I would have thought that three summers working at a gas station would teach me of the stupidty people have with the simple tasks of filling a gas tank. I mean, it seems simple to me. Insert credit card or go inside to pay, open your gas cap, pick up the nozzle, select your gas, insert the nozzle, pump your gas, put the nozzle back on the pump where it belongs, close your gas cap, and go on your merry way. Obviously, I still have much to learn.
You came into our fine establishment around 3 or 3:30 this afternoon. You actually came inside first to pay, instead of standing there for five minutes and then coming in pissed because you didn’t bother to read the sign that says “Please Pay First”, which is always a good sign that you have some clue of what you’re doing.
Several minutes later, you finish fueling. Now this is where the second half of the simple task of gassing up a car comes in. You’re supposed put the nozzle back on the pump, replace the gas cap, and go on your merry way, remember? So why did you decide to start moving with your car with the hose still in it?
Now, normally, this wouldn’t be a big problem. The boss was smart enough to get all quick-release, breakaway hoses. In case someone does what you just did, the hose snaps off with no damage to anything and it takes me or someone else all of five minutes with a cresecent wrench and a stepstool to replace it. The exchange generally looks something like this: Customer comes inside, says that he just tried to take off with the hose still in the car and apologizes. I say that it should be okay, just let me check the hose and stuff for damage, and then I’ll put it back up.
Apparently, you thought differently. Once you broke the hose off, you decided to keep going. The least you could have done would be to pull it out and leave it there. The classy, responsible thing to do would have been to come inside, where we would have had a conversation similar to the sample one I just gave. You did neither. Oh, you stopped and got out, all right. Then you got back in the car and kept going. So what should have been a simple mistake and a simple repair just got to be a huge pain in the ass.
See, first I had to call the cops and file a report. I don’t expect anything to come of it, but I might as well do the thing properly. Luckily, we had both other customers and someone who was working outside at the time get a decent, if somewhat vague description of both you and of your car. We also got the plate. Too bad you paid cash and not with a credit card or check, because then we’d be able to hunt you down like the dog you are. Then, I had to make out of order signs, put them on the pump and over the cradle, find an old nozzle so that I could make the pump stop beeping, tape that nozzle in place, and put a stop on that pump so that it won’t even consider working even if some idiot tries to use it.
And now the boss will have to replace the hose. He’s looking at two or three hundred dollars for replacement. Even if you brought it back, we couldn’t use it now, after you’ve driven for God knows how long at probably speeds of or better than 40 MPH. Between it getting run over, whatever is on the road to help rip the hose, and other things, it wouldn’t be safe to even think about using. All because you couldn’t stop for another five minutes to take a little responsibility for your actions.