Z Petrol Station and my Big Trip to Palmerston North (..not!)

Hi there!  Wow, what a day.  Another sitcom situation in the life of Lorraine!!

I woke up bright and early and there and then decided to have a day's outing to Palmerston North to look at the shops, have a nice drive trying out my new TomTom Satellite Navigation System.  It was going to be 27c in PN, and I spent about a half an hour trying to work out what glamorous yet cool (both for weather and fashion) outfit to be seen in.  I ended up dressing down as usual because nothing glamorous went with my hiking sandals which I have to wear because of my bad ankle and my bad heel.

The day before I'd put $20 worth of petrol in my car's tank and that was enough to get me to the Z petrol station (ex-Shell) in Levin, which because of early morning traffic took one and three quarter hours of driving. 

Anyway,  the attendant finished pumping my petrol, as I was walking into the shop, hunting for my wallet and ..... NO WALLET!   I'd left my wallet and my phone at home.  Rats.

I had to fill in a form vowing to return to the Z petrol station Levin with $71.00  by 9 30 a.m. the following morning.  "Don't forget to put your Driving Licence number on the form," said the shop guy.

I couldn't.  My licence was in my wallet, along with hundreds of loyalty cards (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit here), my credit cards, and bank cards.   Still,  I filled out the form as best I could, embarrassment flushing my cheeks.

"Look, can I post you a cheque?" I asked.

"Nope.  It has to be cash," said the shop assistant.  

"What about if I ring you with my credit card number?"

"Sorry.  Cash.  By 9.30 tomorrow  morning," he reiterated, just in case I hadn't already latched onto that.

I drove all the way back to Wellington.  It was only an hour and a half this time, grabbed a sandwich, rang Z Head Office to see if they could think of an easy way to pay("It's up to the individual petrol station," they said).  It was a one and a half-hour journey back to Levin.

Then ...  another hour and a half journey back to Wellington.  All in all, I figure, petrol for the four journeys would have come to about $75. 

I stopped at Hataitai beach for a swim.  I needed it.

I rang Z Head Office again and said what say I'd been driving to Auckland and had got as far as Hamilton (about eight hours away) and discovered I'd left my wallet at home.    Would I have had to return to Wellington and drive back to Hamilton again in a 24 hour period?

"It's up to the individual Z service station to decide,"  repeated the gentlman in the customer support office.

Stinkers....