Why I can't sleep
So, I was up past 1 a.m. and woke up at 4:30 a.m. - this isn't going well. I am concerned about a friend, and also had a weird experience at the gas station last night.
I tried using my (prepaid) credit card, but it wouldn't go. The cashier said do certain things - I told Donna what the cashier said, Donna didn't do it exactly (got lost in translation, I guess), so the card didn't run.
I told Donna to go ahead and get the gas. I walked up to the cashier to pay with my card - she ran somebody else's total. Ours was $20 - the other was $47. The guy didn't have cash on him, so we couldn't have him just give me the cash. The cashier called her manager - he said she couldn't reverse the charge, but she kept insisting she had done it before. In the end, she ran my card for our gas and gave me $47 from the till.
Okay, so we left - I'm not out anything except that if I want to put the $47 back on my card it will cost me $4.64 extra. However, the guy with the $47? How is he going to pay for his gas? I think that cashier is going to end up at least $47 short in her till.
Also, when she handed me the credit slip to sign and I saw $47, I was a little angry that she messed up. But she made it worse by telling me "calm down." Several times. I told her, "the more you tell me to calm down, the more upset I get." (In other words, shut up, and just try to fix it instead of telling me how to feel.)
Who is at fault here? Well, it's my fault and Donna's fault for not following the cashier's instructions to run the card with the pump handle still in the pump. However, that just affects at what point the charge is run, whether before pumping or after. But I think the cashier's fault is greater for running my card without double-checking which pump. We were at pump 5 - she could see us and the pump number should be visible - I know the amount was - from where she was. During the earlier conversation, I said we were on pump 5. I'm not sure what pump she thought we were on - but that was clearly carelessness. She was too busy telling me what we did wrong to pay attention at that point. Then she was too busy telling me to "calm down" - and I wasn't flipping out, calling names or anything, just maybe speaking strongly.
After she handed me the $47 in cash, she ran my card for my $20 without asking. I told her I wanted to pay with the cash, but for some reason she decided for me again. Also, at this point there were a couple of other guys waiting, so she was trying to get the line moving again but had to take care of the mistake first, I guess.
Anyway, now I have to decide whether it's important enough to me to go back when the manager is there to see if they can put the money back on my card without the service fee. I don't know how the other guy's thing worked out, since he didn't have cash on him to pay for his gas and I'm sure she couldn't run his card for the gas she made me pay for.
So when I woke up this morning at 4:30, my mind was running over the events that concern my friend, and I am still wondering if she is all right. Then my mind started replaying the gas station scenario, and I realized I'm not able to just go back to sleep. And Cayla gets up at 5:30 a.m. to go to seminary ...
It wouldn't be so bad, except this is one of my early days at work - long days, really. I work a couple of hours in the morning and then leave and go back in the afternoon and evening. So I don't have time to make up for the lost sleep with a nap in the morning. I'm going to stay up till 5:30, make sure Cayla is up, and then go back to bed. But that's at least an hour of lost sleep, and a bad start to the day.
I tried using my (prepaid) credit card, but it wouldn't go. The cashier said do certain things - I told Donna what the cashier said, Donna didn't do it exactly (got lost in translation, I guess), so the card didn't run.
I told Donna to go ahead and get the gas. I walked up to the cashier to pay with my card - she ran somebody else's total. Ours was $20 - the other was $47. The guy didn't have cash on him, so we couldn't have him just give me the cash. The cashier called her manager - he said she couldn't reverse the charge, but she kept insisting she had done it before. In the end, she ran my card for our gas and gave me $47 from the till.
Okay, so we left - I'm not out anything except that if I want to put the $47 back on my card it will cost me $4.64 extra. However, the guy with the $47? How is he going to pay for his gas? I think that cashier is going to end up at least $47 short in her till.
Also, when she handed me the credit slip to sign and I saw $47, I was a little angry that she messed up. But she made it worse by telling me "calm down." Several times. I told her, "the more you tell me to calm down, the more upset I get." (In other words, shut up, and just try to fix it instead of telling me how to feel.)
Who is at fault here? Well, it's my fault and Donna's fault for not following the cashier's instructions to run the card with the pump handle still in the pump. However, that just affects at what point the charge is run, whether before pumping or after. But I think the cashier's fault is greater for running my card without double-checking which pump. We were at pump 5 - she could see us and the pump number should be visible - I know the amount was - from where she was. During the earlier conversation, I said we were on pump 5. I'm not sure what pump she thought we were on - but that was clearly carelessness. She was too busy telling me what we did wrong to pay attention at that point. Then she was too busy telling me to "calm down" - and I wasn't flipping out, calling names or anything, just maybe speaking strongly.
After she handed me the $47 in cash, she ran my card for my $20 without asking. I told her I wanted to pay with the cash, but for some reason she decided for me again. Also, at this point there were a couple of other guys waiting, so she was trying to get the line moving again but had to take care of the mistake first, I guess.
Anyway, now I have to decide whether it's important enough to me to go back when the manager is there to see if they can put the money back on my card without the service fee. I don't know how the other guy's thing worked out, since he didn't have cash on him to pay for his gas and I'm sure she couldn't run his card for the gas she made me pay for.
So when I woke up this morning at 4:30, my mind was running over the events that concern my friend, and I am still wondering if she is all right. Then my mind started replaying the gas station scenario, and I realized I'm not able to just go back to sleep. And Cayla gets up at 5:30 a.m. to go to seminary ...
It wouldn't be so bad, except this is one of my early days at work - long days, really. I work a couple of hours in the morning and then leave and go back in the afternoon and evening. So I don't have time to make up for the lost sleep with a nap in the morning. I'm going to stay up till 5:30, make sure Cayla is up, and then go back to bed. But that's at least an hour of lost sleep, and a bad start to the day.
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