Do we need to go back to Pump Jockeys

[Shannow]

Another bloke with a Mitsubishi Sigma 2.6 checked his oil, walked up to the window, and grabbed a 4L jug (Shell Super SF 20W-40).

My mental dialogue was "must have a burner, car's pretty new, must be putting remainder in the trunk"....Nope, he upended the whole jug, and tossed it in the bin.

Wandered over, and picked up another. Mental Dialogue "must have a real burner, it's probably going in the trunk"...Nope, upended again...and came back for another, same result.

12L of oil in, he screwed the cap on and came to pay ($12.99 per 4L jug back in 1987).

I explained that he'd messed up, and that the dipstick is the right level, not so that you can see it in the fill cap, and got a tirade about his driving experience, my age, rah rah.

Then he drove off in a noisy, rattly, grumbly, and very very smoky Sigma.


Couple of days later, a girl in a Ford Cortina (Ford 250 engine, smallish car), and checked and topped up the radiator, and got a shock when she saw a thick layer of oil on the top. Came in and asked for me to have a look...she'd thought she'd done the right thing, realised she'd done the wrong, we pushed it around to the mechanic, no harm.

 

[TallPaul]

Once about 1979 a guy came in and asked for "eight bucks" of regular. Went to collect and he says he only asked for "a" buck. Well old Otis, the skinny wildman from Tennesee who owned the station was out front (he was wild, rode his Kawasaki 750 about 90 miles an hour up US 24 to the station all the time). So I hollered to Otis that this guy would not pay up. Otis was all over this guy, shoved a pan behind the car (filler under license plate), pulled the cap, jacked up the front of the car and ran the gas out. Then he told the guy to get the **** out and never come back. That guy left with his tail between his legs. Otis couldn't have weighed more than 130 pounds, but what he lacked in bulk he made up for in fury. Besides that the guy had a buddy in the car who never got out.

 

[Shannow]

Mechanic at the service station ran the compressors right up at the top end of the design working pressure, about 120-130, rather than the regular 100...still legal.

Every now and then you would hear a loud bang, look up, and see a cloud of talk...some kid had burst a tyre.

One day, bang-puff...1 minute...bang-puff, and a very dishevelled looking bloke in a suit with pant cuff clips wanders in carrying his 10 speed, explaining that he'd just burst two tyres, and what was I going to do about it ?

I aksed how he blew them up, and he explained that his tryes were rated to 100psi, and service stations had to be "calibrated" by law to 100psi, and our service station was illegal...I explained no, that's what the guage was for.

He wanted management, Boss came in, and asked what was the problem...he explained that he's just burst two tyres on our air pump "What do you have to say about that ?"

Derek : "Why didn't you stop at 1 ?"

Guy decided that he was going to leave the bike at the service station, under our care, custody, and control, and catch the bus to work. He expected it to be there when he got back.

Boss explained that we were NOT responsible for his property, and he was not to leave it...he left it, we rang an abandoned bike to the Cops...it was much safer there.


Another tyre story, an Indian guy driving an HQ Kingswood came in and explained that he'd pumped up his tyres yesterday, and the car "felt" strange. Didn't steer, didn't stop well, and was very harsh.

Guessing what he had done, I looked out and saw a full size replica if a matchbox toy, there were no flat parts on the tyre undersides, they were perfectly round.

Scariest thing I'd done was to pull the cores out of those, and pump them back to 32, with a lesson to the owner.

 

[Clevy]

We still have pump jockeys at a few stations here. My brother had just bought his truck(2010 chev gasser 4x4). He pulls up to the creeway petro canada,tells the guy to fill it and walks in. The pump jockey fills it with diesel. My brother pays and drives off.
Well he didn't get far before black smoke starts pouring out the exhaust. Gets it towed to the dealer where he finds out the kid put diesel in his gasser.
Truck only had 1200kms on it at the time.
The gas station took no responsibility and told him to pound sand. 700 bucks later he was good to go again.

 

[buster]

NJ has full service. I prefer to sometimes pump it myself because I can do it faster if it's busy. In the cold I let them do it.

 

[JHZR2]

I like the pump jockeys. I wish it was high school kids making money to pay for a car or college, not full grown adults that immigrated here to work fuel pumps, but thats another story.

My biggest gripe is that they are too lazy to make change, so try to round off to the next dollar... Which can cause spillage. And they do this even when you pay by CC.

 

[Mr Nice]

I would feel strange if some person was filling up my car's gas tank.
Luckily we don't need bozos doing such a simple task.

 

[carlprop]

As a little boy in the 1960's, I would jump up and down on the hose that rang the bell "ding ding" for the attendents to hear when a car pulled through. They would run out and chase me away!

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I like the pump jockeys. I wish it was high school kids making money to pay for a car or college, not full grown adults that immigrated here to work fuel pumps, but thats another story.

My biggest gripe is that they are too lazy to make change, so try to round off to the next dollar... Which can cause spillage. And they do this even when you pay by CC.


My thoughts exactly...

I know that when you are on the Jersey Turnpike near the northern end of the state nearing NY and I-95 there are a LOT of obnoxious, shady, immigrants working their. I tend to believe they are thieves as well from my personal experience.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: travlnman
Last winter, one morning it was about 15deg...I pulled up to local station and a pickup at the diesel pumps was filling up but all went inside because it was cold. When I pulled into the lot , the tank was full, pump did not shut off and it was pouring fuel out of the tank and all over the place ! At the cost of diesel at that time, I know he pumped out $50 on the ground before I could get inside and yell to the attendant to shut the pumps off....then the customer loudly complained about having to pay such a large amount of $ ! The owner was there, and simply said " the sign on the pump says not to leave your vehicle unattended...pay up !

My last experience with a pump jockey:

I had just got my Cherokee and went to a gas station thta pumps it for you (mainly because they're the cheapest in that part of the city). After about 3 minutes of the guy fiddling with the gas cap, I got out to see what was broken. Turns out the guy was turning the cap counter clockwise. ... .. ...

Typo?

I've actually been pretty lucky with NJ stations. I've only ever had one bad experience, where I had yell at the poor guy pumping, telling him that I needed Premium, 93 octane. The .1 gallon he had already pumped wasn't anything to get angry over.

I've seen people with the car running, though I doubt there's really any risk of explosion from it. Most people have zero clue about how the very important things they use every single day work, nor the dangers from improper operation.


When the tank was full, the guy spent 3 minutes turning it the wrong way trying to tighten it. Now ... I've never come across a car with a reverse thread gas cap ... so I'm not sure why my Jeep was so hard to figure out.


Ah, I assumed he was trying that method to get the cap off, which would have been correct. What was his reaction when you went to check on him?

 

[MinamiKotaro]

There is no way in [censored] I'd allow someone else to put gas in any of my vehicles, especially my '67 Beetle. No. Way. In. [censored].

 

[GearheadTool]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
I sometimes fill my car with engine running.


+1

People SAY it is unsafe, but if it was I imagine there would be a TON more accidents/fires. (My condolences to anyone who has ever lost a car in some freak smoking/various "fueled while runing" fire.)

And I also used to be a Pump Jockey until October 2012. Had some personal issues. Braintree MA, right at the rotary, yep, that Sunoco.. If I put gas in your car, wave! (I always had the outside island.)

Quote:
There is no way in [censored] I'd allow someone else to put gas in any of my vehicles, especially my '67 Beetle. No. Way. In.


A good pump jockey always lets someone that prefers to fuel their own car, do so. (My coworkers were always so rude. Not me.) The confusion came in when the customer didn't know if THEY could do it, or if we did.. The unknown as to the preference of if the customer wanted to fuel their own vehicle caused the confusion there, as well as inconsistent signage. (And pricing.)

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
I love the fact that NJ is all full serve. They pay less than we do in PA, don't have to get out of the car in the freezing cold, sweltering heat, pouring rain, etc. just tell then "fill it with regular" and hand them the card.

Only thing I hate is that cash/credit [censored]. I won't patronize a station that does that when I'm in NJ.


I will WILLINGLY pay a premium to NOT have a stoned hs dropout pump my gas. I will pay more to NOT use full-serve.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle

I will WILLINGLY pay a premium to NOT have a stoned hs dropout pump my gas. I will pay more to NOT use full-serve.


All boils down to good help. When you consider that 99 out of 100 auto repair shops are either not honest or not competent, filling the gas tank becomes a minor issue. I quit one repair shop after so many mistakes and the final straw was the new hire walking up glassy eyed to work on my car.

 

[rslifkin]

Personally, there's not a chance in heck I'm letting someone else pump gas for me. I'd have to watch them like a hawk to make sure they put in 93, then I've gotta trust them not to go nuts topping it off, not to drip gas on the paint, etc. If I'm in the vicinity of NJ, I'll gladly pay a few extra cents for gas in PA or NY. I just won't fill up somewhere I can't legally pump my own gas.

 

[hattaresguy]

NJ is full service they have a make work program like this and I don't like it. I prefer to pump my own fuel.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: rslifkin
I just won't fill up somewhere I can't legally pump my own gas.


The "legally" part has NEVER stopped me from filling my own tank here, EVERY TIME!