Getting fuel on a Sunday...with vouchers.....

So we wanted to go to Rome on Sunday to shop around IKEA but needed to put gas in the truck. Ok simple we stop do that and then hit the road...right? No. I guess I should explain how these fuel vouchers work before I go on. We get fuel at a discounted rate since we are posted/assigned overseas so R buys the tokens we need from work a hundred at a time then we fill them out with the relevant information and hand them to the person who fills up the truck. They are only taken in Latina and only at two petrol/gas stations. But as we found out yesterday...NOT on a Sunday! The main part of the gas station is closed on a Sunday...you know the bit where you go inside and pay get snacks etc.... so there are these guys who sit on little plastic chairs and fill your car up when you pull in but on a cash only basis...hmmm?? Sometimes there is a whole plastic table and a few guys sitting around playing cards! What a way to spend the day!
Anyway we pull into the first station and the guy there (who speaks pretty good English) tells us he can't take them because the store itself is closed but directs us to the next one a little way down the road. They take them there he says. Ok great! Grazia...Arrevaderchi! So the next stop is about a mile down the road and we get a guy who doesn't speak a lick of English but asks if we speak French...WTF? So we get the just of "the store is closed we can't take your fuel tokens" okay no problem so just fill her up and I will pay you cash. NO the guy goes and sits back down again...HUH?? R gestures for him to come back over and actually shows him a 50 Euro note and says full and diesel, per favore, but he doesn't seem to understand and is pointing at something down the road??? At this point...which is a full twenty minutes later... we assess our fuel level and say oh stuff it we can probably make it there but will need to find a station in Rome.
So we make it up to Rome and decide to go ahead and get fuel before we shop in case all the men in their little plastic chairs close up for the day and we are unable to get any fuel at all. The man spoke English and understood cash...yeah!! Finally get what we are after and make it to IKEA of course after our GPS kept telling us to turn where there wasn't a turn at all, but thats a story for another day! So in short if you are using fuel tokens in Latina don't try it on a Sunday!