Sacked
I got a job at our local Petrol station a few years ago, there were two, one on each side of the road (a dual carriageway). The other was larger, busier, and known by staff as the "prison camp" compared to our "holiday camp" on the opposite side.

I worked the night shift, and after a week's training with one of the other guys, I was on my own. "Keep the doors locked," said the manager, "you don't want to get robbed." Yeah right. The only customers were lorry drivers buying coffee, fags, and porn, and a few stoners after a pie and a peperami at 3am.

Now the lorry drivers want a sit down somewhere other than the cab and since they all spent about £200 a night on diesel I thought it only fair they should come inside for their coffee, besides I didn't fancy making it for them and trying to get it through the little hatch without spilling it.

My plan - next time the local plod came in I told them to pass the message round: free tea and coffee to all police officers, all night, every night. It worked! At least once every hour a cop car pulled in and they would sit inside enjoying their free coffee. I even turned a blind eye to their habit of helping themselves to the sandwiches, in exchange for inside information about how to help myself to food, fags, petrol and cash without getting caught by the CCTV.

I was later sacked for "failure to protect company funds" - in other words not locking the door at night against potential thieves despite the fact that the windows were NOT bullet proof, there was only ever £50 in the till, and the most obvious act that I had my own private Police Force making regular patrols.

What made it worse was that a few months later the manager got the sack for robbing the place blind, basically doing no shopping except the free stuff she took home from the forecourt shop, never paying for petrol, and of course her "bonus" wad every saturday night.

My only regret is not getting more when I had the chance.
( Amos E Wolfe makes vinyl signs and things like that, Thu 23 Feb 2006, 13:41, Reply)