In this morning's ER in their "Thanks & Spanks" column someone was spanking a Calcutta gas station on Rt. 170 who didn't set the computer to stop at the pre-paid amount and it cost them an extra $10. If I'm reading this correctly the customer was paying $10 in cash. Most stations around here demand that you pay in advance if you're not using a debit or credit card. If you're buying $10 worth of gas, you go in and pay, they set the pump to have the computer system to stop at $10 and you're on your way. When I do that I don't pay attention to the pump until I hear the thing shut off. I while away the time taking in the sights. When I hear it shut off I make sure I got what I paid for and go on from there.
If I already paid for what I wanted and get double the amount then who's fault is it? Obviously the clerk screwed up through no fault of mine. For the sake of argument I'm not obligated to pay for their mistake. In my way of thinking it's the same principle as finding something mispriced on the store shelves. Sorry for your loss pal. Your loss is my gain. Evidently the reader that sent that into the Review felt sorry for that clerk. For the record I would've too. I wouldn't have been happy about it. Good customer service would have eaten the loss with no questions asked but that clerk would've probably had the loss taken out of their pay. That's the part I would've felt bad about. Those jobs are not high paying. So the question would be do you be a jerk and stick the clerk for the snafu or take pity on the poor thing?
Incidentally, last week I stopped at a station and prepaid for $20 worth of gas. The pump stopped at $19.85 and I had to coax the thing to give up that last 15 cents worth. Made me wonder if there was a scam going on. It wasn't a station in town.
Oh for the days when an attendant actually came out of the building to wait on you...
ole nib
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11 comments:
Nib,
You should be paying attention while pumping your gas, anyway. It can be dangerous.
But, regardless, I would have told the clerk, "I paid you for a certain amount of gas; your pump, or you, screwed up. Now unless you want to come out and siphon out the extra gas, I'm good to go."
I am sick of people not doing their jobs. I don't CARE if they only make minimum wage; they know what the job pays when they take it.
If it is the clerk's responsibility to set that pump at $10 and he/she didn't, then that's his/her fault. She should eat the mistake.
One or two times of having it taken out of his/her pay check might make him/her pay attention to the job a bit better.
I have been shortchanged and I have been over-paid with change. I always point it out, one way or the other.
I was advised by a worker at Mountaineer the other day that they have any shortages when they cash out at the end of the day taken out of their paycheck.
She said one clerk had had it happen twice recently. I told her, "perhaps there's a problem with that employee."
I don't feel sorry for people who are slipshod at their job. Everyone can have a bad day, no doubt, but in my experience, people are getting more and more lax when it comes to their responsibilities, and I, for one, am fed up with it.
DO YOUR JOB! TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO!
You said it ole Nib. I too long for the days when the guy came out and filled up your tank and washed your windows. That's progress for you. Think how the electronic gas pump alone, put many people out of a job. Back in the day, we could not have imagined that we could go to the pump, put in our credit card and get our gas and never see the clerk. It makes us lazy. I still haven't gotten used to having to get out in all kinds of weather and pump the gas myself. Look for in the future, an electronic Dr. who will monitor patients in the ICU units of hospitals, and will alert a nurse or Dr. the second there is a change in the patient that needs tending. It is being worked on right now. I don't think all progress is good, but we cant stop it.
Opinion - They already do that in Intensive Care Units but the nurses do the monitoring of the patient's condition. That's why someone in ICU has all those wires attached to them.
I do recall reading something recently about them experimenting with at home patients who wear a monitoring device for various conditions. They can attach the device to a telephone and transmit information to a doctor's computer for his monitoring. They are also looking at wireless monitoring with home computers sending a steam of info to the doctor's computer. I guess you can say it is sort of a medical Linksys doctoring.
It makes you think Orwell's Big Brother theories weren't as fictional as first thought.
ole nib
Congress has mandated by 2009 or 10, that everything has to be on electronic record. Which means,when you go to the hospital, to another hospital, or nursing home etc., your medical records will go with you. This means not doing all your tests and admittance work over again. Very few facilities have implemented this yet, but it is in the works. It will be a great step forward in the health care field. Quicker payments to providers, less inconvenience to patients, less paperwork for staff. The problem right now is, the companies that provide the forms, are behind and havent moved forward to electonic. Right now, it is hard to believe, but the forms filled our by healthcare provider in long term care facilites are paper. And the majority of long care facilites do not yet use computers for their billing. I guess this is pretty boring unless you work in health care. I just found it interesting.
Can you imagine how much gas would cost now if we had to pay the xtra attendant to come out and pump our gas for us. Many young people don't even know what we're talking about.
I had a very good thing - though unoommon -- happen to me tonight. I live in a big city on the east coast, and spent $250.57 on groceries this afternoon. After unloading all of my bags, I noticed that I was missing 4 cans of cat food, one can of sliced potatoes (to make SLOP for breakfast ... some of you now know who I am by stating that (wink**) ..., and a jar of sliced mangoes. Because it was raining cats and dogs, I did not go back to the grocery store until 4 hours later. When I got there, I talked to a very young man, cashing out the registers and told him that I'd been in there earlier, and left one bag of groceries. He asked what the contents were, I told him, and he said, "Just go get you you're missing." He didn't ask for a receipt, nothing. So, I went and got my 4 cans of cat food, one can of whole sliced potatoes, and jar of mangoes. When I walked back up to him, leaving the building, I said, "So, I just walk out with this?" He said, "Oh no, put them in a bag." I said, "I hope this is all I'm missing. I spent $250.57 in here today, but no one gave me a receipt, so I think this is it." He said, "Well, if you get home and find that you're missing more, just come back tomorrow and get what you don't have." I couldn't believe it! I didn't even have a receipt, and just walked in a nd out with what I said I hadn't gotten earlier. What's my point? I guess our big towns aren't as unfriendly as most think, OR, if you just go up to someone and say, "Hey, this what I paid for and I didn't get it", they'll accommodate you. Maybe I was just lucky.
Yea, Outsider, you were lucky you got one of those people I was ranting about: the ones who don't give a crap about their job.
That clerk was remiss in not at least having you stop at a service desk or something. What if, when you walked out, the loss prevention officer decided you had SHOPLIFTED those items? Could you have proven you talked to that clerk if he realized he screwed up and denied it?
NOPE.
As for an attendant, the Marathon gas station on St. Clair Avenue in ELO offers a full-service attendant who cleans your windshield, pumps your gas and checks your oil. I don't think their gas is a whole lot more than other places (what's 2-3 cents when we're paying $3.29 a gallon anyway?)
Outsider:
I think that is a great story. There is so little honesty to take hold of, that was great. It makes you feel good about people when something like that happens. You were being honest and that clerk believed you, and treated you as such. No to much of that going around. Most of the time it is a hassle to do anything if you do have the receipt. proud worker:
thanks for tellling me about Marathon.
Any word on the JC Amato issue?
J.C.'s arraignment was post poned until March 28th. According to Tonia's mother the delay was at the request of Special Prosecutor Grimshaw so they could hold the arraignment and pre-trial all at the same time.
ole nib
I hope and pray there is justice in this universe for that girl.
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