I remember a mechanic my dad went to saying one reason he retired a bit earlier than he wanted to was he felt more like a computer programmer/assembler than a car mechanic
When he was bored after about 2 years he opened a new garage with the caveat he didn’t work on anything made after 1990 or so he called it “classic clunkers” garage
During one of Wisconsins arctic frigid winter days? Hell yes I long for someone else to stand outside and pump my gas.
When I first started driving in the mid-70’s they would pump your gas, clean your windshield, top off the windshield wiper fluid, and check your oil. Some gas pumps had a weird little contraption on the handle to put a gas cap on so they didn’t forget about it or have it roll away.
One day I was at a station and the attendant tells me he can check my oil or clean my windshield, but not both, I had to choose. That was the beginning of the end. About circa 1978.
There are a couple of stations in the far northern area of the state that have full service pumps along side self service. The gas is about 5 cents a gallon higher and then you tip the guy a buck. On a freezing day would I pay a total of about two extra dollars for it? Yep!
The pernicious influence of pump your own gas is infiltrating Oregon and I’m not a fan. Had to go out to Idaho a ways and stayed in Ontario OR where we had to prepay and pump our own and it SUCKED. At my local place the pump jockeys usually wash the windshield, which I like, and I like being able to stay in the car and only go in if I’m paying cash especially when the weather sucks. Which it does much of winter. I really hate pumping gas. is grumpy shakes fist at cloud
You anxiously await autonomous electric vehicles, I gather. Until then, let’s #gofundme development of small robots to handle the pump-and-pay drudgery for us, and hose-off windows too. But don’t program them for sexual tricks on drivers while the vehicle is in motion. Not even to reduce operator grumpiness. Wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture.
Back in the day, gas stations sold gas, and oil, and tires, and jerry cans; and they could order in shock absorbers and mufflers and other parts they likely wouldn’t have on hand, and all would be installed in the attached garage, by a certified mechanic.
Now, there is no longer an attached garage, or a certified mechanic. My local gas station sells gas, but if I want a quart of oil or a jerry can, they have to look for it. If I want tires, they’ll refer me to the tire shop two blocks away. Rather, my local gas station sells cigarettes, snacks, soft drinks, basic groceries, garden gnomes, bongs, vaping products, sandwiches, Squishees, and for some strange reason, ladies’ summer dresses. The station makes money, but the profits do not come from gas.
I’m old enough to remember when having somebody pump your gas was the usual practice. But having somebody do stuff like checking your tires or oil was definitely not the usual practice. What you generally got was somebody would wash your windshield and that was it.
I also remember why people switched to self-service stations when they became available - the gas prices were cheaper. Those attendants who were pumping your gas and checking your car all had to be paid and that meant the station had to charge you more for your gas.
Nostalgia forgets little details like that.
I thought that was only at night when the store was closed. They could leave the pumps on so after hours customers could still get gas. Shoot, why didn’t you just go to Loves truck stop? 24 hour establishment no need to pump your own unless I’m misunderstanding how OR changed the law.
I can’t remember the town, but I illegally pumped my own gas in Oregon this past summer because the damned attendant was off somewhere else filling up propane bottles. The pay-at-the-pump reader worked just like in normal states, and while other people waiting looked at me and refused to act, I simply added $90 to my tank myself.
I’m not old enough to remember attendants wearing uniforms and hats, but I do remember this jingle that was used into the '70s.
I would gladly pay more per gallon of gas to have someone pump it for me. Standing outside pumping gas in the wind, rain and below 0 temps is horrible. Maybe cleaning my windshield and headlights would be nice too. I don’t care about the rest of the services that might be offered.
When I was about 12 or 13 we visited my paternal grandparents in Oregon. I had a Yamaha 100 Enduro, and I rode to the general store for some gas. (Rural area, so there was little danger of being cited for riding without a license.) I popped the tank lid and started filling up. (Note, this was before ‘pay before pumping’.) A rather excited guy came running over, yelling and waving his arms. I didn’t know what I was doing was illegal.
How did they do this? If my car was at operating temp, I wouldn’t open the radiator cap until 15-20 mins with the engine off. Did trips to full service stations really take that long back then?
I don’t remember how they did it, because I was a kid and I stayed in the car. I do remember dad opening the radiator cap on a hot engine by just ‘cracking’ it to relieve the pressure.
That and with some cars you would keep the engine running. But cracking it a little first (like opening a soda) was the approved/standard way.
(I cracked the whole top of a 1959 wagon radiator once and drove home basically with an open system. Used up a lot of water but I made it.)
I feel you (but not my fingers) on winter fuelups in Wisconsin. Coincidentally, I moved from Wisconsin to Oregon 18 months ago.
Oh, it did not. 
It’s just not that hard to pump one’s own gas. Now that I’ve moved, I don’t really mind that legally prohibited from pumping my own gas…it’s pleasant not to have to get out of my car when the weather is especially ugly.
But on balance, I don’t like it. Sometimes the station is understaffed or overwhelmed and there’s a line, and the warm winters in the western part of Oregon (where most of the population is) means the comfort in winter isn’t worth the occasional inconvenience of a line at the gas station. At least, it’s not worth it for me.
Lots of Oregonians disagree with me, but come on—pumping one’s own gas doesn’t suck. Cancer sucks.
You know what also sucks? Needing gas at 3:00 AM but having to wait until the station opens at 5:30 so an attendant can pump it. That’s why Oregon recently began allowing rural gas stations to be self-service when no attendant is on duty.
I don’t know anything about gas stations in Oregon, but in New Jersey, “full service” just means that they pump the gas. Believe me, they’re not going to check your oil or your tire pressure or anything else. They’re not even going to wash your windshield.
Like someone else posted above, I’ve run into pump jockeys in NJ who insisted that they fill up my motorycle. Sorry, not happening. Mostly, they’d let me do it without comment. Once in a blue moon, someone would object. Still, not happening.
And I’m old enough to remember being in the car when my mother got gas back in the sixties, in our incredibly huge (by today’s standards) Ford station wagon. Yes, they would check stuff. And once in a while, the pump jockey would say, hey, you’re down a quart, and my mother would tell him to add a quart. And he’d do it from a real old-fashioned oil can, the kind you stick one of those spiked spouts in. None of these new-fangled plastic bottles.
First time I ran into this was at a Love’s truck stop in Boardman couple weeks ago and it was cold as balls. Apparently in the less populated counties it’s an option to no longer require an attendant to do the pumping. Talked to some employees in Ontario and they were a little bummed too, since most everyone who works in Ontario lives in Idaho and commutes for the higher minimum wage. Lotta Idaho gas jockeys looking for alternate employment now I guess. I haz a sympathy–I escaped California partly for the not having to pump my own gas aspect!
Really the only upside is that now you can get gas in the middle of the night with a card even when the station is closed but other than that? Sucks. It gets really cold and windy in eastern Oregon.
Huh, you’re right. I misread the article I looked at. There was already an exception for co-op or wholesale stations so that commercial vehicles could do self serve (which I knew about, but that’s not what we were talking about). And then 3 years ago they added an exception for after hours in low population counties (now restricted to just ones in eastern Oregon). So, “some localities still require it” is a weird way to put it, but sort of true. There’s a statewide ban that is subject to a narrow exception in some rural areas is more accurate.
And Omar Little, the attendant does not stay at the pump while the car fills up. They are starting or ending someone else’s pump.
So these gas stations are completely unattended but the pumps are available for people to buy gas? That seems weird to me. I mean, I’ve bought gas many times using a credit card at the pump without ever going into the store or interacting with an attendant, but as far as I know, there’s someone in the store. (Usually there’s a convenience store so people go in to buy stuff.)
I found out about the after hours DIY gas thing couple years ago when I had to take my dumb dog to the vet in the middle of the night in Wenatchee WA. I took my son’s big SUV so the dog could travel without bumping his tail (he sprained it, how’s THAT for a stupid injury?) and it was low on gas but nothing was open. My friend who came with us pointed out a station that was closed but that had the lights on over the pumps and told me we could fill up with a card there and sure enough, it worked. So look for lighted pump islands, that’s the ticket.