Because you're the Manager! THAT'S Why!!!
Gahhhhh.....
Another funfunfun day at the asylum! Overall, things weren't going too badly, but it was still one of those days that really made you look forward to it being over. Things took a sour turn around one hour before closing.
As often happens, a "wave" of customers suddenly showed up (I think there's some kind of "Herd Mentality" thing going on, or something...) and I was running around outside trying to deal with all of them while Gloria was trying to deal with everyone inside. The inside position is often worse, as not only do you have all the customers paying for fuel, but you also have the walk-ins who are just buying stuff from the convenience-store. So, in the midst of all this, the till decides to crash.
The till in this case is an old Point-Of-Sale system (Ironic that it's called a POS System!) that has really seen better days. It's an old '386-based machine, running a DOS-Based POS program, and has less than 12 Megs of RAM. I doubt that it's been cleaned since it was set up, so I can only imagine the size of the dust-bunnies inside. In any case, it crashed. Somewhere along the line, some genius came up with the idea that if it crashes, the best thing to do is turn off the power, wait a moment, then turn the power back on! Thus, this has been the SOP for quite some time, or so I am told. I really hate it when computer-illiterate people try to teach other people how to use a computer; Talk about a case of The Blind leading The Blind.
Part of the problem is that Gloria gets flustered easily. She's definitely not computer-literate, and she just did what she had been told to do. Twice. That didn't help, and that's when she really started to panic and called me for help. I was busy dealing with a customer buying a specific amount of Diesel fuel (the one fuel that we can't pre-set the pumps for, because the diesel-pumps don't have that option) so I told her to call the Manager. After-all, he's the Manager, he should know how to fix this thing. Worst case, he only lives two blocks away - he could come over and help fix it.
In the meantime, Gloria is trying to keep track of everything using paper, manually-filled-out receipt-forms. What else could she do? The till is down. Period. And there's only one of them. When I get in, I have a quick look at the screen and see that it has crashed due to a "Printer Malfunction." A quick look at the receipt-printer shows the red light indicating that it has run out of paper. Pop it open, and yeah, the roll is just about empty. Pop in a new roll, and now the printer is back online. Computer is still having issues though, and the screen is locked up. However, it does say, "Press the Key to..." followed by something I don't remember; It's not important. I look at the keyboard, and there actually is a large red key labelled HELP. I press it, and BINGO! The till returns to normal operations as if nothing had happened!
At that point I called the manager and told him I had fixed the problem. Once everything was sorted out and Gloria relaxed a bit, she said that when she had called, he had told her "Well, what do you want me to do about it?!" Apparently, he had already "walked her through it" over the phone, and it hadn't worked. Well, umm... HELLO.... You're the MANAGER. Get your ass down here, and help us fix the damn thing! That's your JOB! That's why YOU get paid the big Manager Buck$ and we only get paid the peon wages. Obviously, if he couldn't talk her through it over the phone, it would require him to come over and see for himself what the issue was. In this case, it turned out to really be nothing, but to someone who doesn't know what to look for, it's utter confusion and chaos. I like the Manager, he's pretty decent and easy-going overall, but this was a prime example of Bad Management, especially given that he only lives two blocks away. It's not as if he had to come in from out-of-town or something.
To make matters worse, somone took advantage of the situation, and slinked off without paying for their fuel - $46 worth! Gloria's worried that she'll get the blame for that too. She imagines the manager telling her "This only happens whenever you're on shift, Gloria." Well, maybe if we weren't short-staffed, and if everyone was properly trained on how everything worked, and maybe if we had two tills instead of just one... One of these days, I can see Gloria having some kind of breakdown from the stress. :/
I'm tempted to send the manager a bill for Computer System Consulting Fees. I'd even waive the normal milage charge, since I just happened to be in the area at the time. ;)