Oregon Trail 2018, you died from pumping your own gas?

In reply to mtn :

Ahh, that makes much more sense. Did not know that such a place existed. 

We've had our credit card stolen twice in the last 4 years. Both times were directly following a trip to NJ and being forced to purchase fuel. Last trip we filled in PA before entering NJ. 

mtn said:

Furious_E said:

In reply to Stefan :

Isn't Vancouver quite a drive from Portland? Like enough of one that said relative would have to fill up before departing Vancouver and again upon returning?

Vacouver Washington, not Canada.

Yeah, Vancouver, Washington.  Its actually more of a tax-shelter suburb of Portland since its just across the river from Portland, Oregon.  Oregon has income tax, but no sales tax and Washington has sales tax, but no income tax (plus higher gas taxes and the ability to pump your own gas).  So many people move to Vancouver to afford larger houses, but shop in Oregon to avoid the sales tax.  People with Oregon ID's can avoid sales tax on their purchases in Washington if the vendor agrees.

Owning a classic car and filling up in NJ can be fun.  The attendant will usually let you pump it yourself once they hear they have to stay there and can't walk away.

Apparently there is also a loop hole with diesel and you can pump it yourself if the station lets you.  When I had my Cummins, some attendants would hardly acknowledge I was there.

David S. Wallens said:

No self-service gas where I grew up on Long Island, too. True story: I believe that my mom has never pumped gas. 

My wife, who actually managed a self serve gas station, has never pumped her own gas. In fact, our local station is full service and she still won't do it.

It's for towns of less than 40k. If you've ever driven through Eastern Oregon (or god forbid New Jersey) with a quarter tank of gas after 10 PM and found all the gas stations were closed, is a good thing. Pumps can stay on all night now.

Most of them are probably trolls though I'm sure an appreciable percentage aren't.

Hey!?!!! what was that noise?????? Z31's head exploding?!?!???

I'd say most of those posts are people trying to get a rise out of others and it's working.

When I travel to Oregon I do get annoyed waiting for someone to fill my car, then I think back to my teenaged years working at a gas station and remember that most people are too stupid to operate a pump.

Filling gas cans in the bed of a truck, smoking, or locking the pump handle and wandering off to do other things.

I mean you're only transfering a dozens of gallons of highly flammable liquid into a $40,000 machine you're still making payments on, I can't imagine why you'd want to supervise something like that.

Several times a month we'd lose a handle to some wangrod who wasn't paying attention and every now and then someone would shove their gas cap in the handle then come into the store. The pump would then pour gasoline all over the ground.

yeah, maybe people shouldn't pump their own gas.

759NRNG said:

Hey!?!!! what was that noise?????? Z31's head exploding?!?!???

Yes, you guys will whine about trolls, knowing they aren't serious, just for something to whine about. 

It's like facebook or something.

In reply to AClockworkGarage:

If people are too stupid to handle the simple task of filling their car with gasoline, then they certainly are not up to the much more complicated task of driving.

AClockworkGarage said:

I'd say most of those posts are people trying to get a rise out of others and it's working.

When I travel to Oregon I do get annoyed waiting for someone to fill my car, then I think back to my teenaged years working at a gas station and remember that most people are too stupid to operate a pump.

Filling gas cans in the bed of a truck, smoking, or locking the pump handle and wandering off to do other things.

I mean you're only transfering a dozens of gallons of highly flammable liquid into a $40,000 machine you're still making payments on, I can't imagine why you'd want to supervise something like that.

Several times a month we'd lose a handle to some wangrod who wasn't paying attention and every now and then someone would shove their gas cap in the handle then come into the store. The pump would then pour gasoline all over the ground.

yeah, maybe people shouldn't pump their own gas.

Several times per month? Really? 

I worked at QT growing up, stores anywhere between 12-20 gas pumps, all people doing it themselves. I personally saw it happen maybe 2 times in 3+ years of working there. It was far from a common occurence. 

In reply to z31maniac :

It was probably more common when people first went from full service to self service. People weren't used to the whole process, especially when some stations made you start, then go in and pay andthen pump etc. All this before the credit card became the common currency at a pump and could all be done on site, without ever moving. 

Maybe it's more common in the surrounding states (PA, NY, MD etc) that have people coming from a no-pump state to a diy state. Not to mention that it's next to impossible with modern pumps to flow fuel out of the tank with all the automatic shutoffs in place. 

MazdaFace said:

I mostly get frustrated when the pumps themselves are slow. There are 2 gas stations here in town that I won't go to just because the pump itself takes FOREVER to actually pump the gas. Extremely frustrating.

Man that is a new one for me. They come out like firehoses here in California. I can fill the truck in no time flat all 43 gallons of it. 

Just remind them death by gas pump beats dysentery any day. My wife and I toured Oregon on our honeymoon. Based on my experience pretty much everywhere else, I pulled up to the pump and started to get out of the car, only to be accosted by a homeless-looking man screaming at me like I was juggling chainsaws while smoking crack and shooting off random squirts from a flame thrower. It was ridiculous.

In reply to AClockworkGarage :

Not sure if trolling...

If 95% of the population can pump gas without destroying modern civilization, I think another 2.5% will figure it out too.

In reply to wearymicrobe :

It happens here if all the pumps are running at once at some stations. 

dumb as a bag of rocks..........

Like a chicken watchin' a card trick.............

There are bumper stickers or decals I've seen that says something along the lines of 'Jersey girls don't pump their own gas.'

Use to be you never pumped your own gas.  The station attendant always did it after asking how much you wanted.

When did self service pumps come into being ?

I'd have a real hard time allowing anyone else to pump gas for me. In fact I don't think I could do it.

I worked at a gas station for a year while in college. (New Jersey here) and even with full service, we would get somebody once a week trying to pull away with the nozzle still in the tank. The best was when people brought boats in. Living at the shore, this was not uncommon as fuel was MUCH more expensive on the water. One guy pulled up with his barely trailer legal boat and went to fill it up. As the decks were above head height, he climbed up to fill them himself. 30 gallons later, I hear the bilge pump kick in. Idiot managed to not put the nozzle into the fuel tank. Had to call the police and fire department over that one. Somebody got fined, and somebody else got fired. thankfully not me.

It was a dirty, smelly, underpaying, hot, cold, and buggy job. Some good memories, but not many.

iceracer said:

Use to be you never pumped your own gas.  The station attendant always did it after asking how much you wanted.

When did self service pumps come into being ?

I started driving around 1984.  I remember having a choice for the last time around 1987 or 88 in the Navy in Norfolk VA, with full serve being like $.10 or $.20 extra/gallon.

At work today a very competent plumber tried to tell our pastry chef her biscotti was pumpernickle.  We were slightly amused and not at all  bent out of shape.  I'm reminded of the show 'How the States got their shape'.  Why can't we all be different?   

Umm. If you jam the handle with the gas cap, the pump just shuts off when the tank is full.

Exactly like it would if I used the lock that they decided to remove in the name of safety so that now I need to stand here for fifteen minutes while the tank fills on the Suburban when I could be cleaning my windows and checking my oil.

It's pumping gas, not rocket science.

And no, nobody puts gas in my motorcycle or in a customer's car except for me.