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Working in a gas station is a lot harder than most people think. There are so many tasks that need to be taken care of, and you have to deal with a variety of customers, many of whom can be quite rude.

What would you do if you were relatively new to the job and a customer came in and asked for some gas and a lottery ticket, but after she paid for it and got her change, said that she actually didn’t want the gas?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, but he had not yet been trained on how to give refunds for gas, since they had to take the credit off of the pump. Unfortunately, the customer (and someone in line behind her) was getting very upset and impatient while he was trying to figure it out and demanded their money.

Personally, I’m impressed with how well he handled the stressful situation, and I hate when people treat employees poorly. Read through the full story and see if you agree.

“Just open the drawer and give me my money!”

I work at a gas station. Fun, right?

Wrong.

Ok, let’s see what happened.

This particular story takes place somewhere in the first month I’d been working at this store. I was doing pretty good (or so I like to think) and I had learned a fair bit, but there are just some things they can’t prepare you for in training. This was one of them.

RL= Rich/Rude Lady RH=Rude Lady’s Husband (did nothing wrong) ORL=Older Rude Lady LTC MM=Manager/My mom (momager)

All normal so far.

So, it was late, about two hours til close. It was already dark out and I wasn’t really busy at all.

Then walks in RL. “Excuse me id like to get six dollars on pump Two and this big ten dollar ticket” (Yes I remember her exact words cause to this day she’s been my worst customer).

It can be annoying when people pay with large bills.

I nodded a friendly smile on my face as I rang her up. “Okay that will be sixteen dollars” She proceeded to hand me a One hundred dollar bill (which I later found out I didnt have to break for small amounts).

I marked the bill, put it in the til, and got her her change as I was supposed to “Okay eighty four dollars will be your change you have a nice night.”

No, he gave her the correct amount.

She gave me a look that I swear to you could kill. “Excuse me, I should be getting ninty dollars back” I was confused. (I was still new to dealing with people like her since the only job I’d had before was at a restraunt. Whooooole different set of people.)

She looked at me like I was an idiot and spoke slowly. “I. Should. Be. Getting. Ninty. Dollars. Back.”

He is explaining it perfectly. What isn’t she understanding?

I shook my head, still not sure what was going on. “Im sorry ma’am you asked for this big ticket…” I pointed to the ticket in question. “And then six dollars on pump two.”

By this point there were two other customers behind her and she was holding up the line.

How would he know that?

She then rolled her eyes at me. “I just wanted the ticket he…” She pointed very enthusiastically at RH. “He was supposed to pay for the six dollars out there!”

She crossed her arms and jutted her hip in true ‘can I speak to your manager’ fashion before demanding “I want my six dollars back now!”

I bet this high-pressure situation was awful.

I was thrown off. I had learned how to do basic refunds but when it came to the mess that was the gas pumps, I didnt know how to refund them yet.

“I’m sorry you said six dollars on pump two, so I put six dollars on pump two. I don’t know how to refund fuel.”

He is keeping his calm very well.

She rolled her eyes and said, “just open the drawer and give me my money!” She began to raise her voice.

“Im not allowed to do that and like I said I’m not sure how to refund fuel. I’d need to call the manager.”

Yelling at him isn’t going to make this go faster.

She was visibly very annoyed and began to rant as I tried to call MM who was undoubtedly already in bed about how.

“I dont have time for this! I’m tired! Do you have any idea where I’ve been!? I just got off a 13 hour flight! I want to get home! Give me my six dollars now!”

Oh great, another person who is upset.

At this point I was very frazzled “I’m sorry, I’m trying to call MM now.”

Meanwhile ORL was starting to get annoyed. “Oh My God! Just open the GD drawer and give her her money so I can pay and get home!”

Well, that is one customer he doesn’t have to deal with.

I looked at LTC at the back of the line who I had seen a few times before as he motioned to me that he was going to set his stuff down and be back before he walked outside leaving me alone with the two banshees.

After a few more moments just as MM was finally answering my call ORL threw her drinks down and stomped off.

Good, they got it figured out.

I began to speak on the phone. The nervous wreck that I was stuttering the whole time. “MM help!” I explained the entire situation to her trying to describe it to her as she walked me through it.

I finally got figured out and RL shot me a smug glare. “Next time just open the drawer and give me my money.”

Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered what type of bill they paid with.

She turned on her heel and walked out flipping her Karen style hair behind her. I was shaking both from anger and nerves as every nasty thing I wanted to say to her came rushing to mind.

And on the other end of the line MM suddenly realized something I her sleepy haze. “You know you didn’t have to take the hundred dollar bill. I don’t take them for anything less than forty dollars.”

I get that it was inconvenient, but why do people think that it is good to get upset with a worker in this situation? It isn’t even like he made the mistake.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

Yeah, I don’t know how he stayed so calm.

I don’t think the $100 bill was the problem in this story.

Dealing with hundred-dollar bills can be annoying.

Getting upset with a retail worker who is new to his job is so rude. Just because you’re in a hurry doesn’t mean that the worker should put his job on the line to speed things up.

This employee really seemed to handle the whole situation very well and didn’t get upset with the customer at all. I hope the manager recognizes how well he did.