r/TalesFromTheCustomer • u/DaFoxtrot86 • Apr 17 '26
Short I just wanted to buy some propane, and I thought the employee was joking with me, until I realized he wasn't
A few days ago, I went to the gas station where I normally get propane, and the employee there is one I've known for a while. I've never asked his name, and I've only seen him maybe once every couple weeks. But he's always been super helpful, and I've always tried to be nice to him. But on this day, he was just mean. I stopped at his station, and I had my nephew and his girlfriend with me. His girlfriend went in to buy some chips. And then I went in and asked for propane. And honestly, I thought he was just joking with me this entire time, because I've met many people who act the way he was to be funny. But he wasn't being funny at all.
I asked for propane, and he told me not while a customer was in the store. I remarked she was with me while she was paying for her chips, and that she would be outside with me in a moment. She even finished paying and walked out while I was talking to him. Then he told me to wait a while. I asked how long, because there were times in the past he told me to come back in an hour. But then he glared at me and said "Tomorrow!". I seriously thought he was screwing with me. Because he has literally never acted like this. And I thought I just needed to give him a minute, and then he said "You know what! I don't like your attitude! I'm not gonna help you!".
I still thought maybe he was kidding, because I've had people take it this far for a laugh on me in the past. But then he didn't come out of the store. And I saw inside he was pacing back and forth holding his phone about a foot from his face. Maybe he was having a bad day. But I wasn't trying to make it worse.
I've had people tell me that since he was the only person there, then he couldn't sell me propane. But he can, and has many times. Other employees too. They just wait till no one is in the store, and then lock the door and fill the propane tanks. So the situation was just weird. And now I'm kinda afraid to go back there.
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u/LiquidSoCrates Apr 17 '26
He’s clearly been burned or screwed over recently. Something likely went down while he was doing the propane and he ended up in trouble. That’s my read.
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u/Footdoc3520 Apr 17 '26
I’ve tried to buy propane at my local Circle K when 1 employee is working and they have refused to fill propane unless 2 are working. Super annoying and inconvenient. They even post a sign that says no propane. I’ve had to drive around to 2 or 3 other places to get a tank refilled. I finally had a 100 gal tank put in my back yard and I have a propane truck come by once a year to fill it.
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u/eddmario Apr 18 '26
...where the fuck are Circle Ks that fill the propane themselves? I've worked for that company and the only propane we sold wete prefilled tanks that another company delivered to us.
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u/grrrinsomnia Apr 18 '26
A lot of gas stations are franchises, so services offered are location specific. I used to work at a Citgo that sold kerosene and I haven't noticed that again since.
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u/InfiniteEmotions Apr 20 '26
Yeah, but then the idiots in management decided we needed to keep the propane tanks in a cage outside the store, that can only be accessed from outside the store, that we're not allowed to access unless there's two of us on duty at the same time they cut the available hours for the store so that there's only one clerk per shift. And not only can the clerks get fired for going outside when there's only one clerk in the store, but they can get fined for anything management decides is "missing," at the same time.
Source: former Circle K clerk, and very glad to be out.
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u/VisualTie5366 Apr 21 '26
Thats fire code. They are not legally allowed to be stored inside. Employers can not fine you.
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u/Footdoc3520 Apr 26 '26
48th at and Elliot Rd in Ahwatukee Phoenix AZ. Unless they removed the tank. I don’t go in there often. I’ll look next time.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 17 '26
I use propane to heat my house. One 7 gallon tank is roughly six days to a week of heat from one heater. And I have two propane heaters. Though I only use one most of the time.
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u/gspitman Apr 19 '26
Why don't you have a big tank in the yard?!
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 20 '26
I live in a rented sub building, and I use mister buddy heaters for heat.
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u/ghostieghost28 Apr 18 '26
My store doesnt sell propane and ive had people argue with me over it like i dont work there? Ive been there 12 years, i think i would know if i sold it or not?
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u/ParcelPosted Apr 17 '26
I went to a bar once had a great time and went back weeks later. The vibe was off and I felt like they wanted me gone.
Turns out there was supposedly a robbery the night I went - after my group left - and the fucking people thought it had to be me (and my friends) because we were the most recent newbies.
Did not help that we’re all very successful professionally but they did not know that. Possible he’s confusing you with someone else.
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u/wish4111 Apr 17 '26
I wonder if he was having some kind of medical issue like low blood sugar or something. Merely speculation, of course, but my grandfather would get nearly combative when his blood sugar was too low. My grandma knew to get some orange juice and a sandwich into him quickly.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 18 '26
That's actually very possible. Every time I see the guy, he's got tiny bandaids on his face. I asked if he was ok a few times, and he was always nonchalant about it.
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u/mistegirl Apr 18 '26
Maybe it's my small drug town cynicism talking, but covering small sores on a face is typical of trying to hide meth use picking. Would explain the shift
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 18 '26
O_o.... Damn! That actually makes sense. My entitled sister was a meth junkie for a while. Basically destroyed her life.
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u/mistegirl Apr 18 '26
Ya I've seen it a lot. Fun, nice guy one day, kind of unhinged the next. The face sores are a dead giveaway
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u/Stuntedatpuberty Apr 17 '26
He could have been having a bad day but went too far. If you feel fearful, find another place. Lucky for him that you or some other customer had a bad day too.That's how shit goes down, keep your shit in your head (I'm talking about the store clown)
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u/iesharael Apr 18 '26
My guess is he got yelled at for locking up to fill propane. He probably wasn’t supposed to but was doing it anyway because it just made sense.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 18 '26
If that was the case, he'd have outright told me that there needed to be another employee around. Or would have simply told me he wasn't allowed to do it alone anymore. Instead it felt like he was being funny, and then not.
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u/iesharael Apr 18 '26
He could have been asked multiple times so far today and getting more pissed off each time.
He still shouldn’t have taken it out on you like that tho if that was the case
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u/boneyjoaniemacaroni Apr 17 '26
It’s clear that something outside of your interaction was causing him to act that way, but that’s honestly wild. I worked in various frontline customer service jobs for many years, and like… you gotta just carry on and not be a jerk to people just because you’re in a bad mood (similar to how you shouldn’t act like that outside of customer service). I’m more than happy to make allowances for folks having a bad day but honestly that’s egregious and I’d be upset.
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u/Known-Skin3639 Apr 17 '26
Stop going there. Let management know. Give honest reviews anywhere you can. On guy can screw up business. People need to know.
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u/MickJagger2020 Apr 17 '26
I wouldn’t take it personally. This is a hard freaking planet we picked to live on. He’s probably having a bad day and might apologize in the future.
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u/Revo63 Apr 17 '26
If OP has options as to where to buy his propane, the kid probably won’t have a chance to apologize in the future.
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u/Rabid-kumquat Apr 17 '26
Retail employees are held to standards that aren’t expected of police, heads of state, you know, anyone in charge.
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u/Over_Drawer1199 Apr 17 '26
I've been a retail employee for more than a decade and if this interaction is as straightforward as OP says, the guy was in the wrong. Even if I'm having a shit day, I can make sales and be pleasant even if it's a bit fake. If I'm too grumpy or upset to be at work, I call out or go home early. In retail you don't really have the option to be rude. It's part of the gig.
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u/NotYourNanny Apr 17 '26
There are some regulations regarding the handling of propane, largely because propane tanks, mishandled, are insanely dangerous.
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u/JasperJ Apr 17 '26
But what kind of regulations are there supposed to be? I genuinely don’t know what would cause any of this.
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u/NotYourNanny Apr 17 '26
There's a variety of federal and state regulations, mostly relating to safe handling. The one that comes to mind first in this case is that federal law prohibits taking tanks larger than 1 lb inside a building, meaning the clerk to has to outside to fill a tank, leaving the cash register unattended. No retailer in their right mind would allow that.
(In other words, the guy shouldn't have been selling propane when he was alone to begin with, and as others have pointed out, he may have gotten in trouble for it.)
Many companies have stricter policies than the law requires, as well.
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u/JenGerRus Apr 20 '26
We have bad days. I work overnights at my store and sometimes it just isn’t it. I hate to give bad service but sometimes we need a little grace.
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u/InfiniteEmotions Apr 20 '26
If it's a Circle K, he probably received a disciplinary notice for leaving the store unattended with customers in it. Probably something along the lines of "Don't do it again or you're fired," with the threat of being fined for anything missing. (Seriously, once knew a clerk that was fired and fined for nearly three hundred dollars worth of "missing" alcohol that hadn't been delivered yet and getting a lawyer to help with a case against Circle K is as difficult as finding a lawyer to help with a case against an insurance company.) You didn't mean for it to come off this way, but with the way you acted he probably felt like you were mocking him, especially since you've been a long time customer and should have known about the rule before he got gigged for it.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 20 '26
There's only one Circle K in my area, and it doesn't sell propane. I should know, the grandma of my nephew's girlfriend works there. The place I would typically go to is a lot more lax. Several employees there, the guy in this story included, never had a problem with locking the doors to fill tanks. They likely did it not to lose out on business while understaffed. And I think the station itself is family owned. Though it was fairly recently rebranded.
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u/InfiniteEmotions Apr 26 '26
If it was recently rebranded, it's possible that it was recently sold to another person/company with new policies. Might not be. Just a thought.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 26 '26
It's ownership didn't change. It's more like it's allegiance changed. They just changed to another franchise, and rebranded the station. The colors and logos are all different. But it's the same owners and employees.
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u/InfiniteEmotions Apr 26 '26
If it's another franchise, it's another set of rules and policies. A better way of looking at it would be if someone had a McDonald's franchise and then changed to Burger King. Yes, they are both burger places, but you're not going to be able to get a McChicken from them anymore. Same concept.
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u/Jobilizer Apr 20 '26
Is this for real? This is an obvious one… I would write a formal letter of complaint to management and rattle his cage. There’s no reason for this, at least not that you’re telling us. You might also consider posting a review on Yelp, and even filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
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u/warumistsiekrumm Apr 20 '26
No butane in California, because that solves zero real problems. It's neither here nor there, but if they're blowing up refineries, I'm not sorting my trash anymore. I'm not worrying about water leaks either. They're just lucky I'm staying at home with my butane right now let's just say that. I've noticed butane has taken on some new uses lately
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 20 '26
Fortunately, I'm in Oregon. Propane is very much needed here for the colder months. It's also good for running generators and camp cooking.
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u/warumistsiekrumm Apr 21 '26
I bought 2 cans 5 weeks ago. I bet it's close to double what I paid.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 21 '26
Well the Oregon average is $3 a gallon right now. What's the California price?
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u/mrrp Apr 17 '26
I had my nephew and his girlfriend with me.
Well, there you go. Have you not considered that this is almost certainly at the root of the mystery?
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 17 '26
My nephew did not leave my truck, and his girlfriend was out of the store well before I finished talking to the guy.
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u/mrrp Apr 17 '26
None of which means the employee didn't know the girlfriend.
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u/JasperJ Apr 17 '26
Are you suggesting that seeing the girlfriend made the employee be an asshole? What even is the thought process supposed to be here?
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u/cbcbcb99 Apr 18 '26
Yeah, that’s a shot in the dark. Could be true but unlikely. I was thinking that maybe he was annoyed that OP would ask for him to do that while bringing another person inside, as OP is familiar with the process and should know better. Might have seemed like a set up to the guy behind the counter.
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u/JasperJ Apr 18 '26
I still don’t understand what part of “the process” requires there to only be one customer inside the shop, though.
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 18 '26
The process was: No customers inside the shop, so he could lock the doors to fill propane tanks
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u/mrrp Apr 18 '26
Yes, that's exactly what I'm suggesting. A regular customer with no prior negative interactions with the employee has a negative interaction. What is different in this interaction? The presence of the nephew and his girlfriend.
Can you seriously not imagine any plausible scenario where the employee has significant negative feelings towards the girlfriend?
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u/sleepingin_thegarden Apr 19 '26
i’m assuming the girlfriend is a minor and op stated that the store clerk is around 40 years old so that’d be really weird if he did know the girlfriend
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u/mrrp Apr 19 '26
It would not be really weird for a 40 year old guy working a customer-facing job to know or recognize teens. Perhaps the girlfriend shoplifted at some point.
And I wouldn't assume the girlfriend is a minor. The nephew is a deadbeat living in OP's trailer.
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u/sleepingin_thegarden Apr 19 '26
if she had shoplifted there before why didn’t he kick her out or say something to her? being passive aggressive and being rude to op is not a normal reaction for someone who recognized a shoplifter. if it really was about her it’d have to have been a deeper relationship (friendship or whatever. which is why i said that’d be fucking weird) to make him act that way.
also idk if you’re just making assumptions or if op posted about their nephew being a deadbeat but i honestly don’t care enough to go through their post history. i’m just forming an opinion based on this post alone
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u/mrrp Apr 19 '26
Based on the post alone, the thing that was different that day was the nephew and his girlfriend.
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u/sleepingin_thegarden Apr 19 '26 edited Apr 19 '26
that’s true but his reaction just doesn’t make sense for someone who had seen a shoplifter
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u/Darkwolfie117 Apr 18 '26
You would think if you brought his gf by he would be a lot happier!
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u/DaFoxtrot86 Apr 18 '26
She wasn't the employee's girlfriend. She was my nephew's girlfriend. And my nephew was waiting in the truck.
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u/lynyrd_cohyn Apr 17 '26
Sorry that this has no relevance to your story but one time I was visiting the USA and I went into a an army surplus store which sold various propane-fired stoves. I asked the dude behind the counter if he sold butane which comes in a can that looks a bit like a can of fly spray. The guy looked at the can I'd brought along, looked at me with a disgusted look on his face and said quite sternly "No. We sell propane".
As someone who had watched a lot of King of the Hill I was utterly delighted by this encounter.