The Screw Up
Like most of you, I’ve had various jobs over the years. My first job was pulling weeds for an older lady when I was 12. Then, a dishwasher. Later a busboy. Then, during High School, I was a gas station attendant on the Ohio Turnpike. Then, outside maintenance at a factory. Next, I was a car wash/gas station attendant—and a security guard in college.
Like you, I retain pleasant memories of every job I was privileged to have. But my job working on the Ohio Turnpike as a gas station attendant and semi-truck tire changer was very memorable.
For one, it exposed me to many different cultures. People of various backgrounds and races traverse that busy thoroughfare on a daily basis and I met many fascinating people.
One of the most memorable events was when two giddy young ladies came through when I was working the boneyard shift one night. Neither one of them had their top on—totally unclothed from the top up. Yep.
For context, management required workers to wash all customer windows… so these two collegians were intrigued to see if they could get a reaction out of me as a 17-year-old boy!
I’m pretty confident I delivered the reaction they wanted… total embarrassment with a side of awkward silence…trying to keep eye contact while making change. Yeah.
On another late-night shift, I was working by myself. I was responsible for overseeing four sets of gas pumps at the same time—no big deal. On this particular night, a very unique, majestic car drove up to the pumps. In addition to the mandatory washing of all windshields, we were to ask, “May I look under your hood?” We were trying to see if we could upsell customers a quart of over-priced oil.
So, when this regal car drove up, I asked the obligatory, “May I check under your hood?” The middle-aged man said, “Yes, please.” I fumbled around trying to find out how to open this particular hood to access the oil stick. I had never seen a car like this before, but when I checked, I discovered he was down one quart of oil. So, I proceeded to add a quart of oil into this interesting-looking vehicle.
It was dark outside, and I couldn’t see well, but I finally found the filler cap. I emptied the entire quart of oil…not into the oil casing where it belonged, but into the power steering fluid reservoir!
Not good. Not good at all. I was sick.
And…it was a Rolls-Royce. Yeah.
