If you've read my reviews on here before you'll know that I've posted a few that have been pretty…read moresavage, and that invariably they are more to do with the staff than the business itself, but brace yourself because this may be my most savage review to date, and not without good reason.
First of all, let me say that I work in the Dunoon area a lot and this petrol station, part of the "Jet" franchise, is undoubtedly the cheapest place to fill up this side of the water. Indeed, it's cheaper than a few places in Glasgow. It also has a well-stocked shop and is one of the few places I know of in the area where you can buy ferry tickets and pay for them with a credit card. In short, it has a lot going for it.
Unfortunately, like many businesses it has the misfortune of needing employees to keep it running. Now, there are two older guys who work there who are thoroughly professional and polite, if a little miserable, but sadly they also employ a slew of youngsters who seem to share a brain cell between them.
I made the mistake of laughing at a joke one of them told about a year ago and for some reason they took it as a license to generally play the fool every time I visit now. It began with leaving me standing at the petrol pump for a good five minutes last winter while they grinned at me like halfwits inside, only releasing the controls on the pump to allow me to fill up my car after I went inside to demand they do so. It was followed with some crude and offensive comments about my car, my wardrobe, my purchases in the store and, finally, my wife when I brought her to visit the area at the end of February.
Needless to say the latter comments were neither appreciated nor tolerated, but despite a rather forceful objection on my part I was unable to secure an apology from the cretins.
Since then their behaviour has been slightly more reserved in my presence, but nonetheless unprofessional and idiotic. Just three weeks ago when I stopped in I opened the door of the shop to find one of the imbeciles on all fours while his colleague/friend sat on his back, slapping his buttocks and demanding a "ride" to the tills. I'm sure they were having great fun, but I doubt they are being paid to engage in such behaviour and I'm confused as to why the presence of a customer was insufficient to persuade them to stop.
The final straw came just a week ago, and the incident I am about to relate very nearly caused me to call the police. I suffer from chronic asthma and when I went into the shop after filling up the car I found one of them in pursuit of a solitary fly emptying a can of fly spray in its wake. He disappeared up one of the aisles so I took a deep breath and made my way to the till to pay.
Unfortunately, as I was paying the fly strayed in the direction of the till and of course the idiot followed, unleashing a cloud of poison as he chased it. I immediately requested he stop, explained that I was asthmatic and that his behaviour was likely to trigger a major asthma attack. A perfectly reasonable request, I thought.
Sadly, he disagreed. He did stop spraying, but only long enough to get behind the counter, and then he thought it would be funny to spray the can directly in my face. Had I not been wearing glasses I would likely have been blinded, but it was sufficient to trigger an attack so I immediately rushed to my car, leaving my change on the counter, to retrieve my inhaler.
When I returned to the shop about ten minutes later, my asthma attack having subsided, I found my change gone and it was only after a great deal of coaxing that I found one of the youths had pocketed the money. He did reluctantly return it to me, but as I was leaving the store I watched, to my disgust, as his friend, the one who had sprayed me, return the near-empty can of fly spray to the shelf where another customer could later purchase it.
The behaviour of the idiots at this petrol station is not just incompetent, it is dangerous. Take my advice - pay a little extra at the pump at another station and steer clear of this one.
Oh, and before anyone asks I didn't call the police in the end, but I did make a complaint to the manager. Sadly I'm unable to tell you his exact response, though it did consist of two words - one four letters, one three, a rather objectionable way of telling someone to "go away". I'm taking his advice. Please do the same.
