Well, I've worked in two
gas stations so far:
Ultramar, and
Irving. Each has their own
promotions, and
specials, that really get on my nerves. It makes me wonder if any of the "higher-ups" ever had to go through some of the shit they make us go through... Here are a couple of examples from Irving...
If we don't clean your windshield, and ask to check your oil, your gas is FREE!
Ah, the good ol' summertime Irving game of dodge-the-customer. I want to start out by pointing out the fact that your gas is NOT free... But Irving doesn't pay for it either... You guessed it. I could get docked a week's pay for an honest mistake.
If Irving has the nuts to offer this kind of special, they should also have the same testicular fortitude to back that up with their own money. Gas station attendants should not have to pay (literally) for a mistake that they could make at anytime. And it's really not that big a deal, anyway...
Then there are the customers (Usually niggaz. I'm not being racist, just stating a fact) who deliberately try to make you overlook that one detail that might give them free gas. If I had to give one of these freaks free gas out of MY pocket, I'd make it worth my while by spraying a few dollars on them... With a little left over for any Irving reps...
But, let's move on, shall we?
Ultramar's Reveal-A-Deal
Another summertime promotion, but not as risky for us as the Irving deal. Customers receive in the mail a coupon book. The coupons are "encoded". The catch is that for every 25 litres of gas they purchase, we can "decode" one coupon for an immediate discount, and a chance to win big prizes (yeah right).
The coupons themselves are only worth between 75 cents to one dollar (Canadian). Hardly worth filling up to receive. Therefore, most customers would come in and beg to use a coupon for five or ten dollars worth of gas, holding up the rest of the people and wasting our valuable time. It also didn't help that the promotion goes on for two or three months, and that there isn't a space on the shift sheet for these coupons, therefore extra work for us... again.
And, then, there is the promotion that both Ultramar and Irving share...
The dreaded Three cents off Thursdays...
Or, more specifically, three cents reduction per litre of Supreme (high-test) gasoline purchased. Not hard to compute, but annoying because for the entire day of Thursday, the station is crammed beyond belief with people who drove miles to save three cents on their precious high-test gas.
This is an evil ploy by the gas stations to lure customers in. Thursday is the universal payday for most people, therefore they are most likely to spend money on payday. They only offer the reduction on their most expensive gas (which is already outrageous in price), which hypnotizes consumers into buying something they probably wouldn't normally buy. So, the station becomes jam-packed with people driving shitty cars wanting supreme gas. News flash: Supreme gas only belongs in supreme cars. If you don't have one, DON'T BUY THAT TYPE OF GAS. SAVE SOME MONEY. DON'T LISTEN TO THESE FAKE GAS STATION PROMOTIONS. THEY'RE UP TO NO GOOD!