Please, someone tell me that this reaction to Oregon's self-serve gas pump thing is some kind of hoax! People aren't really behaving this way, are they?

Here you go.

I’m sure folks in NJ will be up in arms if they ever pass that law here. People just don’t like them changes around these parts, as my ol’ pappy used to say.

My god ,it’s been so long since I have seen a full serve gas station I didn’t think they had anymore anywhere,in the states or Canada.
Personally I don’t see why people get so upset,but then again people just don’t want to get their hands dirty these days for any reason.

When I took lessons to get my California driver’s license at the impossibly old age of 40, my driving teacher insisted that I learn to pump my own gas. I resisted pretty much the same way I resist anything that makes me change my habits. But by then there were hardly any “full service” stations left around here, and now I don’t know where there are any.

In the end I prefer being able to help myself over being waited on. So I’m glad I did it.

I live near the interchange of two freeways, and there are homeless encampments nearby. I often see rather sketchy-looking characters around my local gas station. When I get out of my car, I lock it and take the key with me. And I usually fill up in full daylight, when there are other drivers around, an open service bay, and an attendant at the register. I’ve never had any problem or been threatened.

I think the Oregonians will get used to it and maybe even come to prefer it. But first, putting up a fuss may satisfy some human imperative.

I think the Oregonian overreaction is hilarious. What a bunch of spoiled, mollycoddled wimps.

And several of the reactions made reference to “transients” – which I think is a code word for whatever ethnic or racial group is in disfavor these days.

I also got a kick out of the women complaining about having to pump gas while wearing skirts. TO those non-Oregonian Fluther women – is there something particularly dangerous about wearing a skirt?

Look, if we didn’t have a state like Oregon, what would the other 49 states laugh at?

Themselves.

It just surprised me so much because this is not new at all. I remember when a few places were starting to switch to self-serve (when was that? 25 or 30 years ago?) There was less fuss than in Oregon today.
So, @janbb, if/when NJ goes over, what reaction do you anticipate?

OMG….it would appear this is true. I haven’t seen a filling station where somebody pumps gas for you since the 80s. I didn’t know they even existed any more. In fact I haven’t seen an actual “gas station” in decades. We all pump our own gas at convenience stores.
That is absolutely insane. I’m speechless.

I think it’s a great example of how attached people are, especially in the USA, to the idea of “normality” as if it is an absolute rational thing, when in fact it’s highly conditioned and artificial.

There are plenty of things most of the rest of the people making fun of the Oregonians would be just as irrationally averse, afraid, or opposed to. It doesn’t make either side right or wrong, just different.

I think the inaccurate part of all sides of the reaction (and similar issues & reactions) is the part where we decide the people with a different idea of normal are somehow defective.

I certainly do it myself, and it can be fun to indulge in a bit. All them folks who drive those automatic transmissions, and the people looking forward to self-driving cars, or who don’t understand their computer’s file system, etc etc etc…

There are also many many things I prefer to “wimp out on” and have other people do for me, such as changing my own oil, mechanical work, eating insects, or cleaning fish…

Oh, and pumping gas can be dangerous… I have seen cars in self-service states draggnig the gas hose by the still-inserted nozzle around town, and there have been fires. Also many people who prefer and enjoy having others do it for them, though yeah, I don’t find it difficult, usually… depending on how easy and in what state of repair the pumps are.

The last time I pumped my own gas in Oregon I noticed some transient shambling towards me with his hands outstretched, probably begging. There were actually a few of them, limping and crawling across the forecourt. They were in a bad way with open wounds, missing limbs and appalling untreated facial injuries. I was getting a good price for my gas so I ignored them and filled up my tank.

I went to the office to pay but the place was a real mess with broken glass and scattered merchandise everywhere. I couldn’t see the assistant at first then I spotted him lying unconscious behind the counter. Well I realised I couldn’t pay so I left as it was getting busy with down and outs and drunks staggering and crawling all over the place. I went back to my car where a very dubious character was grunting and pawing at my windscreen leaving bloody smears across the glass. I dragged him off and drove away just as the gas station caught fire and exploded like a small thermonuclear device.

I was in such a hurry once that I accidentally took off while the pump was still in the gas tank . It’s designed to break away in just such an instance…but I realized it immediately and immediately (and sheepishly) returned it. That, by itself, is not really dangerous. A small amount of gas that is still in the hose flows out in the first 5 feet, sure, but unless someone throws a lit cigarette or a match on it, it will quickly evaporate and not cause harm.

@flutherother for real?

That sounded like something out of a movie, I highly doubt it was real or you would be on 911 at least for help for the attendant .

Wasn’t that a scene from The Walking Dead, @flutherother? :-D

@Zaku, most of my surprise is, as I said, that people are so undone by something that has been around for (I just looked it up) 40 years. I doubt it’s really a case of Americans freaking out at the thought of a “new normal”. It’s an “old normal” by now.

As @Zaku says, it’s just a matter of what is normal for you. In NJ you are not allowed to pump your own gas so I’m sure it would seem strange to us at first – although I’ve learned to do it on road trips. I’m sure some nuts would go crazy on social media over it and some of us would grumble and within 6 months it would be the new normal. No need for outrage on either side.

@canidmajor If it’s not normal in your state and you don’t travel much, then it’s not normal for you.

But it’s not been a secret, either, @janbb. It’s been shown as normal in regular media across the board for decades, both in fictional circumstances and on the news. Anyone with access to a television has probably seen it. Even my 93 year old mom, who has lived in NJ for 60 years doesn’t have an issue with the “normalcy” of self-serve gas. And the very fact that that these people are protesting on social media would indicate that they have been exposed to the fact of it.

But are they saying it’s new or just new to them in their state?

I’m not denying that the comments are ridiculous. Do they think you have to unload your groceries as well as your kids from the car and have a pair of jeans to change into before pumping.

Anyway, to me not worth getting my knickers in a twist either way.

@canidmajor You could well be right. Self-serve gas won’t be the end of the world. You do have to be careful not to confuse the gas pump with the diesel however.

I also put diesel in my car once. Didn’t hurt anything. In fact, in a round about way, that’s how Rick and I got together.

I never understood how people put diesel in their cars. The diesel pump is formed differently so you aren’t supposed to be able to put the nozzle in a non diesel vehicle. How did you manage this @Dutchess_III ?

That and the diesel pumps at our stations are a different colour.

It was…15 years ago. In my case the pump was not formed differently and was not a different color. It was just stuck in there with the rest of the regular gas. I probably put ¼th of a tank in before I read the sticker on the pump. I went in and bitched heartily and they didn’t charge me and let me fill the tank the rest of the way up with regular gas for free.

I knew Rick, but had been blowing him off for about 3 years, telling him to go the hell away. Well, when I pumped the diesel I called him in a panic, afraid to drive the car. He said that as little as I put in, as long as it was mostly regular gas, it was really no big deal. It would probably simply clean the engine. And that was just the opening that crazy salesman needed to get his foot caught in the door. And then we got married.

^^ Sounds like you got yourself a nice guy.

The solution for those ladies who don’t want to pump it in a skirt could fortunately lead to less transients.

With apologies to Dick Dale and the Deltones:

Pump It by The Black Eyed Peas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaI2IlHwmgQ

Without major public-view accident there won’t be real opposition for this new rule. If the self-serving gas station somehow exploded/vandalized then the local government will have to think twice to pass this rule. If the government inconvenience or allow irresponsibility for its citizen then they’re expected to clean after the mess.

Western NY. Most of the stations here are self service. Only a few are full service and they generally charge a little more.
Some stations have a couple of pumps dedicated to full service but charge an extra ~5 cents per gallon. That seems like a reasonable price difference.

Dude I have never even SEEN a gas station where somebody else pumps your gas for you!

Can I assume they want $15 an hour to perform this complicated task? If they are successful, will everybody start pumping their own and put them out of a job? Gas is expensive enough without the surcharge.

I miss the full service places. They check all your fluid levels and stuff, and wash your windshield. You just sit in the car.

People cannot be trusted to pump their own gas in a safe manner. And they can’t be trusted to pump their own gas in a safe manner when there are other people around.
I was working at a Oregon gas station years ago. One day a lady came in driving a old Chevy pick-up. The gas tank filler pipe was just outside the driver’s window. She asked me to fill up the tank, which I started to do, as she lit a cigarette with an open flame.

Pulease @kritiper. Everyone in Kansas has been pumping their own gas for…40 years now. Full service gas stations have been extinct for as long. Yes, there are idiots out there, but those type can’t be trusted to do anything in a safe manner, including driving a car or watching a child.
I, personally, have never heard of someone blowing themselves up by pumping their own gas. I’m sure I could Google and find some examples, but I, personally, have never heard of such a thing happening.

A tempest in a teacup.

@Dutchess_III Stupid is as stupid does. No one, or a carload of people, deserves to be burned alive in a flaming automobile because of some idiot. (Please place yourself in the car next to the lady I spoke of in my last post.) Just because you have never heard of it happening doesn’t mean it can’t happen. Gasoline fumes are explosive! People are stupid. A volatile mixture!

@kritiper The chances of such a thing happening are slim. You’re much more likely to be killed in a car accident, happening to be at the pump when a truck hit it. I’ve known a hundred people who died, or were maimed, in a car wreck. The worst that I know of personally was when a woman, driving a mini-van, filled with kids ages 9 to 13, slammed in to the back end of a stopped semi, at 70 mph because she was looking at her phone. 3 of the kids died. One, who is just 13, is slowly learning how to walk again, and dealing with brain damage. That happened in July. She was allowed to leave the hospital to go home for Christmas, for a whole week.

I don’t know of one single person who blew everyone up by pumping their own gas.

Life is dangerous.

@Dutchess_III How many have to die to convince you? If a human life is so valuable, isn’t one too many?

@kritiper I get where you are coming from,without a doubt a LOT of people are dumber than a hammer handle, but if the concern you have was a big problem,then why are there so many self serve stations?
Most stations have no smoking signs,some say not to use a cell phone while pumping gas.
Personally I prefer to pump my own fuel,and again if it was such a problem wouldn’t there be some kind a mandatory course you would have to take to show you know what your doing?

Sorry, I am not convinced.
It is always assumed that people will always do the right thing. But my experience says otherwise.

People will always do the right thing.
After they have done everything else.

Oh, @kritiper, do supply us with statistics to prove that self-serve is such a bad idea! And if you’re going to pull out your “one life lost is too many” argument, please also boycott cars themselves. And kitchen knives. And indoor plumbing. And mosquitoes. And windows. And stuff.

I am not saying your concern is unfounded, but if it was such a bad problem wouldn’t there be more self serve gas stations today,instead of less.
Some form of Government would have stepped in and said we can’t have people pumping their own gas,they are way to stupid for that, we will lose whole city blocks with fires from these idiots.
But they are not.
Even if Governments don’t get involved, saying we can’t have these idiots pumping their own fuel,wouldn’t the oil companies themselves for safety sakes say we have to keep pumping the gas, because people is way to stupid to do it for themselves?

I just did a quick google and found only two instances of a gas pump explosion killing some one. They weren’t even being dumb. They were freak accidents. Here
I’ll keep looking though.

“There are 11 billion fill-ups a year,” he said. “This is the second fatality we know of. That makes the chances of dying this way, what, two in tens of billions,” he said. ”

@canidmajor And guns! Good gravy, don’t forget guns! Give your child a loaded gun today! NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!!
( Please remember, y’all, I don’t make the laws…)

Sorry I made a mistake on my post right above @Dutchess_III it should read“if it was such a bad problem wouldn’t there be more FULL serve gas stations instead of less” I put self serve SORRY.

OMG!!

I saw the most hilarious video on FB spoofing Oregon residents pumping their own gas. I’ll post it when I can find it again.

Try this. This is, apparently, what @kritiper is afraid of!

MAN OVERBOARD!!!
@Dutchess_III I am not afraid, I was just making a point based on my experiences working in various gas stations. So please don’t assume that which you don’t know.

@kritiper As I made a point about observing people doing extremely stupid things while on their smart phones,and they sloughed me off as well.
People will continue to do very stupid things,all we can hope is that they don’t take us or a loved one with them.
But with self serve stations if a person is observed doing something that could cause a danger the clerk or someone at the station will call them on it.
Unlike someone texting and driving.

Is this what you are concerned about…
https://youtu.be/1SQMq02NYj4

@SQUEEKY2 That might be obvious. But Murphy’s Law is always in effect and cashiers and anyone else around a gas station might be minding their own business, or gawking at their phone and not notice. Shit does happen and nothing can be done about it in 100% of all circumstances and I sure as hell can’t argue with that.

No one is sloughing you off @SQUEEKY2. At least, I’m not. I’m 100% with you on everything you post or comment on when it comes to reckless, stupid driving.

@kritiper from what I’ve seen you have a much, much better chance of hitting the lottery than burning yourself up, or others, by pumping your own gas.

@Dutchess_III Well, go ahead and light up that cigarette while you fill your tank. I can’t stop you…

Static electricity is a much bigger cause of pump fires.

In fact I can’t seem to find one instance where a cigarette caused a pump fire. Here.

Regardless, I wouldn’t smoke while filling up my tank, and if I saw someone doing that I’d say something really polite, like, “You fucking idiot!! Put that cigarette out!!” But I have never seen anyone doing that. Never.

My boyfriend in college grew up on a farm. He said he and his friends used to put the cigarettes out in the big gasoline tanks they had on the farm just for the hell of it. Probably on dares. He said if you do it fast enough it won’t explode. And that’s why women live longer than men.

^That’s why I said “light up that cigarette.”
Oh, and an errant spark from the ignition system of a running engine will set it off, too. Or the starter. Or the alternator.

Now you’re just being silly. If the gas was being pumped in an enclosed room I could see the danger, but it’s not. The vapors are whisked away immediately. The spark would have to be right there, right on top of the fuel tank opening where you pump the gas.
And again, I have never seen anyone smoking while they pumped, and I have never seen or known of anyone who left their car running when they pumped.

You are much more likely to be killed when a semi truck tanker full of gasoline loses control and smashes into the fuel pumps and explodes.

@kritiper They are just trying it out in your state, if your state totally hates it I don’t think it will catch on, but your concerns about disasters I think are a little ill founded if they were more common place self serve stations wouldn’t be so popular and common place as they are in the rest of north america that’s right that does include good ole canada as well.

And for for highly trained attendants the times I have used full serve stations the person couldn’t even figure out how to unlock my gas cap,with the key in his hand.

Some highly trained, 15 year old bimbo.

Back in my youth I was worked on one of the prototype automotive test stands used for evaluating evaporative emissions from vehcles. It was called the S.H.E.D. test for sealed housing evaporative determination. It was a large, airtight room sealed with tedlar film and instrumented with thermocouples and circulation fans. I was responsible for wiring the thermocouples and alarm system. We had to install a blow out door that would alarm and open if the gas concentration level reached 20% of the lower combustibility limit. After a few days I had all the sensors in and tested it by gassing the room with the sample gas. It worked.
Out of curiosity and without management knowledge or approval I asked my partner to gas the room while I was in it and blow the door as soon as I signaled. He agreed and promised no joking around. I got inside, he sealed the room, and started the gas. At about 10% of the alarm limit (20% of lowest combustion limit) my eyes and mouth were burning! He blew the door and I got out.
I learned a lot from that exercise. It taught me that if I could smell gasoline but could breath and see, the gas level was well below the explosive limit. There is one caveat. Since the gas is heavier than air it is possible for the vapors to reach the explosive limit in a narrow band just above the ground. The air must be very still but it is possible.

And you are now highly qualified to pump gas for people!

The good news? If it ever happened, it didn’t happen to me!

You’d have a much, much better chance of winning the lottery than being in a pump fire started by someone lighting a cigarette while leaning into their open gas tank. So start buying tickets!

You buy the tickets. I could care less. And I do…