At work - need to vent

[Eternalknight]

Time for me to use this to voice my opinion on something. Don't know how many will read it, but at least it'll make me feel better.

I work at a petrol station. I leave for work at 10.30pm, and do not usually get home until around 8am. Yes, I work the graveyard shift, which means often times I am tired and grumpy.

I know the price of petrol is high. Yes, I understand alot of people are not happy about it. But why do customers think that I can do anything about it? Me, a grunt who works behind the counter? I have lost count of the amount of times people come in, at me for the price of petrol. Like I can do anything about it! Just this morning I have already had two people come in and have a go at me, and i have been here all of two hours. What these people don't understand is that I, like everyone else, have to have petrol as well and I pay the same as them for it. They seem to think that I am sitting in the shop, raking in themoney because of the high prices!

Next time you go and fill up your car, before you go bitch about the price to the attndant, take a moment and think. The attendant cannot do anything about it and is in exactly the same situation as everyone else.

Save your blame for the oil companies.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I feel your pain. I used to manage a video store, and customers would get angry and in some cases violently so at the prices of the rentals or the late fees they would accumulate by not turning their movies in on time. It was part of a chain and I had no control over policies, but try to explain that to someone who's throwing their purse at you because their kids wracked up a $60 dollar late fee on movies the parents didn't bring back on time.

 

[Jdvn1]

Working in retail, I get some of the same thing. I often just end up telling people, "This is what we have. For something else or a better price, try someplace else."

I guess it's harder to do for petrol, though, since it's basically a necessity.

 

[Eternalknight]

Our prices here are no different to anyone else in the area at the moment. I ended up telling one of the abusive customers this morning that he was more than welcome to get in his car, drive around until he finds a cheaper price and buy it from them. He didn't like it, but at some point you just snap I think. That point has come today for me.

 

[Warrior Poet]

Sorry to hear of the complaint woes.

Send 'em to the U.S. Even though this country's up in arms over gas prices, I bet costs are still less than what Europe and Australia are paying per gallon (or liter) (no idea what costs are in the rest of the Pacific Rim, Asia, or Africa).

It's always easy to kill the messenger. The person behind the counter is CLEARLY the source of my economic frustration. Why contact the Energy Ministry (or other appropriate policy outlet) when I can just yell at this individual who's as frustrated as I am? It will make me feel temporarily better (though not really) to know someone else is suffering like I am!

Schadenfreude. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

Hope it gets better. Hang in there. Take solace in knowing most beer in your country is better than most beer elsewhere.

Warrior Poet

 

[Jdvn1]

Our prices aren't any different either (I sell books, books all sell for the price the publisher puts on the back of the book), but if people aren't happy with the prices, I'll let them know that there are other places they can go to to compare prices.

I don't want to listen to a customer complain about something retarded like that, so I don't.

 

[Eternalknight]

We are paying about $1.34 / litre for fuel here, which works out to about $4US a gallon. No idea what you guys pay.

Your point about beer is valid. Will get stuck into when I get home

I think the reason I snapped this morning is mainly due to lack of sleep at the moment, but it has been wearing at me for some time. I am very tempted to show our next customer just how much we (meaning the company itself) makes per litre of petrol, which is only about 10c per litre.

 

[kenobi65]

We are paying about $1.34 / litre for fuel here, which works out to about $4US a gallon. No idea what you guys pay.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, after Hurricane Katrina had knocked out a bunch of pumping and refining facilities on the Gulf Coast, the prices here spiked to around $3.15 or so (and, for a few days at least, much higher in a few places). Since then, it's come back down to around $2.79, which is maybe a little higher than it was before all this monkey business.

Then again, two years ago, prices were well under $2 a gallon, and when they first went above $2, people screamed blue bloody murder. Now, they're just happy it's back under $3.

 

[Eternalknight]

Yeah, back in January we were paying about 40c per litre less than what we are now.

I don't know about the US or anywhere else, but our government charges an excise tax on petrol of about 37.6% per litre. On top of that we then pay an extra 10% Goods and Services Tax. Works out at about 55c a litre is tax.

 

[Jdvn1]

I know a place I could get it for 2.52/gallon a couple days ago, but they're going up again due to Rita.