There are plenty of things to hate about New Jersey, but one of the biggest is the fact that it is illegal to pump your own gas. Jersey's only one of two states (OR being the other) to not allow this. The law against pumping your own gas was passed in 1949 to keep drivers safe by allowing only "professionals" to do this activity deemed to hazardous for normal folks. I just spent 30 minutes at a gas station off of Route 1 filling up. Here's how it went:
Pull into gas station. There is a backup of about 3 cars on the left side stations, and one on each right side station. Of course, there is a left side car at the right side stations (mine being one of them) unable to pump because a right side car is filling up and no room to get our tanks close enough to the pump. Waste 5 minutes waiting.
Right side car leaves, and I am able to pull forward to the pump he just left. I pull up, pop the tank door, and wait a couple minutes for the attendant to get to the car.
Attendant runs over, and I voice my standard request: "fillup on 93 octane". This "professional" gives me a blank stare and asks me "re-goo-lar?" in a foreign accent. I say, "93 octane". He points to the pump and gives me a quizzical look. He then asks, "soo-per?" I point at the 93 octane button. The "professional" then points at the 93 octane button and in a lecturing tone says "soo-per". Whatever man, just fill it up, so I nod. "Cash or credit card?" I give him my Visa, and he asks "fill?". YES, you !@%$!@!!! By this time, another 3 or 4 minutes have been wasted. He goes through the rigmarole and gas begins flowing into my car. He conveniently places my Visa in the pump card slot for everyone to see and leaves.
Waiting....waiting.....after 5 minutes elapse, I look at the pump display. The gas is pumping at an extremely slow rate, I'm only at 5 gallons. In the meantime, my window is open and rain is coming in, so I close it and wait some more.
Check again 3 minutes later, and the pump has stopped! At only 5.5 gallons! "Professional" runs over and pulls the lever to get gas flowing again. It flows at the same slow rate.
5 more minutes pass, I'm at 11 gallons. I glance over and a New Yorker gets out of his car and begins pumping his own gas. The "professional" runs over and tells him he's not allowed. New Yorker gives look of unbelief.
"Professional" then runs over and discovers something when I'm at 15 gallons. The pump dispenser was not in the tank all the way. Hmmmm, as an experienced self-server, I figured out that this would decrease pumping rate in high school. I'm paying higher prices for this crap service?
In the meantime, a backlog has piled up in front of me as more frustrated drivers wait their turn to get gas pumped on the left side station. After the "professional" gives me my credit card back and tells me "thank yoo" I wait another 2-3 minutes for an opening in this line so I can get out of the gas station. The ordeal is over.
This is a perfect example of how idiot FDR type liberalism makes things worse. A similar tirade was published on NRO a year ago. Wanna show a liberal why their economic views are stupid? Make them take a trip down the Turnpike and see government regulation at its finest.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
My sister happens to live in Oregon and everyone that she has spoken to about the forced full service explains it as a way to employ more people. That's it, no real reason. She has stories along the same experience that you've had. It's ridiculous. Liberalism at it's finest and by that I mean failing miserably.
Jersey drivers don't raise enough of a stink because all the refineries here mean prices are pretty low anyway. The proponents say it creates jobs, and people LIKE it. Yeah right. I hope this is one thing that changes once we get a real Republican in office (and not a big squishy Jersey RINO).
Post a Comment