By KT Reporter
There was drama Tuesday morning at Mutundwe-Nalukolongo Stabex fueling station when a pump attendant by the names of Aisha behaved ruthlessly and violently towards a regular customer. The station has existed for roughly 2 years and this motorist is one of the customers who fuel there regularly-and have been daily customers from day one.
Trouble started when the motorist asked for the merchant code to be read to him so that he could pay for the fuel he had been given. Aisha, who it has since been established is a frustrated single mother of two children, responded belligerently. She blew up and loudly asked the motorist who he takes himself to be. Without any provocation, she assured him he isn’t as important as he thinks.
She started shouting all manner of insults at him while demanding that he gets out of his vehicle and read the merchant code for himself from where it has been hanged. Our reporter, in a nearby vehicle, witnessed all this melee from a distance and heard/witnessed everything first hand. The motorist, who said he had never encountered this Aisha lady and is used to more responsive pump attendants, protested making it clear this was inappropriate and unbecoming of a sales person. The poor motorist was rushing to drop kids to school and wanted to know the merchant code, quickly pay up and save time for other motorists who were queuing up behind him.
The pump lady, seemingly in her late 30s, wouldn’t have any of that. She signaled the askaris demanding that they join her in verbally assaulting the man infront of his bewildered children. She demeaned the motorist and told him that the little miserable fuel he was buying every morning and evening is not all that the Stabex business thrives on. Branding him a lousy useless man, the pump lady ordered the motorist to leave immediately and never to dare come back to fuel from that station again. She warned he will realize how much authority she wields in the Stabex empire the day he risks come back again.
She told him he was free to go and buy fuel from other competitor stations which are many in that area. Humiliated, the motorist attempted to drive away as she raised her voice to shout all manner of obscenities at him. He tried to report to her supervisors but he was advised there wasn’t much help he would get because even manager and supervisor fear the very quarrelsome Aisha.
She vowed to mobilize fell pump attendants to make sure that no one ever attends to that motorist if he ever dares come to buy fuel from that station again. She began shouting at other motorists while explaining to them why the customer she had just assaulted was such a terrible person. She said they don’t mind him because they have bigger customers who always take out full tanker. She even tried to pour water at the motorists apart from throwing trash at him as he drove out of the Stabex premises. It was a very embarrassing scene to fellow motorists.
Asserting that he had been humiliated and unfairly treated, the customer refused to rule out legal action against Aisha’s employer so that Stabex Uganda can be held to be vicariously liable for the actions of their employee. Preliminary information indicates that Aisha is barely 3 months on the job. The S5 drop out only got recruited recently but many customers have been bothered about her belligerent approach of being easily irritable and always quick to insult motorists who give uncomplimentary feedback about her conduct.
She is a frustrated woman because she earns only Ugx400,00 per month which is insufficient as she has rent, feeding, school fees, daily transport and other children-related bills to pay since she is a single mother having to raise two children-one aged 8 years and another 4. The seemingly deprived single mother also has made bills to pay every month. She is one of the 8 pump attendants at Mutundwe-Nalukolongo Stabex fueling station. Other inconvenienced motorists, who she has previously abused, say they have been reporting to her supervisor, a Mukiga lady called Barbara who hasn’t been of much help.
Barbara’s supervisor a one Sailas the manager, who is a Kenyan, is responsive and quick to act on such feedback but he is rarely at the station and yet failure to act on errant pump attendants like Aisha has continued to disrepute the Mutundwe-Nalukolongo station prompting many motorists to prefer the Stabex of Wankulukuku or the nearby Rubis below the Kabusu street lights. Many motorist customers are missing the days of former manager Mr. Davie and supervisor nicknamed Musawo who were responsive and always promptly acted on customers’ feedback at the Mutundwe-Nalukolongo station.
Available intelligence information indicates that currently, the station has less than 20 employees who Sailas and Barbara should be able to effectively supervise including 8 pump attendants (4 on day shift & another 4 on night shift); 4 askaris covering both shifts and one cleaner. Yet ironically, customer feedback isn’t any good these days because especially pump attendants seem unmotivated with the likes of single mother Aisha becoming very frustrated and financially hard-up because the Ugx400,000 earned per month is like peanuts and can’t cover the high financial pressures faced daily. This partly explains the anger, resentment and frustration these pump attendants unleash on innocent motorists who have nothing to do with their heavy work load and inadequate pay. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
