Working at BP Norseman

I arrived in Norseman on Friday, June 23rd and was already on the schedule for the following week.  That evening Paula, the manager, showed me around the BP and my new home.  I would be living in a share house with two other backpackers.  Ted, from England, and Nick, from the Netherlands, both also worked at BP.  It was comforting to know that I would have at least two other guys around my age to hang out with.

The backpacker house in Norseman...not much!

Our living room

And the kitchen

Instead of starting on Monday I actually had my first shift Saturday, the day after I arrived!  Someone called in sick and Paula asked me if I could fill in.  I was hoping to get a lot of hours, and so far so good!  The shift started at 2 pm and ended at 8:30, with a half an hour break.  Two employees worked the afternoon shifts on the console; one from 2:00-8:30 and the second from 3:30-10:00.  On the upcoming schedule I had six afternoon shifts for a total of 36 hours.

The BP is not only a gas station but also serves a full menu for carry-out or dine-in.  We don't do table service, but customers order at the register (or the "till" as the Aussies say) and we bring the food to them.  We had to take down the food orders by hand and deliver them to the kitchen.  The register was not as old school; we had a touch screen where we could select the menu items and scan products from the shop.

Outside the BP shop; the front of the building has pumps for
cars and there are larger bays for trucks around the side.

I was surprised to learn that gas (or "petrol") was not pre-pay, which is different than all the stations I've been to in the US.  I can remember a time during my childhood when certain gas stations let you pump before paying, but drive-offs became so common it didn't make any sense to do it that way.

Without pre-pay every customer has to come in to check out at the register.  I can see why they do it - people are more likely to buy things from the shop if the are forced to come inside - but it made our job more difficult.  We were supposed to keep and eye out for anyone doing a "runner," but there really wasn't much we could do to stop them.  BP had cameras, but they weren't clear enough to read the license plates!  Luckily drive-offs were less common than I would have thought, but we did get an average of one or two a week.

Since every customer paying for petrol came in the store the shop could get quite busy.  There is one other gas station in Norseman but the BP is larger and busier.  There are separate pumps for cars and for large trucks.  The Eyre Highway connecting the west coast to the eastern states is a popular route for truckers, and many stop at the BP to fill up and get food.  Obviously traffic ebbs and flows, and during parts of the shift it is quiet, but we will often get a dozen or more people in the shop at one time.

The BP Norseman has lots of facilities for weary travelers.

Across from the BP, where the Eyre and Coolgardie Highways meet.
You know there isn't much along the Nullabor when the second stop
listed is Adelaide, over 1,000 kms away!

While on the console our primary responsibility is to check out customers, keep an eye on the pumps, and deliver food orders.  We also make coffees from a Batista machine - and during the morning shifts it seems like every other customer will order one.  At $4.80 for a regular and $6.50 for a large, I'm sure Paula loves to see those coffee orders!  Oh and Australian coffee struck me as odd - the most common type, called a flat white, has no water, just hot milk and an espresso shot.  And these things aren't in small cups; the large is a good 20 ounces...no wonder why so many of the truckers have weight issues!

Many travelers complain about the prices in Australia, but it didn't take me long to realize that Norseman was on another level.  Price comparisons between products vary, but several of the things that take up large chunks of a backpacker's budget - such as alcohol and cigarettes - are off the charts.  A case of cheap beer at a liquor store would cost you at least $40 (about $35 USD), but in Norseman it's closer to $50.  Cigarettes are upwards of $20 a pack, and at the BP many brands were close to $30 (good thing I don't smoke!).

Here is a list of common alcohol prices one would find in an Australian city (Norseman would be higher).  Note the goon, a cheap boxed wine - a terrible drink, but the mainstay of many backpackers' alcohol consumption!

Item	Price
A six pack (6 beers)	$15+ for common Australian beer, or $20+ for boutique or import beer.
A slab of beer (24 beers)	$45+ for common Australian beer, or $60+ for boutique or import beer.
A goon bag (4 litres wine)	$10+ a bargain for backpackers and students!
A cheap bottle of wine	About the $10 range is normal for a good cheap wine, but you can find bottles for $5.
A good bottle of wine	$18+ if fairly normal for a good wine, although like all wines around the world you can pay a ridiculous price on some bottles.
A bottle of spirits (700ml)	$45 for something standard like Jack Daniels, Smirnoff, Jim Beam, etc. Other more exotic bottle increase in cost.
A pint in a pub (545ml)	$8-10 is not unusual, although some pubs run specials for $5-6 per pint.
A pot of beer in a pub (275ml)	$4 (+/- 50 cents) is pretty normal.
A glass of wine (100 - 200ml)	$5-8 is pretty standard for a house wine in a pub. Depending on the establishment the house wine could be something rather good, or it could be goon wine. Expect to pay more in a high end restaurant, but the quality will be better.

To be fair many items in a typical supermarket aren't horribly more expensive than back home.  At our BP though, things were different.  A 500ml bottle of coke: $5.30; cheapest bottle of water: $3; small order of fries: $6; one chicken wing: $3.50; an order of two eggs with bacon and a piece of toast: $12.  I could go on, but I think you get the picture.  Not everything was a complete rip-off, but lets put it this way: in 5 months of working at BP I can count the number of things I bought from the shop on my fingers (and that's including souvenirs for the family).  On the bright side, things back in the US will seem dirt cheap!