Twas The Night Before Christmas

[blas]

In December 2005, at a piddly ma and pa gas station.

Not a creature was stirring, only an 18 year old blas, ready to go home and spend a few hours with her best friend at the time, then go home to her family and go to bed with her loving pets.

It was getting so dead, there hadn't been a customer in quite a while. So I called my manager and got her blessing to close early.

Not a moment after I had a brain fart and went to shut off the lights before I locked the doors (damn, I'm dumb), every car coming down the street pulled into the station.

So I tried to get them all out as quick as I could, but I could not get away from my register long enough to lock that other door, and people just kept coming. And coming.

It was as if they just *knew* I was trying to close up early.

I finally got down to the last person, and was walking behind her to lock the door, when in bursts this small family of people a little older than my parents, demanding to know why I was trying to lock the door and why they couldn't really quick get some gas and cigarettes.

Unfortunately for me, just 30 minutes or so later, I left and went to my friend's house....and guess who her family's guests were that night?

Yep. The family.

And they started yelling at me about how I "made" them go to Kwik Trip instead (well, what's the problem there, they have cheaper cigarettes anyway!!) and they lied that the lights were still on and there was no way of knowing that I was truly closed. Liars. Liars.

[ShinyGreenApple]

You must tell us how the rest of that evening went. Did your friend's family at least try to back you up?

I really hate it when an establishment is obviously trying to close, especially if it's a holiday, and people keep piling into line. It happened to us last New Year's eve - the pharmacy gates were halfway down, the lights were off, and the sheeple just kept lining up. Only after saying "Oh are they closing? It looks like they're closing. Oh well, they're not closed yet. I need my medicine." Or even better/worse "I hope they can fill my prescription tonight."

[EricKei]

It was as if they just *knew* I was trying to close up early.

I became convinced long ago that customers can smell "Tired" from half a mile away or more. The suckier they are, the greater the range, and the impulse to come by and make your night worse. Thus, the ones that have gone the farthest are the ones that take an hour to buy "just one or two quick things"...

[blas]

Not much transpired after the evil family remembered me. My friend and I went to my parents' place.

It's just forever etched in my mind because at the exact moment I got the go ahead to close and go home, EVERYONE all of a sudden needed gas and ciggs.

[ShinyGreenApple]

Same thing happens when you have to pee really badly, suddenly EVERYONE needs you. Or if you're parched with thirst and trying to just have a sip from your water bottle. I swear I picked mine up at least half a dozen times last night. One guy even goes "I know you're trying to take two seconds to get a drink, but . . . " But . . . you're going to stop me from taking it anyways. Gee, thanks.

[blas]

Yeah, I worked alone at that gas station, so whenever I had to pee, I'd hear that stupid doorbell noise going off and I'd want to scream. Or the store would finally clear, and I'd go to light up a smoke, and sure enough, every car going down the road would start turning into the lot.

If anyone ever threw a fit, I'd have to stop myself from saying "Sorry, next time I'll use the garbage can back here."

[Lace Neil Singer]

Grr, I really hate that. -.- It's bad enough when it happens on a regular night but it's somehow even suckier on Christmas Eve. Usually cuz I'm nearly always knackered, starving and desperate for an alcoholic beverage and just want everyone to fuck off and go home, so that I can do likewise.

One Christmas Eve, I went out to put the cones out cuz we were closing, and there was a packed forecourt and a queue of cars. The idiot in the first car beeped his horn and yelled, "Oh come on, let me in! It's Christmas!"

To which I replied, "Sorry, but we're closing." What I wanted to reply was, "It's my fucking Christmas too, you selfish cunt and you've had all fucking day to get your fat arse over here. Go the fuck home."

[BrenDAnn]

*shudders* I've had freaking NIGHTMARES about that happening, only in my nightmares, the locks...don't lock. Or if they lock, they don't stay locked or people get in anyway. Yeah...That's what telling me I had to be off the register by a certain time did to me a few years back. Fortunately, except for Christmas a a few other days, I've never really seen it THAT crazy. Still, it's just the stuff of nightmares for me, haha!

ETA: OMG blas i so understand the ending up with a line when you take two seconds to go pee thing. It happens every damn time I try to go at the C-store! Also, I swear I could stand around for hours doing nothing but looking around and no one would come in, but the minute I think about cleaning or something, BAM! Everyone within a ten mile radius is in the store!

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Yep...if my phone isn't ringing at work I know all I have to do is pick up my water bottle, try to dig something out of my purse or make an outgoing phone call for one of my follow-ups. Almost never fails.

[Lace Neil Singer]

The going to the loo thing; happened to me once when I was working in the petrol station alongside an untrained collegue due to a petrol station collegue being off sick. I was dying for the loo and it was dead, so I told the untrained collegue to tell any customers who came into the store that I'd be back as soon as possible and bolted for the loo.

On my return two minutes later, I'd obviously slipped into a time hole cuz I returned to a queue of customers claiming that they'd been waiting for hours.

[Stryker One]

Uhmmmm

then go home to her family and go to bed with her loving pets.

I'm trying real hard NOT to take this the wrongest way.

[blas]

Oh, no. Not you too. Damn, I'm starting to think you guys LIKE your raddish punishments.

Now, kindly drop trou. Don't worry, it only hurts a lot.

[Peppergirl]

Christ. This happens to me, ableit in mildly different ways.

This past Friday, things were going fairly well in the call center, so my boss emails me and says:

"Since it seems slow, can you try to do x,y and z tonight?"

Guess what happened immediately after that, and continued all the way through my shift ending Saturday night?

Granted, today wasn't so bad - but dammit...I find myself daydreaming as to what kind of Friday and Saturday we would have had if she HADN'T seen fit to evoke all the SC's to call...just by uttering that one.little.phrase. !!

[Jester]

Amusingly, I find myself considering the idea of working Christmas Day. See, all the NFL games have been moved to Christmas Eve (Saturday), my coworker who FREQUENTLY picks up my unwanted shift kind of wants off, and it would not hurt the old wallet to pick up a shift. Of course, it's a Sunday night closing shift, and I open the very next day, and I haven't closed in.....a very long time....but it's tempting. Especially since it's been my experience that there ARE such things as sympathy tips on holidays, especially Christmas.

But of course, we all know that the minute I pick this shift up, the customers will all go elsewhere on Christmas. Or they'll all show up at my bar the minute my manager decides to start closing down.

Hmmmm....what to do, what to do......

[blas]

Packers are going Bear hunting on Christmas Day, Jester.