Has anyone had some cool incidents happen at gas stations while working there or purchasing something? Like, have you ever been in a gas station during a hold up? Or have you ever been one of those teenage gas station clerks workin’ the graveyard shift when something really spooky happened?
Share away, folks!
The only thing that’s spooky about Dutch gas stations are the fuel prices. We’re talking NLG 2.70 per litre these days. Truely creepy 
Damn metric system! 
Oh, alright, you imperial bastards
Lessee now… a litre to a gallon makes NLG 10.21 per gallon.
A Guilder to a Dollar makes some USD 4.22 per gallon. Happy now??
…or maybe we just don’t care. After all, why else would someone drive an Explorer, or Expedition at 10, 11 mpg. It’s really insulting to Europeons the way we drive what we drive.
Yeah, and sorry for the hijack.
Plus, American cars are an insult to Good Taste 
Well, not the Chrysler PT Cruiser. I love that car!
I don’t know, Coldy. Anyone who cites that Chrysler abomination as an example of good taste isn’t going to win any prizes from me. But you are correct that all the truly great cars are European.
Back to the OP, I’d have to say the most exciting thing that ever happened to me (well, sort of to me) in a gas station was as a child during a road trip with my family. My dad was never one to take vacations, so the fact that we were going somewhere was a big deal. We stopped for gas and a potty break. One of my younger brothers was in the restroom, which was inside the gas station. My older brother was carsick but hadn’t mentioned this to anyone. He decided he was going to hurl. He ran in to use the restroom about the time the other brother opened the door to come out. The sick one didn’t make it to the restroom but lost his lunch all over the gas station floor. Brother trapped in the bathroom sees this unpleasant sight and joins in – still not into the bathroom but all over the rest of the gas station floor. The gas station attendant, seeing more of us (and I suppose we all looked a little queasy by then) tells us all to get in the car and get out. We did.
I have no other recollection of this road trip but this one incident, but to this day I can’t pass through Dillon, Montana without wondering what that poor guy must have thought.
All I know is it takes me FOREVER to drive cross-country, because every time I see a gas station sign that says CLEAN REST ROOMS, I do.
And, for the record, I agree with the Euros about that fucking Detroit iron. When I get to be President, I’m sending out the Black Helicopters to take away everybody’s SUVs.
The Hy Vee store across the street from the station that I worked at was held up one friday night when I was working.Funny thing the cops never even stopped in to ask if I saw anything.
One Sunday afternoon a baby was born in the ladies restroom.
Most of the rest of the time it was only boring.
Let’s see…There’s the kid whose mother went off and forgot him in the store. She missed him 150 miles down the road and finally came back for him (but I believe I’ve mentioned this elsewhere on the board). Just this weekend a woman came in, said she was flat broke, out of gas, and on her way to see her mom in the hospital. So we call Highway Patrol to bring her a Salvation Army voucher for gas and food. Tell her what we’ve done, the woman freaks out, runs outside, and starts pulling all these duffel bags out of the backseat of her car and cramming them into the trunk. I don’t know what happened after that, an RV pulled in and hid her from view. Wouldn’t it be a trip if she was hauling drugs and the Highway Patrol helped her do it? Then there was the lady who slipped and fell (she claims) in the back hallway. A crowd gathers, we help her up. She’s moaning, “Ohhh, my stomach hurts…ohhh, I fell on my boob, it hurts.” We finally get her up and she pulls her shirt up, whips her tit out in front of God and everybody, and starts mauling it around, looking at it from every angle. I’m going to see that thing in my mind’s eye 'til the day I die. Is there a therapist in the house?
I was one of the unfortunate people who has ever had to work in a gas station. I have COUNTLESS gas station stories,
from mob violence in the forecourt to unusual places to hide stolen bacon.
One of the dtrangest occured one Sunday morning a 5a.m.
The Security Guardhad gone home after the night shift, and I was left alone in the shop.
2 junkies came into the shop on a BICYCLE and thought it would be a great jest to pretend to hold up the store with a garlic bread.
I quit 2 weeks later.
Well, I was on a date one night with a guy who, well he really, really liked to drink apparently. So I’m driving, he says he needs to pee, I pull into a gas station, (brightly lit, in a busy part of town) right in front of the restrooms. He steps out of the car, whips his pistol out and pees all over the ground. I was mortified-end of date, threw his number out the window.
If y’all think the PT Cruiser is cool, check out its concept-car predecessor, the Chrysler Phaeton. “Phaeton” is where the “PT” comes from. I think the concept car is very cool, sort of a Corvette-styled Rolls Royce.
I happened across the Phaeton a couple of years ago while surfin’ through Chrysler’s concept cars. I recognized the PT Cruiser as its descendant the first time I saw the ads.
Not that you’re old enough to remenber the REAL thing, Max, but I think PT may have come from Panel Truck.
I worked graveyard shift for two undergrad semesters. The store was a Circle-K right in the heart of the bar area off campus (LSU). I’ve got lots of ‘drunk-and-stupid’ stories.
First off, when 2:00 AM started to roll around (liquor cut-off time), we had to take down all the counter displays. Seems that drunk students think anything on a counter display is free; especially the cigarettes.
We also had to hide the nacho cheese, or the fixin’ corner would look like the food fight scene from Animal House. Dealing with the 1:58 beer and liquor crowd was not exactly easy; but we could make it amusing. Basically, we had the right to not take any crap. Anyone who thinks “The customer is always right” obviously has never had to face drunk college kids.
Someone once set fire to the dumpster to create a diversion for a beer grab-and-run. We were never shy to jump the counter to run after a punk on a “beer run” (as long as there was more than one of us working at the time). Many parking lot tackles to my credit. 
One of the other employees (who was about 6’4" and well over 400 lbs) once grabbed a punky shoplifter by the ankles and shook him upside down until all the crap he had been stuffing in his clothes fell out.
Another worker was arrested right in front of us. The cops came in with a warrant and hauled him off. Read in the paper the next day that he had been having sex with a 5-year old girl, and taped everything. We couldn’t believe we were working with such a man. Had no clue he was such a sicko. Anyway, according to the papers, he got sent away for a long, long time.
Once, I put in a package of microwave popcorn to pop. I forgot that the microwave was industrial-strength, designed to head a frozen burrito to steaming hot in less than a minute. Anyway, I set the timer for 4-5 minutes and went about my business.
Well, the next thing I know, black smoke is pouring out of this microwave! I mean, no smoke generator in the world could compete with what was happening. It was so bad, I couldn’t see the aisles from the counter. I couldn’t see anything but smoke. I made my way to the door to prop it open, but it took all day for the store to clear out. Of course, the smell of burnt popcorn was present for a long time. Not to mention the horrid charred mess I created in the microwave.
hijack:/
Sorry. The PT in PT Cruiser stands for “Personal Transport”. I make commercials for a living & jsut worked on Chrysler a few months ago.
hijack:/
I now return you to your regularly scheduled rambling.
“Personal Transport”? Jeez, that’s lame. I’d rather live with my delusion.
I never thought I’d be writing this, but. . .
Late one night I pulled into the local Kwikee Mart to fill up. There was no one there but the chick behind the counter. She had long, blond hair and a great body. . .
Oh, what the hell. You know this is just as made up as the ones in the magazines.