This morning I pulled into the same Shell station I’ve been using for the last couple of years because it’s the most convenient and after swiping the card to start the pump I get WELCOME at a volume that almost knocked me over from a screen right over my head. Then it starts showing a clip from freakin’ Jay Leno at nearly the same volume. I fucking HATE Jay Leno and had to stand there listening to that crap while waiting for the tank to fill. When done I get THANK YOU PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY which just about shattered the glass in the side window.
OK, so there are more important things to care about but what the fuck is it these days that people think there has to be entertainment blasted at them 24x7? Or that I care that some computerized pump says Welcome and Thank You. It’s a fricking machine people! I just want to fill up the tank in relative quiet or maybe listen to whatever I have on the radio in the car (by standing at the door where I can hear it even though it’s turned way down so as not to force others around me to listen to my choice of sound).
If they’re going to put up these fucking annoying things put a switch there so I can turn the fucking thing off or at least lower the volume to something less than Zeus speaking out from Olympus. The idea that some people can’t take being alone with their thoughts for a minute doesn’t mean that everybody wants to be deluged with this crap. I don’t expect to ever be going back there again.
You coulda been one of the “victims” of Leno’s “talking gas pump” routines that they run once a month or so.
I like Leno, myself, but I agree that I wouldn’t necessarily want to be subjected to him while filling up. Oddly enough, on his TV routine the “talking gas pump” always interrupts a hack news show. You might not mind news as much.
Did you complain to the station management about it? If not, simply not going back isn’t going to change anything, and you may find this cropping up at the next oen you go to, too. Voting with your wallet is great and all, but if management isn’t aware of the reasons for it, it’s pointless.
I’ve only seen those annoying things once and I too vowed not to go back to that station again, but what seems slightly more prevalent are the stations that constantly blast music, which you can’t even avert your eyes to. It wouldn’t be bad if it were decent music but it’s all Top 40 70s-80s crap (which admittedly is better than 2000s Top 40 crap but does not further my musical education one whit.)
OTOH, all that jazz (heh) was almost worth it for the time (I swear this really happened) when I was driving up I-49 in La. and the station was blasting Zydeco. Now if I had grown up on a steady diet of mediocre zydeco all my life I’d be filled with the same Robocop-esque rage I usually get but this was a refreshing change.
The station owners apparently make their money on the car wash. I hate playing 20 questions with the pump.
Do I want a car wash?
Did I pull up to the car wash? No, I parked next to the gas pump. I want some gas.
Do I want a receipt?
Yes. No. Maybe. Look, I wouldn’t mind answering these questions, but could you at least let me start pumping the gas? I’ll take your little test while the gas is pumping, but I’ve been here two minutes already. I want some fucking gas.
What, while you’re filling the car? In the UK you have to keep your hand on the trigger or the pump stops, an obvious and sensible safety precaution IMO. Is this not the case across the pond?
No it’s not. In most places, pumps are eqquiped with a “thingee” that you can use to keep the trigger in place. When it notices that the tank is full, it stops pumping. Lots of them have broken thingees, though, but that’s just because some people would break their asses if they could find them to grab 'em…
A college buddy taught me a neat little trick where you wedge your gas tank cap into the handle of the pump so you don’t have to hold it.
They all have emergency overflow stoppers in them anyway so you don’t have to worry about spilling.
Not a good idea. The automatic fill stop doesn’t always work. Besides, gas stations don’t WANT you to fill your vehicle unattended because of the very real risk of static ignition fires. People stick the nozzle in, lock it, get back in the car to do whatever, get back out, reach for the nozzle and ZAP! That’s why many stations have specifically removed the trigger latch.