Upselling Results In Uprooting

Working at a gas station, you meet all kinds of characters. Working the early shift, when some haven’t had their morning coffee, can bring out the worst.

One regular seemed to wake up every morning in a very foul mood. He would visit the station every day for a pack of cigarettes. If you were lucky, he would just name his brand and size. Sometimes he would just grunt. When he was asked other questions (Have you taken any fuel?), he would ignore them or give the shortest non-verbal denial possible. If his mood was very bad, he could respond with verbal abuse or downright aggressive behaviour. His behaviour even got other customers to comment on it, something that does not happen often where I work.

At the time of this story, Active Product Promotion was a big thing for our station. Every customer had to be asked if they wanted something from the special offer sitting on the cash register. A lot of people did not like this, but it was part of our jobs, and if you scored too far below average, there were consequences. But it did help me get rid of our ‘friend’.

Once again, he came to my register. I asked him if he wanted something from the promotion. At this point, he realised his bad behaviour would not stop me from asking him (He had thrown a few tantrums before when I had asked him). So, he decided on a new approach:

Mr Moody: “In all this time I come here, have I ever bought anything from this s*** you a**holes try to sell me?”

Me: *Truly fed up with him.* “No, you haven’t. You’ve also never said Good Morning. You’ve never said Please. You’ve never said Thank You. You’ve never said See You Tomorrow. You, however, have cursed at us, called us names, and threatened us with violence, including threatening me with your hot tea just last week. We are just people doing our job here. We do not exist to form a target for whatever foul morning mood you wake up in. If you cannot get that through your mind, I would suggest that you do not return here.”

By the time I had finished, Mr Moody had lost any fight in him. He seemed smaller somehow. He turned around without speaking and walked out the door. I never saw him again.

I hope he grew out of his morning funk. It must really suck to wake up every morning having such a bad mood, but taking it out on others only makes the world a worse place to live in.