. . . Filling Your Gas Tank Was a Real Customer Experience?

It is hard to imagine that there will ever come a time that I will no longer miss full-service gas stations, but none more than on cold days, especially cold, windy and rainy days.  Remember when you pulled into your favorite gas station, an attendant came rushing out to hear the familiar “fill ‘er up”.  (Yes, having been raised in an all-male household, I actually used that phrase.  lol) The attendant did not only pump your gas, he also cleaned your windshield and checked your oil.  Oh, how I truly miss those days and would love to say, "and keep the change" again.

The first time I remember being acutely aware of the fact that the services of the full-service gas station were affecting my wallet was the summer of 1984 in Virginia Beach.  Cruising Atlantic Boulevard one night with a friend in my latest Mazda RX7, I pulled into an Exxon station and said, “Fill ‘er up”.  Until that night, I had never given a single passing thought to pumping my own gas even though the option to receive a discount for “self-service” had been around for some time.  Frankly, just the thought of it caused me to cringe, as the last thing I wanted to do was arrive somewhere smelling like gasoline.  I can still remember the attendant that night telling me that had I pumped my own gas, I would have saved $5.  While the savings did strike a chord with me, I refused to conform and continued to find full service gas stations in the years to come.

I find it (almost) embarrassing to say that my children (now 23 and 21) are much more comfortable pumping their own gas than I am to this day.  Of course, to be fair, my children would have no idea what to do if an attendant came rushing out to fill up their tank, clean their windshield and check their oil.  The experience might actually scare them so that they would drive away (lol).  For me, however, I would be thrilled to see them and happily roll down my window to say, “Fill ‘er up”.  Perhaps, a trip to Winslow, Maine, is in order.  http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/jands-oil-bucks-full-service-trend_2012-09-01.html