I pumped gas last night.

[Mai72]

My buddy is a manager at a gas station here in New Jersey. He needed someone to work the midnight shift (11pm-7am) because his night guy called out sick, and he was stuck with no help. I pumped gas when I was in highschool, and I wasn't doing anything last night so I told him I would do it.

I live on an island and the weekends in the summer are a bit crazy. We had a barbeque/blues festival so you can just imagine the amount of people who descended on our shores. It was slamming! I was jammed from 11pm-1am. By 2am the drunks were out screaming, dancing and yelling. So many rude people.

Speaking about rude people. I had a few that were just downright nasty. After 11pm, gas transactions have to be either exact cash or credit. I had a guy ask for a fill and he was going to pay with cash. I told him the cash needs to be exact and he yelled "That's f*cking stupid!" I was also in the store getting a quick drink and I had a guy yell at me "I hope that blue drink is good. I was waiting here for a long time, and I want gas!" He was only waiting a few minutes. When I said "Have a nice night" the customer looked at me and said "That's too late now." Like I ruined his night. lol.

I made $40 in tips. Why would you tip someone to pump your gas?

I'm surprised and sad to see that things have changed since I last pumped gas. I wasn't allowed to check oil, and fill a tire with air. When a customer's battery died on the fuel court I wasn't even allowed to help him push the car to a safe area. Why? Lawsuits.

Well that was my experience last night. :biggrin:

 

[Brainonska511]

It's ridiculous that New Jersey doesn't allow self-pumping of gas. It's not like there is a rash of freak gasoline fight accidents in places that allow self pumped gas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Huc47Dqsg8

 

[Wingznut]

It's ridiculous that New Jersey doesn't allow self-pumping of gas. It's not like there is a rash of freak gasoline fight accidents in places that allow self pumped gas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Huc47Dqsg8

I live in Oregon, where we too aren't allowed to pump our own gas.

And I am just fine with that.

 

[balloonshark]

Do the fumes make you dizzy or high when you're not used to it? Or is that why you volunteered

 

[Mai72]

You can read why you're not allowed to pump gas in NJ here.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...you_cant_pump_your_own_gas_in_new_jersey.html

Also, consider that NJ is having a terrible time producing jobs. If they were to end full serve that would mean the end of thousand of gas attendant jobs. These are only minimum wage jobs, but they are still jobs that NJ desperately needs.

I live in a resort area, so you can imagine how it's like 9 months out of the year. It's a nice place to live, but unless you work in government or own a business it's impossible to make a living. This is why many people end up leaving when they finish high school.

 

[Mai72]

Do the fumes make you dizzy or high when you're not used to it? Or is that why you volunteered

The fumes are a nice added bonus.

I was getting pissed that people would leave their car running while I was pumping their gas. Then, when I asked them kindly to turn off their motor a few gave me a difficult time.

 

[lxskllr]

You can read why you're not allowed to pump gas in NJ here.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...you_cant_pump_your_own_gas_in_new_jersey.html

Also, consider that NJ is having a terrible time producing jobs. If they were to end full serve that would mean the end of thousand of gas attendant jobs. These are only minimum wage jobs, but they are still jobs that NJ desperately needs.

I live in a resort area, so you can imagine how it's like 9 months out of the year. It's a nice place to live, but unless you work in government or own a business it's impossible to make a living. This is why many people end up leaving when they finish high school.

Unless NoScript was blocking something, I didn't see any good reason NJ is full serve only. I stand by my conclusion Jersians can't be trusted to operate with competent coarse motor skills. Perhaps they should give everyone shape cubes to practice. We give them to our preschoolers here, but it's never too late to learn ;^)

No one deserves a job for no good reason. If there's a real market for full serve gas, then the need will be filled. It isn't the government's place to mandate it.

 

[IronWing]

By 2am the drunks were out screaming, dancing and yelling.
[snip]
I made $40 in tips. Why would you tip someone to pump your gas?

So you don't call the cops on their drunk driving asses.

 

[ViRGE]

I made $40 in tips. Why would you tip someone to pump your gas?

On the off chance I need gas on a major holiday, I tip. Being out working on a holiday sucks, so it's the least I can do since you're out pumping gas instead of staying home with your family.

 

[mmntech]

Buddy of mine used to pump gas at a full service station in a small town. Has lots of stories to tell.

He was the only guy on duty some days so he'd have to serve multiple cars at once. So he'd set the pumps to automatic while he'd go serve the next customer. No need to hold the handle down. Pump fills the car until the set price is reached, or detects the tank is full.

One business looking guy comes in and is ranting about how huge a hurry he's in. He decides he can't wait for the tank to finish filling so he's going to just hang up the handle, pay, and take off. It's illegal to do this for one, and of course the machine is on automatic. So he takes the nozzle out and starts cursing and spraying gasoline everywhere. Soaks his fancy suit head to toe. My buddy runs over and hits the emergency shutoff. Guy's lucky was didn't set himself on fire. Had to drive to his big important meeting reeking of gas.

He also tells the usual Clerks type stories. Folks coming in drunk and what not. Weird townies. Folks trying to fill up non-standard (and non-legal) containers.

They also filled up propane tanks. You can't fill those tanks up to full. They need space for the liquid to expand into a gas. So they have a safety valve to prevent over filling. Some customers would come in ranting about being shortchanged and would try to fill the tanks themselves when they thought nobody was looking. He told me of one old dude that wasted $100 worth of propane trying to "make sure the tank was full this time". All of it went out the safety valve.

 

[Mai72]

So you don't call the cops on their drunk driving asses.

The drunks are walking from the bars down to the gas station. It's also a convenience store as well. People can purchase junk food, cigarettes, hoagies, etc.

If I saw someone who was intoxicated and they were driving I'd call the cops right away. I don't tolerate drinking and driving.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm not even sure if we still have full serve gas stations here. Have not been to one in a while.

 

[Crono]

It's ridiculous that New Jersey doesn't allow self-pumping of gas. It's not like there is a rash of freak gasoline fight accidents in places that allow self pumped gas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Huc47Dqsg8

This. The only reason I ever stop at NJ stations when I'm passing through is because the gas is cheaper than in New York. It's as dumb a law as if they were to require bathroom attendants everywhere. It just doesn't make sense anymore.

And here's another Zoolander GIF just because

 

[BUTCH1]

Unless NoScript was blocking something, I didn't see any good reason NJ is full serve only. I stand by my conclusion Jersians can't be trusted to operate with competent coarse motor skills. Perhaps they should give everyone shape cubes to practice. We give them to our preschoolers here, but it's never too late to learn ;^)

No one deserves a job for no good reason. If there's a real market for full serve gas, then the need will be filled. It isn't the government's place to mandate it.

Apparently no one in NJ minds having full-serve only, there are advantages time-wise. I can't count how many times I've waited while some moron is yapping on the phone after pumping his/her gas while others wait for a pump to come open. Sometimes they think it's a great spot to clean out all the trash in their vehicles again, while people are waiting.

 

[Ken g6]

After 11pm, gas transactions have to be either exact cash or credit. I had a guy ask for a fill and he was going to pay with cash. I told him the cash needs to be exact and he yelled "That's f*cking stupid!"

Well, that is stupid! They should either give change or close the station.

I made $40 in tips. Why would you tip someone to pump your gas?

Maybe because you didn't have exact change?

I'm surprised and sad to see that things have changed since I last pumped gas. I wasn't allowed to check oil, and fill a tire with air. When a customer's battery died on the fuel court I wasn't even allowed to help him push the car to a safe area. Why? Lawsuits.

That's stupid too. Lawsuits by whom? If by attendants, workers' comp should cover it. If by customers, why would they have grounds to sue?

 

[unokitty]

My buddy is a manager at a gas station here in New Jersey. He needed someone to work the midnight shift (11pm-7am) because his night guy called out sick, and he was stuck with no help. I pumped gas when I was in highschool, and I wasn't doing anything last night so I told him I would do it...

Well that was my experience last night. :biggrin:

When I was in high school, I pumped gas too. Of course, that was 50+ years ago, and Chicago isn't an island.

Still, I found it pretty novel. And somewhat entertaining.

That was before gas stations became quick stop stores... so all we had was gas and oil... But the maps were free...

Don't remember that many drunks. Then again, we closed up well before midnight...

Uno

 

[MongGrel]

I didn't know were any states that required full service these days actually.

 

[Charmonium]

That's stupid too. Lawsuits by whom? If by attendants, workers' comp should cover it. If by customers, why would they have grounds to sue?

Never underestimate the creativity of lawyers. For example, with worker's comp, you may not be able to sue an employer, but if machinery hurts someone, you can sue the mfr for product liability. Also, WC might not apply if the employee is doing something outside the scope of their employment. So if they're hired to pump gas and get a hernia from pushing a car, that could give them the right to sue you. I don't know that for a fact, it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Belegost]

Unless NoScript was blocking something, I didn't see any good reason NJ is full serve only. I stand by my conclusion Jersians can't be trusted to operate with competent coarse motor skills. Perhaps they should give everyone shape cubes to practice. We give them to our preschoolers here, but it's never too late to learn ;^)

No one deserves a job for no good reason. If there's a real market for full serve gas, then the need will be filled. It isn't the government's place to mandate it.

One business looking guy comes in and is ranting about how huge a hurry he's in. He decides he can't wait for the tank to finish filling so he's going to just hang up the handle, pay, and take off. It's illegal to do this for one, and of course the machine is on automatic. So he takes the nozzle out and starts cursing and spraying gasoline everywhere. Soaks his fancy suit head to toe. My buddy runs over and hits the emergency shutoff. Guy's lucky was didn't set himself on fire. Had to drive to his big important meeting reeking of gas.

Really, so incompetent as to not be able to click the handle to stop the pump? I really think there's no hope, no matter how many toddler games you throw at it.

Also a good reason why I won't drive through those states, hell if I'm letting someone like Mai touch my car.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I pumped my own gas this afternoon. I honestly can't remember the last time someone pumped gas for me.

 

[Pacfanweb]

You can read why you're not allowed to pump gas in NJ here.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...you_cant_pump_your_own_gas_in_new_jersey.html

Also, consider that NJ is having a terrible time producing jobs. If they were to end full serve that would mean the end of thousand of gas attendant jobs. These are only minimum wage jobs, but they are still jobs that NJ desperately needs.

I live in a resort area, so you can imagine how it's like 9 months out of the year. It's a nice place to live, but unless you work in government or own a business it's impossible to make a living. This is why many people end up leaving when they finish high school.

Let the free market decide. It's not the government's job to mandate that something so simple as pumping gas can't be done by the car owner. Just an absolutely ridiculous thing they have up there.

And yeah, it's impossible to make a living up there because of decades of voting for tax and spend politicians who promised the voters "services". Problem is, "services" cost "money" and so as they kept adding things they had to raise taxes and the market followed that.
Now, nobody can afford to live there.

Trouble is, the idiots are moving down South because it's cheaper to live and it's a LOT nicer. Then they vote for the same types of tax-and-spend folks, and the cost of living here is gradually going up.

 

[John Connor]

I pumped gas too! After I ate taco bell

I own a pet rabbit.

Is your island called Little Tall Island? That's where the apoplectic hell starts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_of_the_Century

 

[Mai72]

Well, that is stupid! They should either give change or close the station.

Maybe because you didn't have exact change?

That's stupid too. Lawsuits by whom? If by attendants, workers' comp should cover it. If by customers, why would they have grounds to sue?

Customers will sue if something were to go wrong.

For instance, say if I put air in a lady's car and her tire goes blows out while she is doing 75 mph on the highway. She ends up hitting another car, and cripples the driver. If she were to say that I helped her with putting air in the tire, the person who was severely injured can come back and sue both me and the company.

 

[Mai72]

Really, so incompetent as to not be able to click the handle to stop the pump? I really think there's no hope, no matter how many toddler games you throw at it.

Also a good reason why I won't drive through those states, hell if I'm letting someone like Mai touch my car.

I pumped gas into a new maserati. Those cars easily start at $100k

No issues. I didn't get gas on the side of the car. I didn't scratch the car.

:biggrin:

 

[gorcorps]

Being required to use full service would piss me off. I'd like to have the option, but not forced on me. It'd be like if a state didn't allow ATMs because they want you to go into a bank just to keep teller jobs.