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Mixed feelings about the lockdown, says fuel station operator
New Delhi: Before the nationwide lockdown was announced last month, Pushpendra Pandey would be busy filling petrol and diesel in hundreds of vehicles throughout
New Delhi: Before the nationwide lockdown was announced last month, Pushpendra Pandey would be busy filling petrol and diesel in hundreds of vehicles throughout his eight-hour shift at a fuel station, urging motorcyclists to wait in a queue, moving quickly between dispensers, and collecting payments.
As he sat down to speak to Hindustan Times, though, he was free for almost 15 minutes before there was a car he had to attend to, at the fuel station where he works in south Delhi’s Saket.
“I hope laziness does not set in by the time my workload gets back to the usual,” says the 45-year-old, who has worked at the station for the last 22 years.
He dispenses fuel and the driver hands him the payment -- the exact amount billed -- in currency notes. “Some customers ask me to keep the change so as to avoid any kind of contact,” says Pandey.
Pandey has noticed another marked difference in the behaviour of motorists coming to the station ever since the 21-day nationwide lockdown, which has been extended further till May 3, began.
“Earlier, they would make every effort to hide the card swipe machine from me while entering their card pin. After the lockdown, they prefer to tell me their pin code rather than key it in themselves”.
Many don’t even want the receipt or memo anymore, he adds.
As for him, Pandey says he has been taking all possible precautions to keep himself germ free. He rubs sanitiser on his hands after refuelling the car, and says he does so each time he feels he has come in contact with a customer.
On occasions when drivers use the card swipe machine, he gives the gadget a rubdown with sanitiser as well. “Physical contact is inevitable, though. Most people pay by cash which may have changed multiple hands before reaching me. Fingers often touch while exchanging cash,” he says.
The usual timings for this fuel station were 6am to 12 in the night. With customers dwindling due to the lockdown, though, it operates for general motorists only till 9 pm. “However, a couple of my colleagues stay on till midnight in case an ambulance comes by which needs fuel,” he says.
These days, Pandey leaves his home in Sangam Vihar around 7.45am on a motorcycle to begin his duty from 8am. He faces no hurdles at police checkposts; his uniform and identity card help him sail through.
He has brought along his lunch from home, but he isn’t sure when he’ll get to have it. “Footfall has dipped by nearly 90% and I am not sure when a customer would arrive. Since the number of attendants too has been reduced I have to take care of multiple pumps, unlike before when I was tasked with handling just one. If I start eating and a customer comes, I may have to get up mid-meal to attend to them,” he says.
Unlike many other essential service providers struggling to find tea while out on work during the lockdown, Pandey has had it easy. “A colleague who stays nearby brings tea for us twice a day,” he says.
Though work is much less than usual, spending his free time at work is a bit of a challenge. He isn’t allowed to use his mobile phone at the fuel station for the fear of fire. “If I receive a call, I walk out of the premises, keep it short and return,” he says.
So far, the lockdown has given him mixed feelings.
One day, a woman drove into the fuel station, asked Pandey and the others to be careful, and then left as quickly as she came. “It was a warm feeling,” he says.
On another day, a man riding a motorcycle demanded that a five-litre bottle he had be filled with petrol. “We have been turning down such requests ever since the Delhi riots. That man called the police to complain that I wasn’t doing my duty,” he says. Fortunately for him, the police gave the customer an earful.
A welcome change, though, is that Pandey has also not experienced any untoward situation involving inebriated men and goons, after the lockdown was imposed. “Instances of customers in a drunken state and ruffians bullying us would take place almost every day. However, with the liquor shops now closed, we have been able to avoid that menace,” he says.
When Pandey leaves from work at 4pm, he will call his wife to keep hot water ready. “I take my work clothes off outside the door of my house and head directly to the bathroom where I wash them and take a bath,” says the father of three.
With less work, Pandey and his colleagues have to report to work only on alternate days. And that had him worried for several days until the payday arrived. “I received my entire salary,” he beamed happily.
