# Do you stand by your pump? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2016, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647 "2016-11-21T15:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/41 "2016-11-21T21:51:49Z")
If I can engage an auto-flow, I still stand nearby to ensure the nozzle stays in the filler. My filler is nearly vertical at the opening, and the weight of the modern nozzle makes me nervous about leaving it unattended. But I will wash windows after fueling. When I was 29, I moved away from hellish weather. Eat your hearts out, residents of fly-over territories. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/42 "2016-11-21T22:47:12Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > In good weather I set it and go wash the windows. **When it’s cold I sit in the car.** Hey, now, that’s just crazy talk. You’re not supposed to get back in the car! I suppose now you’re going to tell us there’s never been a catastrophic explosion when you got back out and pulled the nozzle out of the tank, hmm??? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/43 "2016-11-21T23:10:19Z")
In New York City, you really don’t have much of a choice. All the gas stations remove those locks that in many other places allow you to put on the pump and walk away. When I can walk away, I usually go into the mini-mart to use the bathroom or get a soda or something similar. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/44 "2016-11-21T23:12:52Z")
> [@jonesj2205](#): > > New York does not allow the untrained masses (self serve) to use the autofill feature. Trained professionals (full service) are still allowed At least they used to be, don’t know the last time I was at a full service station in NY. Those East Coasters… in New Jersey, they won’t even let you pump your own gas! (I lived there for six years… it’s great in the winter, annoying at all other times.) ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/45 "2016-11-21T23:19:03Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Here it comes. > > I always see _Do you stand by your pimp?_ I read it as “pimp” for about 20 posts and I was very confused. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/46 "2016-11-21T23:28:24Z")
For some reason, all of the latches seem to have disappeared over the past couple of months here in Northern Virginia. Now not only do I have to stand there while the gas is being pumped, I actually have to bend down and physically hold the pump lever or it won’t work which means I can’t even stretch my legs by walking around or put my hands in my pockets if it’s cold. I don’t know why they are suddenly doing this except that they all hate me. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/47 "2016-11-22T00:29:30Z")
Most my life in MA the clips were removed by law, users had to be holding the handle. This did not apply to full service stations. I’ve always cheated and wedged my wallet in and washed my windows, my windows need washing more when it’s cold out so sitting in the car was never really considered. If the windows are clean I can check the oil or something. MA recently rescinded the gas lock lock law so as pumps get replaced they’ll have the locks again. The gas station I use most often has locks, that’s part of the reason I choose them. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/48 "2016-11-22T00:56:53Z")
I stand by the pump except when washing windshields. A few years ago a driver next to me went into the truck stop while doing this and it overflowed. I noticed it and shut it off. The guy rushed out to move his car because his young kid was still in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/49 "2016-11-22T01:38:02Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > MA recently rescinded the gas lock lock law… Bout time. ---
**Author:** ![Graymalkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@Graymalkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Graymalkin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/50 "2016-11-22T02:12:13Z")
I ran in to the store to buy some gum and when I came back out the automatic thing wasn’t so automatic. $75 worth of gas on the ground. This was in Muskogee, OK, maybe 12 years ago. So, I stand. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/51 "2016-11-22T02:20:05Z")
New York doesn’t allow hands free pumping, so you have to stay at the nozzle. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/52 "2016-11-22T02:34:50Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > I live in civilization, and don’t even get out of my car (self-service gas is mostly illegal in Oregon). But the person who pumps gas for me generally walks away to assist other customers, and I haven’t been blown up, yet. As a resident of one of the 48 States Other Than New Jersey Or Oregon, I’ve always found the ban on self-service gas to be weird, but–these professional pump jockeys y’all are forced to employ just stick the damn gas nozzle in your car, engage the little doohickey, and then wander off??? :smack: Gosh. I bet it takes a rigorous training program to get certified for _that_ job. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/53 "2016-11-22T03:43:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I sit in the car and wait for the guy to stop and hand me my receipt. If you ever visit my state, bring a pillow so you can sleep while you’re waiting. It might take a while, like forever, and you might be waked up by a cop who wants to know what you are doing sleeping at the pump, since there is no attendant service and you look like a vagrant. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/54 "2016-11-22T04:13:46Z")
I stand by the pump. It has nothing to do with walking away being illegal, I’m a shameless scofflaw. All too often, the pump shuts off prematurely, then when you mosey back to it, you have to waste more time starting it again and waiting for it to fill, while the driver in the car behind you blows his horn at you and other customers, loving the schadenfraude, hoot insults and crude gestures at you, or just roll their eyes. Not the kind of attention I try to attract, no matter how cool it looks when it works properly and I can glance around at the admiring spectators. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/55 "2016-11-22T04:47:59Z")
Stand by your pump, Don’t got no clip to cling to, No warm car seat to sit in, When nights are cold and lonely Show the world you live in New York Keep pumping all the gas you can In New Jersey it would be pumped by the man Why they remove our clips we can’t understand Stand by your pump… ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/56 "2016-11-22T05:04:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I sit in the car and wait for the guy to stop and hand me my receipt. > [@TimeWinder](#): > > I live in civilization, and don’t even get out of my car (self-service gas is mostly illegal in Oregon). But the person who pumps gas for me generally walks away to assist other customers, and I haven’t been blown up, yet. > [@Loach](#): > > As a resident of New Jersey I also get to sit in my car like a gentleman and have someone else pump the gas. > [@TimeWinder](#): > > In Oregon, it’s an old full-employment initiative that’s now gained the inertia of tradition. There are some exceptions (commercial fueling and evening pumps in areas of thin population), but mostly **it’s just something people like in a state where it rains all the time**. Yes, this. I like it. A lot. When I lived other places, which did not offer the refined option of having the nice young person pump your gas, I would either stand by the pump (in nice weather) or clean the windows or buy something in the shop or huddle in my car (in bad weather). I have never had the auto-shutoff fail, except in the opposite direction. That is to say, it will pump 3 ounces of gas when I need 10 gallons and then refuse to operate. This is annoying. > [@kayaker](#): > > There is a full-service gas station near me. The price is the same as the self-serves, but I’ve never purchased gas there. It seems somehow _wrong_ to have someone else pump my gas. I urge you to try it. It’s actually really nice not having to schlep in and out of your car, especially if weather conditions aren’t great. When I’m traveling out of state, I really miss it. It’s definitely not wrong. It oh so right. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/57 "2016-11-22T05:15:05Z")
The thing I just hated about it is if you stopped off the Turnpike or something you had to wait for them to pump the other people’s gas before they got to you. Which took a while during the rush. So you’d be sitting there thinking, “I could be doing this myself.” Ironically, I also hated how quickly they rushed you outta there. In Michigan when you pump your gas it’s perfectly acceptable to run into the convenience store or use the bathroom with your car parked at the pump. There are usually not lines. In NJ people flip their shit if you dawdle. And the stores are hardly “stores” anyway. But still, not having to get out of the car in subzero temperatures was lovely. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/58 "2016-11-22T05:37:10Z")
It’s hard out here for a pump. > [@boytyperanma](#): > > MA recently rescinded the gas lock lock law so as pumps get replaced they’ll have the locks again. The gas station I use most often has locks, that’s part of the reason I choose them. Hmm, I hadn’t even noticed. Guess I’m just used to standing by the pump. While we’re on the subject, is there anything about gas pumps that would make them work slower in really cold weather? Like _really_ cold. I think it was last winter; I met some friends for dinner, knew I’d have to get gas before the drive home. The temperature was in the low single digits, at best. I could have probably stayed out there long enough if the pump had been running at full speed, but it wasn’t. I don’t know why, but it was pumping at maybe a quarter of what it should. Got less than half a tank before my hands couldn’t take any more. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/59 "2016-11-22T06:14:39Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I stay by the pump. Either it’s never been available or I’ve never set the clip right the few times I ever thought of setting it on auto. The water for washing the windows is always so dirty it does nothing to get them clean, anyway. And I’d only be sitting in the car for a couple minutes. Not really worth my time to move away from the pump and then back again. > [@DCnDC](#): > > If there’s something I want from the store I’ll go in and buy it while the pump is going, but otherwise I stand next to the pump. I’ll wash the windows if the squeegee thingy is there, but it almost never is, if I’m getting gas around my 'hood, at least. > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Yeah, what the hell else am I going to do? > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I stay at the car because there are signs (in Ohio) on the pump that say “Stand by the pump” and I am totally in to following rules. > > Every so often if needed I clean my windows. But like \*\*JLA \*\*said - what the heck else am I going to do? It only takes like 2 minutes to fill, I’m not going to get back in my car. > > If I need to go inside I do so after my car is full. Do you people not keep track of your gas mileage? Among other advantages, it can alert you to certain mechanical problems. That’s why I get back into my car while the gas is pumping. I’m writing down the odometer reading. > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > For a while people blamed cell phones for gas station fires. Then [someone studied the problem](http://www.exponent.com/files/Uploads/Documents/CellPhoneReport.pdf) and figured out that it wasn’t the cell phones - it was people getting in their cars during cold, dry weather to wait while their tank filled. When they slid across their cloth-covered driver’s seat to get back out, they built up a nice static charge on their body; [the discharge to the grounded dispenser nozzle created a spark that ignited fuel vapors.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuZxFL9cGkI&t=0m55s) If you’re mellow like the lady in the video then it’s not the end of the world, but some panicked drivers have a tendency to remove the still-flowing dispenser and wave it around like Patrick Swayze in Point Break, making bad things happen. > > TL,DR: getting back into your car during refueling presents a risk of fire, unless you’re conscientious enough to deliberately discharge your static buildup somewhere safe after you get out of the car again (before reaching for the dispenser nozzle). After I get out of the car again, I always touch the trunk keyhole before touching the gas nozzle. It’s a very quick, convenient way to protect against the small possibility of danger. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647/60 "2016-11-22T14:10:41Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Do you people not keep track of your gas mileage? Nope. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-stand-by-your-pump/772647.md?page=4)