Gas Station Daze: Part 2: Robbed

A few weeks after the incident with the two young ladies I got to work and found the owner had brought in eight new fancy wheels and put them on display. The swing shift attendant said, "Keep your eyes on those rims. They're very expensive and they're rented, so if they come up missing, someone is going to have to pay for them."

"Why are they here?" I asked.

"Big wigs from the oil company are coming in and the owner wants the place looking top notch. That means you need to really clean this place up and keep it extra clean for the next week or so," he said, as if he cherished the thought of me having to work extremely hard to keep the station sparkling.

This attendant was the worst. On the nights he worked the shop was always a mess. I always came into dirty, greasy tools thrown everywhere and oil spilled all over the floor. And what made it even worse was when I got to work he would be sitting on his dead butt. Whenever I complained about the messy shop he would say, "It's your job to clean it up, not mine." I was glad I only had to deal with him three nights a week. All the other attendants kept the shop fairly clean.

"Are the big honchos going to be here all week?" I asked.

"No. They'll be in sometime within the next seven days. The owner just doesn't know when."

I counted the rims every five minutes all night long to make sure not one came up missing. The next night I extended my time between counts to about twenty minutes. The following night it was every hour. After seven nights the rims were still there.

"Why haven't they taken the rims away?" I asked.

"The big wigs haven't come yet."

"You mean they haven't even shown up?" I asked.

"That right. And you better keep this place spotless." He gave me a wicked little smile that said, I like it when you work your fingers to the bones!

After that I got to where I didn't pay much attention to the rims. They were there, and that was that.

One night I came to work and started my routine. I usually started by cleaning the bays. Since most customers came in early in the night, this was a place where I could see the pumps. Next I cleaned the men's restroom. It was inside the building and I could hear the bell if anyone came in. Then I did the women's restroom, which was outside and down the side of the building. When I cleaned the women's restroom, I'd stop and walk up to the front of the building ever three to five minutes to make sure no one had come in. I couldn't hear the bell when I was in this restroom.

On this night I followed my routine. After I cleaned the women's room, I went back to the showroom and about creamed my jeans. Every one of those expensive rims were gone! I couldn't figure out how someone packed all of them off without me seeing anything. My first thought was I might as well shut the station down, lock everything up and go home because I was surely fired. But I decided to stick it out and take my lumps in the morning.

All night I wondered where I would work next. I knew I'd be barred from working in any of the gas stations in the area. I thought about having to go back to washing dishes at the restaurant where I worked before I got the gas station job. I worried about the cost of the rims being taken out of my paycheck. Then I'd be both broke and out of work. But I still couldn't figure out how someone stole the rims in the short time I was cleaning the ladies restroom.

In the morning, when the day attendant came in, he didn't say a word about the missing rims. I thought about just going home and if anything was said later, I'd just shrug and say I didn't know anything about it. But that thought only lasted for a second. So I confessed.

The day attendant broke up laughing. I couldn't figure out what was so funny. I was on the verge of getting fired and he was laughing. I felt like punching him in the nose. Then he said, "They came and got those yesterday morning."

I hadn't even noticed they were gone when I got to work and I worried myself sick all night. I made a note to myself to always check and make sure everything was there when I got to work.

A few nights later, the sheriff's deputy came in and I went out to talk to him. As we were talking this guy came in, hopped out of his car and yell, "Get over here and give me some gas." The guy had been in several times before and I knew he was just joking around, but by the time I got to his car he turned very quiet and polite, which was unlike him. I put in the gas he requested. He paid me, thanked me and left. I knew something was up. The guy never thanked me before. He'd always say something like, "Catch ya later." And most nights he'd stick around and chat for a bit.

When I returned to the deputy's car the deputy asked, "Does he come in very often?"

"About once a week," I told the officer.

"Keep your eye on him." The deputy warned. "He's been convicted of armed robbery."

That surprised me. The guy was loud but I was never afraid of him. But now, I thought of all the times he had been in and wondered if he ever thought about robbing me. Then I thought if he ever pulled a gun on me, he'd have to kill me, otherwise I could identify him. That thought scared me, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. The guy had served his time and had a right to come in anytime he wanted to.

A few nights later, I got to work and the swing shift attendant said, "There was a car parked on the interstate overpass for a long time earlier this evening. The deputy thinks whoever it was, was probably scoping the place out, so be careful tonight. He might come back."

I was jumpy all night. Every unfamiliar car that came in I approached with caution. I tried to keep the customers I knew there as long as I could. Eventually the night ended without incident. After those nights, I should have seen something coming.

About two weeks later a young guy came in and bought gas with a credit card. I filled out the credit card information and ran it through the stamp machine. (There were no computers in the gas station at that time.) The guy signed the card and I gave him his receipt, rang it up and put the seller's part of the receipt in the till and thanked him.

"Wait a minute," he said. "You own me money."

"How can that be. Look at the pump. Now look at what I rang up. They're the same."

"But you charged me more then that so you own me money."

At that time a car drove in and I went out to see what the customer wanted while this guy stayed in the station. After a couple of minutes, the guy came out and said, "Everything is okay, now." He got into his car and drove off. When I went back into the station, I found I had forgotten to take the key out of the till and the guy had opened the till and taken the money. Only he wasn't very smart. He didn't even take his credit card receipt nor did he pick up the cash drawer and take the money from under the drawer.

The guy was caught not long afterwards, but the owner decided, even though the guy only got away with about thirty dollars, it wasn't worth keeping the station opened all night. He didn't lay me off, but my hours were drastically cut.

About two days after the robbery a mousey man came and said to me, "I think you'd like to talk to me." I didn't recognize the man, so I asked what it was we had to talk about. It turned out the man was the customer I had waited on the night of the robbery and he actually saw the guy take the money out of the till!

The court case came up pretty fast, within about three weeks. I went to court and testified. So did the mousey man, but he had to be subpoenaed because he was afraid the accused robber would come after him.

At the end of his closing argument, the defense attorney said, "I know my client is telling the truth." I sat there and glared at the attorney and didn't even realized we were asked to stand while the jurors and judge left so I remained seated. By the time I realize I was supposed to stand, they had already left.

Then the prosecuting attorney said to the defense attorney, "You can't come right out and say you know your client is telling the truth. You have to say you believe your client is telling the truth. I didn't object to it be the trial was almost over." It was then I realize the defense attorney was fresh out of law school.

We all left the courtroom to stretch our legs while the jury deliberated. On the way back the defense attorney came over to me, put his arm around me and said, "I really think you're telling the truth, but I need to defend my client the best way I know how." I couldn't say anything about that because he was right.

The jury came back and it was announced they could not reach a verdict. It was a hung jury. I couldn't figure out why they couldn't find the guy guilty when we had a witness who saw the guy take the money. Then the prosecuting attorney told me that some of the jurors thought I took the money and put the witness up to saying the accused robber took the money. They thought the witness was afraid of me!

The prosecuting attorney wanted to have another trial but this time he wanted the owner of the station to testify that I was honest and reliable. But the owner said he wasn't going to take a day off work over thirty dollars. So that was the end of it.

It wasn't long after that the owner told me I was no longer needed and I ended up back in the restaurant washing dishes. But it wasn't too long before I found another gas station job.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Read The Sign, Hey?

Have you read Part One: Hot Young Women yet?

Have you ever been robbed and the accused got away with it? Tell me about it in the remarks.