I wonder how many people have heard of a full-service gas station.
In the old days all stations were like that.
Real people washed your windshield (front and back),
filled your gas tank, and you never had to leave your car.
Believe it or not, there is just such a station at my local Farmer’s Co-op. The sign at the station says “Please Do Not Leave Your Car. An Attendant Will Help You.”
There is a sense of relaxation there – no hurry. Folks talk to each other. It’s a friendly comfortable place where everybody knows your name and includes true Customer Service in a Do-It-Yourself Age. Why one winter I even gave homemade peanut brittle to the attendants to thank them for their dedication through a frigid weather.
“What a treat,” I thought as I enjoyed the whole luxurious full service experience for the first time and immediately decided never to buy gasoline anywhere else and became an exclusive, devoted, and happily dependent customer for 25 years! And that momentous decision changed my life in a profound and unusual way with unexpected negative results.
Today I have only a vague idea how to gas up my own car, and I panic as I drive in unfamiliar territory.
A Relic at the Gas Pump
The result of decades of never pumping is I am probably extinct – a relic of another age after the horse and buggy but before cell phones and in the middle of Customer Service (the way “service station” service should have remained). Do you know anyone who cannot pump their own gas? Not likely.
True Confession
I now realize I am technologically challenged and nervously confused whenever I have to “fill ‘er up.”
Did you know that full-service gas stations are not available in every town in America? Picture this: A very nervous lady struggling to get her gas cap off, pushing all the buttons available, studying the prompts, and on the verge of tears. Finally some extra expert gas pumper person (ranging from age 8 to 80) comes to the rescue. People are nice. They really are. Most anyway, feel sympathy for pathetic mortification.
The thing is, this Last-of-the-Pampered-Few actually experiences stage fright with sweaty palms, nausea, and the urge to run, requiring deep gulping breaths to prepare for the ordeal at the pump.
Like fingerprints, every pump is different and of course
each one presents a major problem for the inept.
As it is, when forced to face terror at the pump, I am keenly aware that everyone in the station knows! Are they all snickering as I struggle to understand what to do next? Yes, I do understand “insert nozzle,” but that’s about all. Lift lever? What lever? Where? Begin pumping? How?
I know this sounds ridiculous to you veteran gas pumpers. I confess it was a huge mistake to enjoy the luxury of full service all these years and a serious error in judgment that spawned this embarrassing phobia. On the “up side”, at least my struggles generate laughter among Those Who Know. There is evidently humor in helplessness, and Now You Know Too! Uh Oh!
But there is a glimmer of hope since for the past five years Bill has been saying, “You can do this. Keep trying! There’s nothing to it.”
I remember being very nervous when I first started pumping my own gas. (I, too, am of the age to recall full service filling stations.) But I would never laugh at anyone….I used to be afraid to drive the interstate…..sweaty palms and all!
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I actually went to a full service gas station a couple of weeks ago for the first time in years! Honestly, it felt really strange because I’m so used to pumping my own :).
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Go a few more times and you will be addicted! 🙂
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Do you give lessons? 🙂
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Only if the gas station attendant was hot!! LOL
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I well remember full service stations and I am not old….cough, cough, uh hem……something caught in my throat.
My aunt is 90. Her husband of almost 70 years died last year and one of her biggest concerns beside paying the bills which she has never done, is filling the car up with gas. Something she also has never done since her husband always did it for her. She is being counseled about this by my cousins, which means they fill up the tank for her whenever it is empty.
This reminds me of my grandmother. When my grandmother died she had never written a check and didn’t know how. I taught her, which brought the wrath of Kahn on me from my family because she was such a quick study. In no time at all she was buying mink teddy bears with her social security checks. Then she wanted to buy a car…….I helped her with that too. You don’t want to know what happened….. suffice it to say, she was soon side swiping cars in La Jolla in her Lincoln Towne Car that she paid for with a check!
After all this success with personal empowerment, I decided to become a social worker and the rest is …..errrr history, even though I’m not old enogh to have history……uh hem…. pesky cough.
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ooops I mean when my grandFATHER died……this typo has nothing to do with my age!
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The last five years! You are too funny. I read somewhere it is illegal to pump your own gas in NJ. I guess you could always move. 😉
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I remember full service stations from when I was a kid 🙂 They were extinct in my neck of the woods by the time I became of legal age to drive. Bummer!
I would say, “fake it til you make it,” that’s what the rest of us are doing anyway. If not with pumping gas, in another area in our lives. 🙂
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What a cool commentary! Good job. Ted
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I can remember a time when gas was $0.25 you got S & H green stamps, and points for dishes that was in a glass case on the island between the pumps.
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NJ actually has all full serve stations. Here in PA they are becoming extinct. My son had a job at a full serve station for his first job and he loved it and was shocked at the number of people who did not know how to pump gas. It was once a great job for young boys. It’s nice to be waited on for a few minutes isn’t it?
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You’ll have to move to South Africa. All are full-service there 😃
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Believe it or not, you’re not alone! When we lived in Oregon, all gas stations were full service because it was against the law there to pump it yourself. I got so accustomed to that for 6 yrs that when we moved back to our home state, I was befuddled at the pump-it-yourself stations ( (even though I had pumped my own when we lived in Kansas City). For a long time, I made hubby get gas, but I’m an old pro now. 😉
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Blahahaha! 🙂
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Hoping your throat is o.k. You could try Smith Bros. cough drops. I wonder if they are still around. I do love the story of your grandmother going wacky when she learned to write a check. I can just see her bouncing around La Jolla in her Lincoln. And now I know why I react so positively to you and your wonderful comments – a social worker! You are my second social worker friend. Perhaps I need help. Thank you! 🙂
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Join the ageless crowd kid! 🙂
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Great idea to move to NJ for all the full service gas stations! Who knew a state could be so caring? Thanks Patti. 🙂
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Thanks for stopping by my blog Step-Mama, and also for following. I do like your motto “fake it til you make it” so will do just that next time at the gas pump. I am also following you back! 🙂
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High praise from a VIP from the full-service days! Thank you Ted. 🙂
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Nice to meet another human from the S&H Green Stamp days Charlie! I think I still have “stuff” I got with those beauties. 🙂
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Bill (my charming spouse) worked at a station when we were dating. I remember he was an awfully cute boy – or “hot” as my friend Cindy would say. I must say New Jersey is calling to me lately since we just went to see “Jersey Boys” and now I learn they have all full serve stations! 🙂
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Great advice beeblu, but New Jersey is closer! 🙂 Evidently they have all self service stations there too. Who knew?
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Oh, I’m so glad you experienced terror at the pumps too Cindy! Wish I could say I’m an old pro now but the Farmer’s Co-op is still functioning and I can’t resist just pulling in and letting them do all the work. There is an attendant there who even remembers my billing number and I don’t have to pay (well not until the bill comes). 🙂
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I was going to mention NJ too. My mother had never filled up a car in her life but when my Dad became disabled, she had to learn. And she was a wreck about it. All the card swiping, button-pushing, irritating beeps just about pushed her over the edge. She’s an old pro now, Dor, so keep the faith. But I, too, love the idea of full-service and would pay more for it. The fact you gave them peanut brittle just reinforces my belief that all Dorothys are good.
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I can relate to feeling inept. I did learn how to pump my own after I moved away from New Jersey. Hate it in the winter. Today when I was at Starbucks I realized that I am a dinosaur as everyone else paid with an app on their phone. I had my gold card. Guess I’ll have to download that or look like an dotty old grandma.
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I live in New Jersey, the only state that mandates that the attendant puts the gas into the car. So I haven’t had the need to learn how to do it myself. Still, I would not call them full-service.
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Oh the times we live in or should I say used too? Great post Dorann!
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We were getting air conditioning put in at work today and it was hard to concentrate because the workers were hot and they had their shirts off LOL!! I’m a bad girl aren’t I?
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Hahahaha! Kudos to your Mom who learned to pump her own gas the hard way! I shall keep the faith and keep dropping off the peanut brittle. Must keep up the illusion that “all Dorothys are good!” Funny – that’s what I thought about Barbaras. 🙂
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Oh Kate – Are people paying with phone apps now? Oh no! Something else I have to learn? 🙂 😦
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I keep hearing about New Jersey…. I wonder how much houses cost there! 🙂
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There is something to be said for the good old days, but maybe there is something to be said for the times we live in now. I feel another blog post coming on……. 🙂
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Great beauty is always a disturbing distraction! Does your Mom read your blog? 🙂 🙂 LOL! Blahahahaha! Couldn’t you get some pictures to share with me?
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Yeah, me too.
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Well ! There is nothing much left to be said Dora Except that during my 36 years of marriage I was spoiled .My hubby paid all the bills including the mortgage .When I learned to drive he always topped up the car with petrol .So, what an ordeal when he passed away I was left with so much to learn about paying bills etc., including AT THE PETROL STATION I felt so ( thick ) for want of a better word. My two sons said well you have to learn sometime, And so I did.
With my new partner of 20 years it is the reverse I HAVE LEARNED and the situation totally reversed.
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Yes, Mom reads my blog, but she’s used to my crazy, sick mind :). I will certainly try to get pictures for you next time LOL!
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Yes! Something to look forward to. 🙂
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“Thick” is exactly the right word Rita! That’s how I feel when forced to pump my own gas. Bill does a lot of the other stuff you mention too. I therefore hope I die first! 🙂
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Great post, Dor. You could use it as a people-meeting strategy…”Pardon me, could you please help me here…” 🙂 You could post on all the cool people you meet at the gas station!
I agree with Bill, it is a learning curve that you could master. I mean, if you figured out how to post on a blog, pumping gas is simple compared to that!
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You are definitely on the “right side of life” Eliza. Converting liabilities into assets is the trick. Thanks from Dor. 🙂
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Oh oh, you’re in trouble if you come up our way! We haven’t seen a full-service station in…well, way too many years. On the upside, my mom just learned how to pump gas (and how to insert that credit card too) so I have utter faith in your learning curve. 🙂
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You just need to move to New Jersey, where you are not ALLOWED to pump your own gas. They do it for you. And it’s among the least expensive gas anywhere. How’s THAT for service 🙂
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Kathy – Please send your Mom down here to give me lessons! 🙂
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Hmmmm! This move to Jersey requires serious consideration. 🙂
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Sometimes when I go to a different gas station from the one I usually go to, I can’t figure out how to operate the pumps. I’ve been known to ask other customers how to operate them. 🙂
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Yes! And I wonder why so many pumps are so different. You would think they could be standardized. 🙂
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In OR, we were told to stay in the car because the attendants pump the gas. We thought, Really! Wow, not in CA anymore.
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Hmmmm! Oregon has distinct possibilities for an ultimate move. 🙂
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🙂 They also have trees.
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:):)
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