HAMILTON, Ont. — Driver Bob Rouleau of Kingston, Ont., got a terrific surprise this week when he purchased a soft drink at the Petro Pass convenience store in Hamilton, Ont. Wednesday.

Seconds after he paid for his purchase, clerk Kim Hannah donned a plastic tiara, grabbed a small silver bucket and started banging on the bottom of it.

Then she marched out to the parking lot.

She was announcing to everybody in the place that Rouleau was the one-millionth customer at the 10-year-old Petro Pass store, which was celebrating the event with a special Trucker Day.

“At first when Kim started making that fuss I didn’t know what the heck was happening; I thought I’d done something wrong,” Rouleau told todaystrucking.com afterwards.

Much to his delight, Rouleau, a driver with Locomote Systems of Milton, Ont., was then presented with about $600 worth of swell gifts by Petro Pass Agent Terry Stray. Coincidentally, Rouleau’s actually a regular at the stop. His weekly route takes him from Hamilton to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and then to Montreal and back to Hamilton.
 

Bob Rouleau is a regular at the Hamilton Petro Pass
and on June 24, Agent Terry Stray honored Rouleau as the
one millionth customer.

“It’s a great bunch there at that Petro-Pass; Kim’s always fooling around so you never know what she’s going to say next.”

“And like I told my wife, after all the driving I’ve done all over North America, it’s the first time I’ve ever won anything, even so much as a cup of coffee,” Rouleau said.

He has been with Locomote for 20 years.

For Trucker Day Wednesday, the popular truck stop was transformed into a small festival grounds as drivers from across the country enjoyed the hospitality.

The patio area was outfitted with shade-providing tents; Piller’s Sausages & Deli dished out savory hot dogs, pop and chips; Altruck International Truck Centres had a beautiful blue Eagle on display and XM Satellite Radio was offering visitors a chance to win free radios by whacking pucks into a hockey net.

Also, every 20 minutes or so during the event, Agent Terry Stray drew tickets out of a hat and distributed prizes, partially sponsored by Map-Art.

Finally, a tiara-less Kim Hannah brought out a huge tray of free brownies adorned with candles that read “1,000,000.”

“There’s so much discouraging news out there in the media,” Stray said, “it’s time to share a little good news.”