It's Called A Line. Get In It!

[BrenDAnn]

Just a quick one, more annoying than sucky, really, but I wanted to share. Two or three of the gas pumps at work are out of receipt paper, so people are having to come inside to get their receipts when paying at the pump. I'm sure my fellow c-store drones clerks here can guess what that means. Yup. Impatient, huffy bitches coming in DEMANDING their receipts! I had no less than three last night, two of which simply butted in line asking "Can I have my receipt?" the third of which went with a gruff "Do I get my receipt, or..." Let's go over a couple of things, people. First of all, as the title of my thread says, it's called a line (queue for our Euro/British friends here). GET IN IT. Wait your turn. The fact that you need that precious piece of paper doesn't mean you can just butt ahead of the customer that was there before you even walked in the door. Second, a little politeness will get you a long way. Didn't your mother or father, or whoever raised you, teach you to say 'please" and "thank you"?? Honestly, these are not difficult concepts. Learn them, love them, and don't come back until you have!

[zombiequeen]

But the wild wolves/bears/beavers/field mice that raised them didn't know how to queue OR say please/thank you.
They also didn't know what receipts were or what they were for, only that you NEED to have them.

[Solumina]

I wont lie, in that case I would most likely go up to the counter and ask if they could just print out my receipt or if I needed to get in line (since nothing needs to be scanned it would be much faster then other transactions so it could potentially be done once the current transaction is done). I would be polite about it and if told to wait in line I would do so with no complaints but as far as I'm concerned there is no harm in asking. I hope that wouldn't be sucky of me but I kind of got the feeling that the way they demand ask is more of an issue than the fact that they ask.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

I find it vastly amusing that otherwise, there would be reams of paper skirling about my feet, that, upon catching such, proves to be receipts for the pumps. No one wants those things unless the printer's on the fritz.
/lesigh

[BrenDAnn]

Yes, it was the way that they asked, and the way they looked at the others standing there as if they were of no importance. Also, you're right in that otherwise they'd probably just leave the damn receipt hanging out of the pump! Can't win for losing, I guess

[ReverendBSB]

I pay at the pump with a card, and I always take my receipt. If I have to go inside to get it that means the lazy employees have not changed the paper in the machines outside.

And before anyone bitches at me, I used to work in at a gas station, and checking or changing the paper at he pumps was first duty when I came on shift.

[Sapphire Silk]

I got tired of my wallet filling up with receipts I would just throw away after a couple of weeks.

Unless I am getting reimbursed for gas, I tell the pump not to print a receipt.

[Andara Bledin]

I pay at the pump with a card, and I always take my receipt. If I have to go inside to get it that means the lazy employees have not changed the paper in the machines outside.

That's all fine and dandy, if you have the paper to put in.

^-.-^

[chrislb]

So true. I used to work at a number of BP stations as a csr and I have had to deal with many angry customers wanting receipts when the pumps ran out of paper. I was told by my manager that we weren't supposed to change the paper. BP had a company that would do it for us. When they felt like it of course.

[lordmidnight]

I pay at the pump with a card, and I always take my receipt. If I have to go inside to get it that means the lazy employees have not changed the paper in the machines outside.

And before anyone bitches at me, I used to work in at a gas station, and checking or changing the paper at he pumps was first duty when I came on shift.

The station you worked at may have had a policy about that, but all the one's I've worked at were far too busy for that. First priority is relieve the counter jockey who's been standing in the same spot for the last 4 hours punching keys on a register. Changing CRIND tape happens when it can happen. Which means that, a lot of times I had a roll of it sitting right beside me, waiting to go out, but until I deal with the customers in front of me, it's going to have to wait. There's no laziness involved at all. It's corporate greed, because only one person to a shift means customers have to come before the other work. The rest of the stuff gets done when you can find the time in between customers. The last one I worked at was so busy (16 pumps, about $18k per shift, and keep in mind, you're alone ringing that stuff up) that we frequently never got a break during an 8-hour shift. Not even a lousy 15 minute break, much less a real sit-down-and-eat-lunch break. Stand in front of a register for 8 straight hours then let someone come in and tell you that you're lazy for not changing CRIND tape, and you're likely to get your head ripped off.

[iradney]

Ok, guys, let's not start with the arguments about who should change receipt paper or not. I'm sure if the OP had had the opportunity or the materials, it would have been done so as to AVOID the situation posted about. Keep it clean, mk? Or I'll have to start polishing the unhappy stick.

[aurelemsrealm]

If I have to go inside to get it that means the lazy employees have not changed the paper in the machines outside.

That's not always true. If customers don't tear off the receipts carefully, the thermal paper will sometimes retract beyond the feeder. I frequently check the receipt printers on the pumps when I work because customers are always complaining about not getting receipts. More often than not, I find the roll has jammed in the printer.

If the paper is fed properly, then it's most likely that the customer didn't catch the prompt asking if customer wants a receipt.

So, I hope you're joking about calling the employees lazy on that basis. Otherwise, it's an unfair assumption.

Yes, it's an inconvenience when the receipt fails to print at the pump. However, I do get rather sick and tired of the customers who huff and puff and blame me. Some of them just go on pointless tirades, and make me really wish they would follow through on their promise to go elsewhere so I don't have to hear the sucktitude. That's where they lose my sympathy.

I've had to go inside to get my receipts, and I didn't throw a big bitchfit about it. I just asked for my receipt, the clerk gave it to me, and I went on my way.

[dbuzman]

I pay at the pump with a card, and I always take my receipt. If I have to go inside to get it that means the lazy employees have not changed the paper in the machines outside.

And before anyone bitches at me, I used to work in at a gas station, and checking or changing the paper at he pumps was first duty when I came on shift.

Or that the management hasn't ordered printer paper or whoever has the key to where the paper is stored isn't there.

[WaterGirl]

I love that-"I used to work in a gas station". I hear that line every day-"I used to work in a call center". Great-do you work here? No? Then you know NOTHING! I used to work in a gas station too, and the only person who had the receipt paper were the manager and the staff because they kept it in the time released safe for some unknown reason and if they didn't change it, then it didn't get changed.

[ZedOmega]

Hence my unwillingness to even mention my own tenure as a convenience store cashier. The flashbacks drive me to drink and rant.

Now, granted, I do remember times when it's the supplier's fault for not shipping the receipt paper for the pumps, but the times when the paper was stocked and changed out at the pumps, they'd jam more often than they run out. It always ends up with the oil-company equivalent of 'for want of a nail, a shoe was lost'.