I don’t have the most glamorous job in the world. Being a service attendant at a petrol station is not exactly what kids want to be when they grow up. It’s a job you get when you can’t get any other. Sure I get to meet a lot of people, but most are in a hurry. I see expensive cars towing jet skis and speed boats and wonder what my life would have been like if I studied harder. It’s interesting to see a car pull in from a different state, the people are very much the same but you try and find little nuances. I spend more time than I should making up stories about these people in my head. It’s a nice little way to pass the time , especially on the last shifts where it’s really quiet. The last few shifts I’ve had have been pretty horrible to work. The station has no windows and the air conditioning system has been playing up a lot lately. The cooling only turns on when it feels like it, so it’s been hot and stuffy inside. My boss was supposed to get an air conditioning service, Canberra residents are advised to keep their cooling systems maintained before summer. Instead he spent the money on a weekend holiday to Bali. After a few days of the air conditioning malfunctioning I was determined to get it fixed. All it took was one phone call to the best air conditioning repair company in Canberra and the booking was made.
I don’t hate that there is no air conditioning, I grew up in much warmer country than Australia. The customers are the ones who make it frustrating because they complain about the heat. The shop is incredibly stuffy, the stagnant air is depressing. I found a small fan out the back in storage and put that on the front counter. I needed anything to get the air flowing around the store but didn’t have much luck. I also noticed that some of the chocolate bars around the store were starting to melt, they were feeling the effects of the heat. The fruit had also started to change colour and attract small insects. The fresh flowers started to wilt and nobody wanted to buy them. All the customers kept complained about the lack of air conditioning, I assured them it would be fixed soon but they were not happy.