Confession: I Was A Teenage Pump Jockey

"SteveLehto" (stevelehto) 02/12/2016 at 10:00 • Filed to: None

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Gather ‘round kiddies, I’m here to tell you what it was like working at a gas station in 1979. Unless you live in NJ (or OR?), you probably have no idea what it was like to pull into a “Full Service” station to get gas.

In 1979 I was about to enter my senior year of HS and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that drank gas like a modern day SUV. If I wanted to keep it rolling, I had to get a job. I applied for a job at a Mobil station at the end of my street and they hired me. It was my first non-paperboy job.

In those days, when customers entered the lot their car would go over a rubber hose filled with air which made a bell ring inside the station to let us know a customer was coming. They would pull up to a pump and wait for someone like me to trot out and ask them what I could do for them.

With gas less than a dollar a gallon, it was not uncommon to have people buy $5 at a time. But being “Full Service,” we had to be ready to do anything else the customer needed. Check the air in all your tires? Sure! Check your oil? I’ll get right on it! And of course, we washed the front and back windows with a squeegee.

Customers would routinely not remember which side of the car their gas tank was on. I guess if you aren’t pumping the gas yourself, it doesn’t register the same way. They’d also pull up ten feet from the pump and shut off the car without wondering if the hose would reach. More than a few cut it too close and got so close I had to ask them to fire the car up and move it over a few feet so I could actually access the pump.

We’d sit in the little office area and wait for customers. We’d have to dress for the weather so if it was winter, we’d be bundled up. Summers weren’t bad unless it was raining.

We didn’t have credit card readers so we had to take the card inside and clunk it through the impression-maker and then take the receipt out to the customer to sign. Every now and then a customer would show up and act surprised that we didn’t take Diner’s Club or some other card I’d never seen before.

I eventually learned to plug flat tires (I still carry a tire repair kit in my truck and repaired a flat as recently as last summer) and even drive a tow-truck. Winter months would bring rafts of dead-battery calls and cars-in-ditch calls. There’s nothing more fun than going to jump a customer car and having them freak out when you tell them the “wrecker call” was $35. In 1979 dollars that was a lot, apparently. Yanking the car from a ditch cost even more - with corresponding vile epithets thrown my way.

We even had the towing contract for the local police department and got to tow wrecked vehicles from accident scenes. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! but that was an odd period of my life. I’d be jolted at 3 a.m. from a sound sleep and just be waking up as I pulled up to a surreal vision of a car someplace it shouldn’t be, or of injured people pulled from a wreck, sitting among broken glass and car parts. More than a few times I went back to bed after towing the car and wondered how real it had all been when I woke up the next morning. But when I showed up at the station, there would be a wreck or two I had dragged in the night before.

I can still picture the more horrific wrecks more than 35 years later. The Camaro that hit an oak tree so hard the engine was pushed through the firewall. A little green sports car with the driver’s teeth lodged in the dash padding. Another little car with two distinct dents in the windshield but only one occupant according to the person the police found sitting in the car (the driver was drunk and told the other person to get into the driver’s seat and lie - and then ran away).

The only down side was when it rained while I was on pump duty. We did not have a roof over the pumps and more often than not someone would pull in to the farthest pump from the building at the height of the storm. And then get $3 worth of gas. Most of the work was easy, though. And the station had regular customers from the neighborhood. Some stopped by the same time each week, mainly just to say Hello.

Eventually, I went to college and then had jobs where I worked indoors. But I look back fondly on the time at the station. I got to work on my own car when there was no other work to do and I got to work around other people’s car and get paid for it. If there were full serve stations around here now, I would patronize them just for old time’s sake. And really - what better job is there for a teenager than working around cars like that?

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Umrguy42: Add $5 for shipping and handling > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:06

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So did they or didn’t they make you wear those goofy uniforms you always see in the movies? :)

CalzoneGolem > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:06

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You’d already know this if you followed me on the Untitled Car Show podcast.

SteveLehto > Umrguy42: Add $5 for shipping and handling 02/12/2016 at 10:08

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No uniforms. We got to wear jeans and t-shirts so long as they were clean and didn’t say anything stupid on them.

Umrguy42: Add $5 for shipping and handling > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:12

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Oh, did you ever get any phone calls yesterday?

Roundbadge > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:13

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Incidentally, I stopped at a full-service Gulf station in Bennington VT in 2014. Confused the hell out of me when I popped my seat belt to get out and saw the attendant standing at my door.

SteveLehto > Umrguy42: Add $5 for shipping and handling 02/12/2016 at 10:14

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In reference to the podcast, I got TWO (2) calls specifically telling me that they (the callers) were having a good day.

They were bright spots among all the other calls I get - about used cars exploding, new cars not being repairable, and so on.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:16

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this was me when I was younger. I think i’ve replied to you about it before. My parents owned a gas station with a shop attached in NJ from about the time when I was 8. Well, age 12 seemed fine to send me out to the pumps. Every time someone called in sick, quit or got fired (frequent in this position) guess who was out there working with no paycheck? That’s right - me.

Yes the 12 year old was entrusted to run 4 cars, handle the cash and credit card transactions (small hut in the middle of the pumps had a card machine in it).

SteveLehto > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner 02/12/2016 at 10:18

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Wow. Good times!

TheHondaBro > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:18

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Oregon still has pump jockeys.

SteveLehto > TheHondaBro 02/12/2016 at 10:19

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Thanks. That is why I had the “(OR?)“ in the first paragraph. I saw something that said it did but could not confirm how recent my reference was.

Patrick Nichols > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:21

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I go to one in NH when I’m around in the winter, because ~1-2 cents per gallon isn’t worth it at freezing temps.

OR does have full service stations everywhere, but you’re allowed to pump your own diesel which I think is weird. Don’t know if NJ is the same.

davedave1111 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:23

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With the ‘ Confessions ’ title and the emphasis on full service, I was very disappointed the story didn’t involve you giving extras... Although I’m sure you pumped that handle like any teenager.

Birddog > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:24

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There were still a few Full Serv stations in my area as late as 1993-4.

A friend worked at one in a relatively affluent neighborhood that also sold tires, did mechanical repairs and body/paint work. We made some nice connections through that place. In our Junior year (89-90) one classmate picked up a 1972 Duster off of the original owner on a tip from that gas station. $500 and I think it only had around 20,xxx or 30,xxx miles on it.

AntiSpeed > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 10:27

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You there! Fill it up with petroleum-distillate, and re-vulcanize my tires, post-haste!

Chariotoflove > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:31

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I remember those days. The last full service station I remember seeing was in Ithaca in 1991. Once the self-service pumps went in, most people weren’t willing to pay extra a gallon for the service that came with the “full” lane. I totally would now that I have more income to spend on conveniences that save me time and effort.

JohnnyBravo > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:31

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I eventually learned to plug flat tires (I still carry a tire repair kit in my truck and repaired a flat as recently as last summer)

This is seriously still a valuable skill, I taught a friend to plug tires last year and he was amazed. This is a guy who’s had the heads off an engine to work on it, but was scared to try and patch a tire - I guess everything’s intimidating until you do it.

Future next gen S2000 owner > TheHondaBro 02/12/2016 at 13:32

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The first time I got gas in OR I thought the attendant was a homeless guy trying to hustle me to pump my gas. He was a bit disheveled and I’m pretty sure he was high.

Doctor-G-and-the-wagen > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:32

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I’ve seen quite a few stations in northern Ohio that had attendants either exclusively or as an option.

Joe Patroni > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:33

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I used to work outdoors. I sometimes miss those days. I didn’t really have to think, just do what my boss told me.

Britt > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:34

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I was a pump jockey back in 1921 in Brockton, MA. Among other things. I always relish those memories so that I can look at today a little more positively... Though I do miss driving a forklift back in 1991. That was such a relaxing job.

Grim99CV > TheHondaBro 02/12/2016 at 13:34

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I’ve been to Oregon almost every year for the past 12 years, and to this day once I hit the first pump across the border, I still get out to pump my gas only to be hailed by the jockey to get back into my car.

drdude > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:34

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LOL.. yes, someone called him.

sdaniels8 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:34

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Wow.. that brings back memories. Drive aways with the pump still in the car. good times good times. Got to learn where the pump estop was the hard way. And then gooping the stick in the tanks to check for moisture. The local kids riding their bikes over the bell hose just to be funny... the memories.. lol

ateamfan42 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:35

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Customers would routinely not remember which side of the car their gas tank was on.

This reminds me of the story told to me by a friend that worked at the local full service station in high school. Like most stations in town, this one was small with a single island and two pumps.

A older woman drove up with her tank opening on the wrong side, and he explained to her that she’d need to turn the car around so he could fuel her car. She says “Okay”, and proceeds to drive around the pumps, pulling up on the other side of the island facing the opposite direction. But of course the same side of her car is adjacent to the pumps. She couldn’t understand why that wasn’t going to work.

I wish driver’s license exams included some sort of basic intelligence test.

drdude > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:35

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There is only one full service station near where I live. I dont go there because I have trust issues with todays youth.

jimz > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:37

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Yep, same here. I worked at a Shell station on Mack ave. (actually called “Greater Mack” on that stretch) in high school and into college. I once had a full-serve customer drive up in the middle of a hellacious rainstorm. She had a brand new car (literally, she just took delivery and the Monroney was still on the window) and of course she asked me to check the oil. On a brand new car. And she had the courtesy to pull up to the pump such that the nose of the car stuck out from under the canopy over the pump islands. Dutifully I check her oil (full) while getting soaked in a 48° downpour. I soggily walk to her (barely cracked open) window and let her know her oil level is fine, and she said “oh, ok, well it is a new car...” and it took every fiber of my being to resist responding “what, you don’t think they put oil in at the fucking factory?” Some people.

Oh, and didn’t even offer to duke me a tip.

(as an aside, it messes me up every time I look at a gas station price sign and see the numbers slowly going back down to what they were when I was in high school.)

hismiths > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:38

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I worked in a full service Shell station in the early ‘60s. We didn’t ask, we automatically did it all, fuel, oil, coolant, accessory fluids, check belts, all five tires, and windows ... ALL the windows.

That was my second job, first was ramp rat at a small airport FBO. All the same except we did it from a ladder.

Urambo Tauro > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 13:39

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Jcarr > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:39

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I thought you were just saying “or” and getting progressively more impatient.

Captain Hostile > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:39

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I pumped gas in the People’s Republic of New Jersey for two summers 91 & 92. In 92 it rained almost every weekend I worked...slight revenge on the rest of my friends for being free to enjoy their summers before college while I tried to make every dime I could before being a poor college kid. Only highlight ever were the ladies who’d give me that upskirt flash when I had to wash windows. People getting $3 worth of gas to spend the other $2 of the $5 they’d hand me on smokes (at the 7-11 next door) and ask me every time if we sold cigarettes (we didn’t). Rich jerks who’d only come in on “Wacky Wednesday” to get 10 cents of premium 93, and on and on and on. Being around cars was great...and I romped on a few customer cars when I could. People however...suck.

shirosake > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:39

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Utah has one or two gas stations as well (Fabulous Freddies). You can come here and relive your teens!

Wacko > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:40

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you old fart.

And I thought I was old. I was born i 1979.

But steve, we know you are young at heart.

loracks > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:40

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There’s a station with full service pumps right down the road from me in Charleston, SC. They like to yell at people who pull up to the full service pumps and try to pump the gas themselves.

facw > Birddog 02/12/2016 at 13:43

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Yeah, optional Full Service was around for quite a while, though seems to be dead these days.

I last got full service at a gas station in Medford, MA where apparently it is still required by law.

Grassh0pper > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:45

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Also note the pumps back then were analog; you couldn’t program them for a specific value, e.g. a $10 purchase. If a customer wanted any thing other than a fill-up you had to stand by the car ready to shut off the pump. This was a real pain if it was raining.

SteveLehto > JohnnyBravo 02/12/2016 at 13:46

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I found a bolt in my tire as I walked out of court one day on the other side of the state. Drove to a gas station and parked next to the air. Yanked the bolt, jammed in the plug, slapped in a little air and I was off again. All while wearing my going-to-court suit.

Monkey B > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:47

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anyone ever get mad at the oil cans?

GMo > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:48

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Just curious, Steve: did you grow up in Michigan?

SteveLehto > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 13:48

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That happened more than once that I saw. A weird but common misunderstanding.

jariten1781 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:49

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My great-grandmother never pumped gas in her life. Started driving in the late 20s; there’s an awesome picture of her, taken in the late 30s as far as we can tell, by her ratty Model A with like 6 spare tires strapped to it because her daily route took her through rough terrain. When the stations started shutting down full service around her in the 80s she just kept driving further and further to find them. When she finally had to give up driving in the early 90s she was doing an 80 mile round trip just for gas.

Some folks certainly appreciated y’all.

SteveLehto > Jcarr 02/12/2016 at 13:49

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OR WHAT?!

SteveLehto > Wacko 02/12/2016 at 13:50

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Quite true. I was working at the station when it went to “mini” serve and shortly after I left, it went self serve.

ateamfan42 > Urambo Tauro 02/12/2016 at 13:50

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OMG.... perfectly illustrated.

I fear for all of us that must share the road with such drivers. I understand some people have poor spacial reasoning, but perhaps those folks need to not be operating a large heavy vehicle.

SteveLehto > Grassh0pper 02/12/2016 at 13:51

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That too.

SteveLehto > Monkey B 02/12/2016 at 13:51

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He must HATE those oil cans!

SteveLehto > GMo 02/12/2016 at 13:52

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Yes, the gas station in question is in Birmingham (15 and Adams).

jk240sx > TheHondaBro 02/12/2016 at 13:52

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My wife is from OR and lived there her whole life. I met her in Bend OR on a road trip and convinced her to move to Florida where I lived. She was 35 and I had to teach her how to pump gas.

SteveLehto > jariten1781 02/12/2016 at 13:53

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That was one of the things we discussed when we saw the switch happening to self serve. We had a few clients who would not have been able to pump their own gas.

ManchesterMoobs > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:55

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A lot of women who used full service either had no thought of what they were exposing to the man on squigee, or they knew exactly what they were showing. Other than a few of the most overt gestures I have still ever seen, I am not sure which.

ibcr8iv > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:55

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I too was a pump jockey at Mobil my senior year of high school- but I was born in 1979. In ‘96/’97 Mobil had their ‘Friendly Serve’ island attendants- even though all the pumps were self service. When I started in 1996, gas was $1.03 a gallon- and $10 would almost fill the tank of my ‘94 Toyota pickup. I would pump gas, wash windows, check air/oil/fluids- typical island attendant stuff. The gas station was close to one of those gated communities featured on one of those ‘Real Housewives’ shows- so the cars and ‘celebrities’ that came through always made for some interesting experiences.

Our station had service bays that were closed- but motorists unfamiliar with the area would often drive a few miles on a flat tire to get to us, only to realize there was nobody there to fix their flat. It was against company policy for me to change a flat tire while on the clock, so I would often clock out, remove the flat tire, install the spare- and almost always make a pretty good tip for 15 minutes of work.

Oh, the good old days....

ImNotVeryCleverEither > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:56

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I graduated from pump jockey in the same time period to alignment mech and then moved laterally to truck tire specialist, all before I realized beating yourself to death to earn a living ain’t no way to live.

ateamfan42 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:56

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I quite like that modern cars have the little arrow on the fuel gauge showing on what side the filler is located. Not so much an issue (for most people) for a daily driver, but invaluable when driving a borrowed or rental car!

You’d think with that indicator even the most clueless drivers could figure out which side of the pumps to go.

Vin > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:57

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Full-service has stations, drive-up burger joints, and drive-in movie theaters: I think those are the only things I wish I’d grown up with. I'd definitely send my future kids to work at the station, no question.

Great write-up, as usual!

SteveLehto > ManchesterMoobs 02/12/2016 at 13:57

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Yeah, I always wondered about that. Teenagers get easily confused.

tomgabriele > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:58

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The guy in the $5,000 suit plugging his own tire? COME ON!

dustynnguyendood > Monkey B 02/12/2016 at 13:58

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Johnson, Navin R. Sounds like a typical bastard!

Mexifinn > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 13:59

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It’s funny - I grew up when most gas stations were switching (I’m 38 now). I do remember my mother always going to full serve and my dad complaining about the money she was “wasting” for those few extra cents per gallon.

Now these days I always pump my own gas and feel weird when I’m in NJ. But then again I’m a control freak and even hate it when other people (including my wife) do my laundry for me.

But there is something to be said about the whole customer service aspect of things, like the stories I’ve heard of gas station attendants slipping a piece of tape on the inside of the gas cover with the client’s name so they always knew what their name was (From a book called Raving Fans about customer service - a bible of sorts at the company I work at).

SteveLehto > ibcr8iv 02/12/2016 at 13:59

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I met Billy Sims, who was a running back for the Detroit Lions. Another worker had gone out to help him and signaled the rest of us to come out. He chatted for a while and signed a few autographs. A heck of a nice guy.

Wacko > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:00

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we still have odd places that are full service. But all the majors (shell, esso, petro-canada) are all self-serve.

i’m only 36 but it’s funny how much life has changed in the past 30 years.

from cell phones, to internet to self parking cars, and next self driving cars.

Hell even the supermarkets are basically self serve.

SteveLehto > ImNotVeryCleverEither 02/12/2016 at 14:01

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I remember the abrasive “soap” they had which could actually remove the smell of gasoline and oil from your hands. It would do that by abrading off the top few layers of skin. Made me realize that it wasn’t a career path.

SteveLehto > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:01

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When I was writing that, I was trying to remember when I first saw the arrow on a car. It really was amazing how many people “forgot” which side of the car their tank was on.

SteveLehto > Vin 02/12/2016 at 14:02

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Thanks. There are still a few drive-ins around but somehow it’s not the same.

SteveLehto > tomgabriele 02/12/2016 at 14:03

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I COULD have paid someone to do it but that would have taken longer. TIME IS MONEY!

GreenN_Gold > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:04

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“Eventually, I went to college and then had jobs where I worked indoors.”

My version of this is, “Eventually I went to college and then had jobs with weekends off.”

Even after college it took me a couple years, but entering the job market immediately after 9/11 was rather bleak, even for a grad.

SteveLehto > Wacko 02/12/2016 at 14:04

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What’s sad is I have no pics of myself working at the station. Mainly because that would have required a camera and then taking the film to the store to be developed.

ManchesterMoobs > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:05

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We had one particular woman who was sort of well known for flashing, not the upper part.

ateamfan42 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:05

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That, sir, is a fantastic story!

I think many modern drivers would need to call roadside assistence for something as simple as changing the battery in their keyless entry module.

Out in the rural parts of my state, a plug kit is cheap insurance. Even if there was cell coverage (which there likely isn’t), I think most “roadside assistance” programs would laugh if you wanted them to come out for a flat.

GreenN_Gold > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:05

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“Stay away from the cans!”

SteveLehto > GreenN_Gold 02/12/2016 at 14:06

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I had spent the years before the gas station trudging around town delivering the Detroit Free Press. That is the morning paper, which meant that I was out in the dark and, if it was winter, SNOW, dragging the papers around. It might have been that period of my life that caused me to want to work indoors.

SteveLehto > ManchesterMoobs 02/12/2016 at 14:07

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We had a few of those too. And of course, as you approach the car, the person on the outside has a slightly different point of view on the driver, especially in a lower car.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:07

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The local old school gas station in the small town I grew up in Maine had full service pumps and my friends worked there. They also had a sparkplug cleaner, which helped keep my Snowmobile running.

ateamfan42 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:08

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The laws of NJ imply that mere mortal drivers are incapable of safely pumping their own gas. Hence the legal requirement that fuel must only be dispensed by trained certified professionals.

tallen702 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:08

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With gas less than a dollar a gallon, it was not uncommon to have people buy $5 at a time.

This is something people all seem to remember from that time, but I can’t wrap my head around. Cars from that period were notoriously gas-guzzling (1979 boasts a roster from the EPA where the majority sport MPG ratings in the sub 20 range, so anything older is likely to be even worse) and while gas was “cheap” in the sense that it was under $1/gal the average price per gallon for the year was in the 80-90 cent range. Even if you bottom out at $0.70/gallon ($2.29/gal in today’s money), you’re only getting around 7 gallons for your 5 bucks. And with an average MPG for an American being only 16.5mpg for 1979 (when they were 40% better than the beginning of the decade!) you’re only going to get around 116 miles before that tank runs dry again.

Now, when I was a dirt-poor college student, I’d put $10 in my car at a time when gas was $1.14/gal ($1.62 in today’s money) in the very late 90's, but I was literally only driving 10 miles a day in a ‘90 Toyota Camry DX and given the mileage that sucker got, I could go almost 200 miles before running through what I had, but I doubt that’s a typical situation for 1979. Furthermore, that short of a commute is probably atypical as well on a whole even for 1979.

So is it a rose-tinted view of the past that most people have of gas prices? Or were people really filling up ever couple of days? Not impugning your memory by any means, just curious on a whole.

SteveLehto > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:08

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Thanks for the note. I seem to get quite a few flats. I have also fixed flats for other people when the opportunity presented itself.

parshooter > Grassh0pper 02/12/2016 at 14:08

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I worked at a Crown station for about a year. We would put the filler on automatic and do what we had to do and most times would get back to it right before it hit the magic number. It was a game. Won sometimes, sometimes the customer won.

SteveLehto > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 02/12/2016 at 14:09

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Hey, we even fixed flat tires on bicycles for little kids. It cost us almost nothing and was a fun little diversion for us (and their parents would appreciate it).

GreenN_Gold > Wacko 02/12/2016 at 14:09

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I was recently thinking about how “kids these days” don’t understand what it’s like not to be able to reach somebody, or have them able to reach you. If mom goes to the store, she is gone. If she’s gone for 2 or 3 hours for some reason, you have no clue in the world what happened. You just sit and wait for her to return and hope/assume she’s ok.

SteveLehto > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:09

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Obviously. I am surprised that we don’t have a gas station or two explode daily in the US. I’ve seen the person smoking while pumping and so on . . .

ImNotVeryCleverEither > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:11

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The Gulf station I worked at supplied honest-to-goodness Go-Jo but you get the good stuff when the owner works right beside you. :)

The same station was the first to hire a female pump jockey here. She was smart, pretty, and sold the hell out of some oil at the pumps. One day we had an oil sales competition, loser buys pizza. I thought I had a chance until she started selling whole cases to people (men) who wanted her to win. It was still a good excuse to eat pizza with her, so I was OK with that.

SteveLehto > tallen702 02/12/2016 at 14:11

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No, people would limit their drives. Like me, I would just drive to school and back and then to the Dairy Queen and back. My car spent a lot of its time parked places. In between, it was floored but those distances were kept short.

notthatGreg > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:12

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Heck, I’ve driven the same car (with the little arrow next to the fuel pump in the speedo) for 7 years and I still put the wrong side of the car next to the pump every once in a while.

SteveLehto > ImNotVeryCleverEither 02/12/2016 at 14:12

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Interestingly, the station never had any female attendants that I know of. In later years, they had a few cashiers. I wonder if any ever applied for jobs? (Probably not, once they got a look at who they’d be working with.)

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:12

2

We’d ride our bikes over the bell line to make it ring when the attendants were out of sight, I’m sure they hated that. We also had a Western Auto in town.

GreenN_Gold > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:13

3

I was a paper boy from 14 to 16. The worst part was free-paper-Wednesday. On Wednesday they issued a much smaller free paper, and EVERY SINGLE HOUSE on your route got the free paper. So hundred pound me is pedaling around delivering hundreds of free newspapers. The papers probable weighed more than I did. I hated Wednesday.

jimz > JohnnyBravo 02/12/2016 at 14:14

1

all you have to remember is don’t bother trying to plug or patch the sidewall.

giantveggies > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:14

2

Today, Most places in nj won’t check your oil, wash your Windows or do anything else other than pump your gas.

jimz > shirosake 02/12/2016 at 14:15

2

if there’s one thing I don’t want to do is re-live my teenage years.

ImNotVeryCleverEither > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:15

2

This girl was special, she fit right in and worked through the summer before she went of to college to get her MRS degree (her description).

SteveLehto > giantveggies 02/12/2016 at 14:15

5

Which seems to defeat the purpose.

ateamfan42 > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:16

6

It might have been that period of my life that caused me to want to work indoors.

Hard labor outside is good for kids. It teaches us to appreciate the alternative.

I still remember as a young teen hauling firewood in the summer and complaining to my dad about he heat. His response: “Study hard, so you can get a job in air conditioning!”

Ironically, now that I work in an air-conditioned office, I often long for the days I could work outside in the fresh air. How our perspectives change with time!

Mat-Halprin > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:16

1

Where I live (Winnipeg, Canada), full service is still a thing. And not just one or two stations, one of the biggest chains here (Co-op) does it and used to advertise “full-serve for the price of self serve”. Weird that it never fell out of fashion here.

giantveggies > tallen702 02/12/2016 at 14:17

0

They probably wanted to come back quicker and get their windows washed,or had to save the rest for crack, they don’t do that anymore.

SteveLehto > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:18

2

The key is to have the good indoor job and then have the outdoor stuff be a hobby. Which explains why so many readers here have the project car they work on.

RWD_Volvo > tallen702 02/12/2016 at 14:18

1

In the mid 90s, when I was in high school, I remember gas being in the $0.90 range in Washtenaw county, MI. $10 in my 86 Jetta lasted a week or two because I lived 2 miles from school, but 10 miles from work (which was only a day or two a week)

jimz > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:19

1

there’s no oxygen in the tanks (either the station’s or your car’s.) the worst that would happen is the vapors being pushed out of the filler neck can ignite, but that’ll just be a lick of flame, which can be put out with one toot from a dry-chem fire extinguisher. That is, so long as you don’t pull the nozzle out of your tank. at that point you’ll have a flamethrower.

oh, that reminds me of the guy who drove in with his Chevy or Ford full size van and went to fill it. Pumped about 3 gallons worth before we looked out and saw it all pouring onto the ground. After hitting the emergency stop and some very careful and nervous pushing the van away, he said he just picked up the van from a shop after having the tank replaced. Dimbulbs didn’t connect the hose from the fill neck to the tank.

jimz > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:21

0

I hated the people who got bitchy and just expected me to stretch the hose over to the other side of the car. Yeah, no. that tends to make the nozzle pressure shut-off switch not work.

KingPiggums > ateamfan42 02/12/2016 at 14:22

1

I’ve always preferred hard physical labor to sitting inside all day. Now I work at a warehouse making decent enough money and I get the best of both. Move a couple thousand pounds of HVAC related equipment and parts then have a nice sit with my 2 co-workers in the heated and cooled office and talk shit. It’s not much but I’m happy.

BuickSuper > SteveLehto 02/12/2016 at 14:23

1

I wish, wish, wish we still had full service stations in Michigan. I would pay dollars to have someone to pump my gas so I didn’t have to. I am not a senior citizen.

ateamfan42 > Grassh0pper 02/12/2016 at 14:23

0

A lot of mechanical analog pumps still exist in the smaller towns around here. Back when gas first jumped above $3.00/gal, all of those pumps were a major pain. When they were designed gas was so cheap no one could imagine paying much more than $1/gal, and none of those old machines could be programming greater than $3.00. For a while, they all had signs stating the price was for a half gallon, and you’d be charged twice what the pump indicated.

Eventually they were all upgraded and now the price can be set adequately high for whatever our volatile oil market demands.

SteveLehto > jimz 02/12/2016 at 14:24

0

Well, there is a bit of the O2 in the air around us. Maybe not a full-scale explosion but a fire seems more likely (at least more so than we have seen).