The Fuel Hauler Thread

Y'all had it rough. We just loaded 65% regular and 35% premium and let the rack handle the additives.

 

On an unrelated note, one thing that I don't like about this job are these customers at the gas stations. When I was training, there were 2 guys--me and my trainer. People never messed with us. On my own, these people think they can completely flip on me. Of the 3 stations I delivered to yesterday, at 2 of them , a customer went off on me for unrelated reasons at each station.

The first one was this angry white lady who couldn't get the gas pump to work. The pump kept clicking off or something, whatever, i don't know. She tried talking to me as I was unloading and then started to blame the issue on me because I was offloading fuel. I was disinterested and focusing on my work, and told her it's something I don't know about because I don't work for (refinery name deleted). She then raised hell with me and started calling me names, complained very loudly about me to the station manager and tried to make it out to be like I wasn't giving her good "customer service." Again, this was just because I couldn't troubleshoot her issue. What kind of crack are these people smoking?

The next one was this d-bag at a major gas station chain, this dude driving a t-bird looking like Ringo Starr started flipping out on me. "Do you know when they're going to turn the Premium back on," he asks. I tell him I don't know, and that I don't have that information, because I don't work for the gas station directly, and that his best bet would be to ask the station clerk. He then becomes visibly angry and starts saying something to the effect of, "Oh is that right? Because I thought you were RESTOCKING it." I wasn't really having it so I said , "Yeah, that's right man, that's a very clever observation." He went into the station, and came back out and drove off all angry. Typical d-bag laying down rubber on the pavement.

So what I'm getting at, is that these people seem to think they can corner me like I'm some clerk at a fast food restaurant, and they're pissed off that I screwed up their order or something. I know some of you experienced guys have dealt with this before, so how do you keep these people out of your way and not get involved while you're trying to do your work? I'm thinking that since it's against company policy to be distracted while unloading, I'm just going to tell them that I can't be engaged in any conversation with the customers.

Probably gonna take a different approach when I'm working nights, that means a can of some heavy duty elephant-subduing pepper spray to deal with the crackheads I'll probably encounter.

 

Try not to make eye contact... Act busy.

Never say you don't work for the "man" /Oil company. That usually escalates the tempers...

The premium guy I would have said somthing like prem is a waste of money. Unless your compression is jacked up on your ride....

The other ladie I'd have told her to switch pumps.....

P.S. Wait until someone runs over your hose .....

 

So you've dealt with this before. These people still seem to be in 'driver' mode where they can do whatever the hell they want like 'road rage' and then flee at 50 MPH.

I basically told the lady that her pump is clicking on and off so much because the vapor is probably building up, but she didn't want to listen. She had a 'target' picked out before she even engaged me.

I haven't had people run over my hose but I've had people run over the cones. People are hella dumb.

 

Hope you west coast guys have a good thanksgiving!!!! Here in eastern pa traffic is horrible and the people's attitudes are getting worse. But that's why we make the big $$$$

 

Are those stations down in LA pretty difficult to get into? I'm still having difficulty getting this down right, since a lot of our journey planners are screwed up. I have to single hose a lot of loads thanks to these inaccurate journey planners....

 

Yea you sure do! But at least thats balanced out with super easy #### like the Costco in my avatar.

Oh yea and I've never heard of a journey planner or anything like that. Google street view has helped immensely I would definitely use it if you aren't already. Google satellite can show you the basic layout of the station, but street view will help you plan out exactly what you're going to do. Here is an example, it's one of the more difficult 76 stations that cali kid farms out to us. Not pictured is the taco truck that's usually parked where the X is... sigh.



As you can see you can get a pretty good idea of how everything is laid out, you can even tell which tank is premium and which is regular.

And oh yea I hit the schedule jackpot too. I have off Nov 24/25/26, and I have off Dec 24/25/26.