About two weeks ago, a mask refuser shot and killed a gas station cashier in Idar-Oberstein, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Petrol station leaseholders in the Starnberg district also often have to allow themselves to be molested.
District
- Ute Wagner has not been afraid since the terrible act two weeks ago in which a young man was discovered.
The wife of the tenant of the Allguth gas station in Gilching worries almost every day.
Especially since she has noticed that some of the customers are becoming more and more tense and aggressive.
"Since the pandemic, the patience has been getting thinner and thinner for some customers," she says.
During Corona: gas station customers more and more tense and aggressive
Ute Wagner and her colleagues deal with mask refusers almost every day.
“There are always individual candidates who do not want to wear a mouth and nose cover.” Wagner then asks the customer for a certificate.
“Some don't want to show that.” If the customer has already refueled, she collects the money and asks him to look for another gas station the next time.
Brigitta Aichinger has also experienced that the situation has worsened since Corona.
She has leased the BK petrol station in the middle of Weßling for seven years.
“There are often strange situations,” she says.
"Since the pandemic, the mood has been more aggressive, customers are bullying about the mask requirement."
Starnberg district: Mask refusers in the gas station almost every day
Brigitta Aichinger has heard sentences like “If I have to put on a mask, then I don't pay” more than once in the past few months.
First of all, she reacts soothingly, getting excited does not help.
"I'm trying to take the wind out of my sails."
Since the incident two weeks ago, the petrol station leaseholder has not had an oppressive feeling at work.
In cold blood, a 49-year-old man who refused to wear a mask shot a 20-year-old cashier at a gas station in Idar-Oberstein after the student had pointed out the current mask requirement.
Brigitta Aichinger said that the younger employees at the BK petrol station took the crime away with them.
But they know exactly what to do if an exceptional situation arises.
Petrol station employees prepared in the event of an exceptional situation
"I always say that when there is an attack, you have to give everything and offer the perpetrator a pack of cigarettes to calm down," says Aichinger.
"Nobody should play the hero, a person's life is more important than money."
This is also the opinion of Ute Wagner's husband Werner, the leaseholder of the Allguth petrol station.
"My employees have clear instructions for the night shift: If a threatening situation arises, the perpetrator should be obeyed," he says.
In contrast to the BK petrol station, which closes at 9 p.m., Allguth has its sales area open around the clock at the Oberpfaffenhofen motorway junction.
The night shift starts at 9:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. in the morning.
"My employees always work in teams of two," says Werner Wagner, who also regularly takes on night shifts as a substitute.
Since the pandemic, the mood has been more aggressive, with customers bullying because they are required to wear a mask.
Brigitta Aichinger from the BK petrol station in Weßling
Business was still in full swing until 1 a.m.
“Hundreds of customers still come, not so much for refueling, but for drinks and snacks.” The gas station also serves as a meeting point for young people in the late evening hours.
"When the weather is nice, up to 30 vehicles are parked in front of the car wash, in the delivery zone and in the parking lot," says Wagner.
Above all, the cheap drink prices attracted customers.
“They talk, drink together and listen to music,” says Wagner, who has been running the gas station for three and a half years.
Gas stations in the corona pandemic: lateral thinker concerns employees
If it gets too loud, the petrol station tenant will drop by. "In general, however, we have everything under control." However, he can still remember an incident two months ago. “A lateral thinker and mask refuser approached my employees.” He then called the police. “That was an exception, however,” he says. In his many years of professional experience, there has never been a robbery or an emergency.
Edgar Varga wasn't that lucky.
His Aral gas station in Herrsching, which is closed at night, has already been broken into three times.
“They cleared everything out twice,” says Varga.
“When you come into the sales room in the morning, you have a queasy feeling.
You don't know if someone is still there. ”However, he is not afraid of it.
The act in Idar-Oberstein shocked him, but did not change his attitude to work.
“I don't think anyone will come again who's in that mood.”
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