Careless Linemen

Another reason not to live in New Jersey.


"Jonathan Simpson" wrote in message
...
| Ron Natalie wrote:
|
| Jessica wrote:
|
| karl gruber wrote:
|
| Actually, in Oregon, it IS against the law to fuel
your own airplane.
| Can't fuel your own car either.
|
|
| Heh, even in New Jersey (no self service at service
stations) you can
| fuel your own airplane, and the marina "line man" will
hand you the
| nozzle to fill your boat too. Go figure.
|
| The only exception to the self service for road
vehicles that I've
| found in NJ is the base gase station at McGuire.
|
|
| That's because the airports and the marinas weren't the
one that got
| that law put in placed. Despite the bogus claims of
safety, the
| reason the law exists is because the small gas station
owners banded
| together with enough political clout to stave off the
single
| employee mega gas and go that they feared would put them
out of business.
|
| Another weak attempt (this time by the NJ governor) was
just made last
| month to permit self serve filling stations in New Jersey.
I think it
| was just a trial program for the NJ Turnpike Authority
roads' service
| plazas. The politicians/governor backed down from this
revolutionary
| idea after they claimed to receive a large number of
complaints from the
| electorate who don't like to pump their gas. Others said
that NJ
| drivers are too stupid to pump their gas because they
aren't used to it
| and they could all blow themselves up. (I guess a large
number of NJ
| people who have cars never leave more than a tank's
distance from the
| small garden state---or are they admitting that full serve
IS available
| elsewhere?)
|
| Apparently some believe that self serve / full serve are
mutually
| exclusive and that permitting self serve would cause all
"full" service
| to disappear. (Funny, plenty of stations around me (not
in NJ nor OR)
| offer "full" service and some focus on it exclusively.)
Anyway I still
| hate getting gas in that state because a lot of the time I
have to wait
| for the attendant to get off the cellphone with his
girlfriend,
| encounter difficulties with communicating the complex
expression, "fill
| up with regular gas, please," and then am treated with
continuous
| attempts to top-off/overfill the tank/destroy my evap
emissions
| canister, followed by gas running down my car's paint as
the nozzle is
| removed.
|
| Pay at the pump is still a novelty item in NJ and often if
you want to
| use plastic you will have to wait for the attendant to
come to you after
| pumping, get your card, run off to the register/card
skimmer, help some
| other customers, talk to the girlfriend, come back for
signature, etc.
| If you are lucky to have pay at the pump, you can't use
the dangerous
| pump device so you will still have to give the card in
advance to the
| pumper and maybe they will give it right back to you or
maybe they will
| keep it on top of the pump for safekeeping during your
tank filling.
|
| The only thing that is keeping the system afloat is NJ's
low gas tax so
| that their full serve appears cheaper, but in reality it
costs more
| after adjusting the gas tax difference.
|
| And you thought the FBO's lineman could be bad....