What Is a Service Station?

Oh no, not again.

I love my TROVE wallet. I keep four cards and my house key in it. But not today. My bus card is missing.

I don’t have time for this.

I need to get to work. The bus comes in 15 minutes. It’s a 10-minute walk to my stop. A quick pass through the lounge, dining room, kitchen, and bedroom comes up with nothing.

Where’s my bus card?

I need your help

I have one more option.

There’s a service station near my bus stop. I grab a pie and a coke, and take them to the counter. It’s not the best breakfast, but I’m desperate. Some businesses won’t let you get money out via EFTPOS unless you buy something.

I’m not after nutrients — I need cash.

“These and $5 please,” I say to the man behind the counter.

“We don’t give out cash,” he replies. “Everyone has plastic. And we carry so little on us.”

“But I have to get the bus to Feilding,” I plead.

“That’s not my problem,” he replies.

“You can forget these then,” I say, pointing to the pie and coke.

I turn my back to the man, ignore his machine that’s waiting for me to use payWave, and leave.

Service with a smile

The bus arrives a few minutes later.

“I’m sorry,” I tell the bus driver. “I have no cash, and the man at the service station wouldn’t give me any. Can I please pay you once I get to my destination?”

“No,” he smiles. “Jump on. This one’s free.”

After work, I tell another bus driver what happened.

“He wouldn’t give you have cash? You weren’t asking for much.”

“Yeah,” I reply. “I wanted $5. Not $50 or $500. $5.”

I try to give her $5 to catch the bus home. She shakes her head and doesn’t accept it.

“Jump on,” she smiles. “This one’s free.”

I now call buses service stations.

Note:

• The service station I visited is not the one in the image above. Even though it was a challenge for me to get excellent service there. 
• EFTPOS stands for electronic funds transfer at point of sale. Many merchants let customers using a debit card withdraw cash as part of the EFTPOS transaction.
• payWave lets customers pay with just a wave of their card or device.