The Mustang- Part 1

Life At The Mustang, Part 1

For a period of time over 10 years ago I worked at a little gas station called "The Mustang Market". It was actually a pretty cool place to work. It's where I met both of the people I call my best friends. I worked the night shift at the "Mustang", as we referred to it. It could get boring at times, especially in the winter when the wind chill was -40 and it was blizzard conditions outside. Two friends of mine named Mike and Sarah used to hang out at the store with me, it helped with the boredom. We also had another guy named Matt Bride that hung out there a lot. Now ol' Matt is a chapter unto himself. Here's a few things to know about Matt.

I called him "smaid" since the first day I met him, it drove him totally fucking crazy because he could not figure out why. After about a year I finally told him. Everyone else got it, I bet most of you have gotten it by now as well. His last name was Bride, I called him Smaid, put them together........... Matt liked to make little bombs out of tinfoil and black powder. He also had a hard lump tumor on his skull that was drained but not removed, it had a hole in the top like a cracked egg. I swear to god I am not making this up. To say that Matt was "a bit unusual" is putting it mildly. He was fascinated by bombs and destruction. I have no idea where he is now but I hope he is in custody.

One night in our boredom Matt, Mike, and I learned that if you get gummy worms wet they will stick to whatever you throw them at. It was a war for the ages..... Imagine 3 men in their early 20's running around the inside of a gas station in the middle of the night tossing wet gummy worms at each other, shooting to kill. I will never forget the moment Matt died as a hero, he was pinned down in the backroom under heavy fire and he made a break for it. Poor Matt got maybe 6 inches out the doorway when Mike threw the shot heard 'round the world. It stuck dead center of Matt's forehead and literally stunned him so bad he fell to the floor. I still laugh about the look on his face when that moist gummy worm made contact over 10 years later.

Another game played at the Mustand was to coat some random item in the store with Vaseline and take bets on if a customer or an employee found it first. It was good wholesome entertainment.

I had what some might refer to as an attitude problem back then. Anyone who came into my store thinking "the customer is always right" was in for a rude awakening. I was a jerk, but then again with the shift I worked at a gas station right off 2 major interstate highways that was probably a good thing. I was the "2am" nazi. In Iowa you have to stop selling alcohol at 2am. I kept the alarm on my watch set and the rule was enforced with an iron fist. I refused to sell alcohol to drunks, which is also illegal, they got pretty pissed about that. Most of the kids that worked there just sold it to them, not me. I said no for the sheer joy of it.

My favorite was the kids that were obviously underage coming in to try to buy beer or tobacco. After about a week at the store you can spot them right away. They look around a lot, wander the aisles until they are the only customer in the store and then approach you trying to buy whatever they wanted. I LOVED these customers. I would set whatever they wanted beside the register and ring up the sale and tell them the total. As they were handing me the money with a happy look on their pimply little face I'd say "Oh yeah, I need to see your I.D.". The happy face went away instantly and it made me smile.

I had customers swing at me, scream at me, and cry. I loved every second of it.

To be continued..................