I never truly appreciated microwaves in convenience stores until I started going on long road trips, and would need to warm up some food while I filled up gas.
However, after the bizarre news coming out of Florida this week, I may have to start packing cold sandwiches only when traveling by road.
A Jacksonville gas station owner has recently revealed that some customers walk into her On the Fly convenience store to warm up urine samples. No, really, you haven't read that part wrong.
"They're just random people walking [in] and it's happening every day," the frustrated store owner, Parul Patel, told WJXX-TV. She clarified that those who do it aren't customers, they just "walk in off the street, microwave their urine containers then leave."
So why is this occurring at Patel's store in the first place?
Apparently, it's just another trick people use to pass drug tests. Urine needs to be at a certain temperature in order to yield accurate results.
The normal temperature should be around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is one of the reasons why people use the microwave at Patel's store to heat up the bodily fluid.
Also, there are two labs near the gas station, Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, but according to local news outlet, the latter location does not collect urine samples. However, there is another LabCorp located about five miles away that offers urinalysis.
After an aggressive encounter with a woman who was told not to warm urine, Patel got "sick and tired" of this awful practice, and put up a sign that asks customers to use the microwave only to heat up food.
"She started cussing at me," Patel recalled. "She said, "˜Well, where is the sign that says you can't use this for this kind of purpose?' That gave me the idea, "˜If that's what you're asking me, then I'll put the sign saying this is only for food use and not to use with your urine or anything else."
Unfortunately, her instructions were not taken seriously, so she took her plight to the local news station. Patel's story has since garnered nationwide attention, and she's hoping the hype will put an end to her problem.
While this case is undeniably odd, it isn't the first time that a store owner has found themselves in such a predicament.
In May, a woman was cited for damaging a microwave at a 7-Eleven store in Denver, Colorado after she allegedly warmed up urine in the machine, causing it to explode. The store clerk, who heard a "loud bang" called the police and later informed them that the appliance was worth $500.
