Oh, how I long for the days of stimulating conversation at the Semi Weekly Meetings of the Newmentia Lunch Time Think Tank!
Okay. No. I don't. No matter how much you love your job, teaching is a high-stress profession. You may not even realize the extent, until you make your escape. As much as I fondly reminisce about the fun times of sharing 23 minutes of commiseration with my cronies at the lunch table, there was still always an edge of danger in the air.
These days, all I have to talk about are my convenience store peccadilloes. Like Friday, when my plan was turned on its ear by other customers daring to frequent my stores of choice at the same time I wanted to pick up my magical elixir and scratchers.
The parking lot of The Gas Station Chicken Store was full! For some crazy reason, a semi truck emblazoned with the name and logo of The Devil's Playground was taking up one whole side of the lot, along the moat. The upper spaces were taken by assorted passenger vehicles, and a dump truck! I went on by, thinking I'd go directly to Casey's for scratchers. Nope. Nary a parking space available there, either.
It's not like the factories had just let out for lunch. The time was around 12:50. I decided to go directly to Orb K, a stop I'd not planned to make, and get a Polar Pop and scratchers there. You might recall that they've been putting in a new soda fountain. The construction equipment and dumpster were gone from the parking lot. Once inside, I saw that the new soda fountain was operational.
Here's the thing. That new soda fountain is built into the back wall. It's about 15 FEET LONG! I don't know how many spigots, but I think there are at least 4 ice dispensers. The Diet Coke is the second spigot from the right end. The cups are now under the soda fountain, in little holes, where you can just pull one out. There are a variety of sizes, repeating, along the whole 15-foot section.
I had no trouble finding a 44 oz foam cup. Once my elixir was run, I only needed a lid. Of course there was no lid for a 44 oz on that end of the soda fountain. Lids are still in a vertical metal shelf built into the wall, one at each end. The LARGE lids are only on the far left end of the 15-foot soda fountain now. I had to traverse 14 feet of fountain to get to them, carrying a full cup. I leave a little splashing space in my cup, due to the bone-shaking ride up Farmer H and Buddy's Badly Blacktopped Hill.
Here's my point, after that lengthy set-up...
THE SODA FOUNTAIN WAS A MESS!
Along the counter in front of the spigots, puddles of assorted soft drinks dotted the surface, as colorful as a stained-glass window. I daresay there was not a space bereft of sticky soda that was large enough to set down the small bottom of my 44 oz foam cup. The ONLY suitable space I found was by the cup-dispensing shelves on the left side.
You may recall that Orb K used to have an old hand towel laying on the counter of their soda fountain. Always soggy and limp. When a customer asked about it, the clerk at the time said, "That's so you guys can wipe up your mess." Indeed. Even though I'm pretty sure that is against the health department codes, people used it. Not everyone, mind you. People are P-I-G pigs! But about 1 in 10 (like Mrs. HM) would swipe up the spills of others. Just like I pick up straw wrappers off the floor and put them in the trash. It's common courtesy.
Anyhoo... maybe the health department did an inspection of the new soda fountain, and banned the towel rag. I just know that the area was disgraceful! Of course, that probably comes as no surprise to you, having seen the unswept floor of Orb K.
I can't even fault the clerks with this soda fountain mess. They can't see it from the check-out counter or the drive-thru bay. There is no floating clerk for straightening things. So unless they have to go put in ice or stock cups, they'll never know the slop that awaits.
MAYBE, if they'd put a napkin dispenser somewhere along that 15-foot soda fountain, people could use them to wipe up a mess. That's what I do at The Gas Station Chicken Store.
Of course, Orb K may not be able to afford napkins, after paying for a 15-foot soda fountain.
I have the solution to your lid problem: get the lid first, then your 44oz cup, fill it and put on the lid right away. I'd suggest to the manager your idea about napkins for wiping up spills, but it's not an ideal solution. people would just take handfuls of napkins to wipe spills in their cars. Maybe the customer service person would do a walk-around a couple of times in between customers, and wipe the drinks fountain as he goes past. I HATE sticky anything, so if it was me working there, I'd find a way.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a good solution. Now that I know the arrangement, I'll do that. The extra large lids USED to be on the right, by the Diet Coke spigot, where I could reach one after filling my cup. People from the other end would storm down there in disgust, looking for a lid. Too bad, so sad, when it was THEM, and not me! At least they only had to go about 6 feet then, not 15.
I've never seen any employee there that wasn't actively cashiering or working the drive-thru. Maybe when one of them is tasked with taking out the trash, they could also wipe the soda fountain counter while gathering the trash.
Speaking of sticky, Diet Coke is NOT! So when it spills, it's no big deal to me to wipe it up. It comes off like water. After the spills of the sugar soda sit a while, they'd probably rip up the napkins by sticking to them as you wipe. Whoever had that unsanitary hand towel idea at Orb K was a (germ-spreading) genius.
I hate it when I'm holding my foam cup under the spigot, and the one next to it starts dripping. That happens at The Gas Station Chicken Store, AND at this new Orb K soda fountain! Sprite is the one adjacent, on the left, and that sticky stuff drips on my knuckles as my left hand is holding the cup. I don't touch it or anything. It's like the lever for the Diet Coke spurs the Sprite lever to leak.
My daughter has that problem with her bathroom taps. Turn on the cold one too fast and the hot tap will drip from under the handle/knob/turning thingy, where it isn't supposed to drip from. All the plumbing in her house is shonky and the landlord fixes taps with whatever secondhand washer looks like it has the most life left in it, God forbid he should buy new washers!
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteHick fixes doorknobs like that. Saves the ones that don't latch, or where the lock is loose. Then trots them out and puts them back when another one breaks down. He used several when fixing up the $5000 house.