sure he didn't wake up that morning and think that selling his store was a good idea. Where I live you don't even get to use the restroom unless you buy something, let alone get change, but he could have explained it better to you, not jumped down your throat.

So yes, he was sucky, but no, you shouldn't laugh at his misfourtune.

[blas]

I guess it must suck. But you have to wonder why he went out of business as well.

May not be just the gas prices or lack of sales. The gas station I worked at was piss ant tiny as well, but is still flourishing to this day despite its small size and small staff.

[SuperB]

Just selling a business isn't necessarily an indication that it's failing. A business can be doing very well and the owner is simply tired of working it 24/7, especially if it's owner-operated.