We’re expecting a big ice storm here in the Raleigh area this weekend, and because of that we’ve been slammed at the propane station all week. We ran out several times and had to make expedited deliveries just to keep it flowing.
Today could have gone differently.
It was cold. Working propane sucks. The line was never-ending. Yesterday we lucked out—we were out my entire shift, so I didn’t have to deal with any of it. Today very easily could have been one of those oh, F-me days. Stuck out there for hours keeping track of all those tanks coming in and going out, matching tanks to receipts—it’s fine when traffic is light, but when things get hopping it turns into a madhouse.
In the middle of it all, I spent a few hours out there—Trent and Lance already did their time. Most people bring one or two tanks, some more, but normally we never have more than a dozen people in line at a time, and the wait is usually no more than 15 minutes.
Today was different.
At one point the line was close to 50 people deep, almost to the gas station, and it never let up. I started asking people how long they’d been waiting. For some, it was over two hours. People were cold, they were anxious, and everyone just wanted to get home and be ready for what was coming.
We were doing the best we could, but eventually we had to change the workflow.
We put two people running the station. Periodically one of us walked the line doing pre-checks—tanks, valves, expiration date and tag it—so that once people reached the front, things moved faster. While I was walking the line, I chatted with members, tried to find common ground, answered questions, and made a few people smile.
It helped.
We got the wait time down to just over an hour. Still long—but better. And it felt good to know we were improving things instead of just enduring them.
At one point there were two girls—late teens, early twenties maybe—standing in line. They were laughing, joking, just enjoying themselves. When I handed them their ticket, I said, “So how long have you girls been standing in line?”
They said, “A couple hours.”
I said, “And you’re still laughing and smiling? What have you been smoking in that line?”
The whole line laughed.
The day went by much quicker than you’d think.
Work can be fun.
