Several years ago when I was working the night shift at a gas station/convenience store, there was a vomit incident. There were actually a few, most of which I didn't witness (either the actual "spewage" or the clean-up), but this one was pretty hard to miss. The place was next door to a bar, so there was always a bar rush at around 2AM.
Before the rush officially started, there was a problem with the register and I had to call a manager to come and fix it. While she was doing this, I happened to glance out the window and see a young woman standing there...cheeks puffed, and looking rather distressed. I thought to myself, "Ohhh,
no! Nonono, pleasepleaseplease..." I've got a pretty bad vomit phobia, and both the manager and the customer noticed my look of horror and turned to look out the window as well. The woman stood there, hands half-way up to her mouth, looking dazedly around with a mouthful of puke. She was standing
right beside a trash can! Did she push off the lid and do her thing in there? Did she let fly on the cement? No! She took a few steps forward,
away from the can, and looked around again. Then she entered the vestibule between the inside doors and the outside doors, presumably to use our bathroom, and lost what looked to be all the food she had eaten in the past three years.
Cue customer at the register saying, "You know what, that's okay, I'll just come back later," leaving his stuff on the counter, and going out the doors at the other side of the store.
The woman then came in and
approached me. She looked horribly embarrassed, said "I'm so sorry, I'll clean it up". I felt really bad for her, but I was fighting the urge to run, screaming, into the break room. I just handed her a huge stack of paper towels, said, "No, it's okay, just go ahead into the bathroom--it's back there. Get yourself together, and don't worry about it. We'll clean it up." I wasn't sure if she was done, and I neither wanted to see "Round 2" nor make her feel worse than she already did.
I could have kissed our manager that night, though; she cleaned it up, so I didn't have to. I didn't even have time to offer, because she said, "You look like you're about to lose it yourself, and then we'd have two messes to clean up."
But seriously...I don't mean to sound, well,
mean, but there was a trash can
right there! I figure she was either so drunk she didn't notice it, or she didn't know the lid could come off.
And yes, she was with a group outside (who teased her when she came out), so she didn't drive out of there.
Another time, some guy yacked in the urinal.
I didn't have to clean that one up either, but I couldn't escape the smell.
