1. Most filing stations have local touts, police and military personnel on their payroll
You’re surprised, aren’t you? But hey, that’s the fact, the simple fact. The local thugs employed here are usually the almost cool headed type who happen to know that two multiplied by two gives four and not those red eyed ones who know nothing in English Language except grass, w**d and whiskey (but be warned, these ones are also kept on stand-by) and if you live around a big or busy filling station, you’ll notice police patrol vehicles passing by at intervals and sometimes parking in or around the filling station.
At the filling station where I worked, the policemen even signed a daily register with which they got their monthly pay. The military men on the other hand were usually given free fuel after which phone numbers were exchanged and I bet you know what this means. So next time you go to a filling station, behave yourself because the moment you start throwing tantrums and threatening hail, fire and brimstone, you might end up in a military guardroom and if you’re lucky enough, a police cell. And your offence? That’s simple – disturbance of public peace.
2. Most attendants are not illiterates
One thing about Nigerians is that we have a very bad attitude towards people whom we feel are inferior to us. House-helps, hawkers, petty traders and yes, filling station attendants. You have a B.Sc, well some of them also have and the last time I checked, some PhD graduates were driving trailers for Dangote, so it’s not all about a degree. I worked as an attendant during my 100-200 level holidays, while my brother worked during his 300-400 level holidays. I also knew some other folks who had ONDs where I worked. Working as a filling station attendant is no big deal, even youth corpers awaiting posting do it.
Besides, who knows, the attendant might just be another Zuckerburg just trying to raise some capital for his own Facebook. And if you’re lucky enough, he could employ you when his business’s in full gear and no no no, not necessarily as a manager, it could be a driver or something else, just something to keep you going, at least, you were nice to him.
3. Majority of filling station attendants are overworked and underpaid
At the filling station I worked back then, we opened by 5 in the morning and closed at 10 in the night- no break at all, but hey, mine was better off. At another branch where my brother worked, they opened by 4:30am and closed by 12 midnight. And one was expected to continue this cycle, for how much?
A N1000 per day and N5000 at month’s end. That looks pretty much, eh? At least we’ll earn about N35,000 every month, that’s about twice the minimum wage but sorry to disappoint you, after deducting your spending on food, you’re left with almost nothing (because we had to eat well, and I mean really really well; about four times in a day if we don’t want to just fall down and die). And we got our full wage on our lucky days, God bless you if you’re shortchanged or given fake Naira notes by a customer, you’ll have to repay it yourself. I personally was once shortchanged by about N5400 and a female colleague, of more than N30,000. The girl later absconded when she could take it no more (it’s not by force) :D.
4. Fuel pumps ARE NOT 100% accurate
Even brand new pumps are not always 100% accurate. They’re either under-accurate or over-accurate (if you know what I mean). They either shortchange you (the customer) or the seller. Although this inaccuracy’s usually negligible (less than 0.5% per litre), it accumulates over time on the side of the filling station till it becomes a debt.
And the solution? Simple; readjust the meter so that the customer suffers for the inaccuracy. Ordinarily, this is also negligible but due to greed, poor working environment, corruption, poor policies and every negative thing in the book, this has been abused such that meters become over-adjusted and becomes cheating on the side of the customer.
Where I worked back then for example, the owner made the manager adjust the meter such that he (the owner) made an extra 1,100 litres of every 11,000 litres but as expected, the manager adjusted it more than that (his assistant used to joke about him building a house in his hometown back then).
And sorry to tell you this but the station with most commercial bus drivers and motorcyclists is not usually the one with the best meter.
5. All the pumps are not the same
Ever wondered why you get to a pump in a filling station and you’re told that there’s no fuel there that you should move to another pump less than 10 meters ahead. It’s simply because all the pumps have their individual tanks (although some do share tanks, like 2 pumps, but not all). Besides the pumps could be adjusted differently such that while a pump shortchanges you by 10%, the other shortchanges you by 25%. That’s funny, isn’t it?
6. Filling stations don’t sell air
After all being said and done, I believe you realize that only petroleum products are sold at fuel pumps. If you needed air, you should’ve visited a vulcanizer. In other words, it’s called a filling station and not an air station, they don’t sell air. It’s impossible to sell air.