I am not a gas station attendant.

[BrenDAnn]

Keep in mind, judecat, these are elderly women I'm referring to. They were born, raised and lived in a different era than you or I. They were raised/married back when you were referred to as Mrs. <Husband's Name>, and the husband did everything, because it was expected of a gentleman. While times have certainly changed, and the attitude has shifted more toward your own, things were different for them. I'd certainly hate to be of their age, lived as traditions of their time dictated, and then had someone call me lazy because of it. Just saying.

carryonnow--Bravo! Your post made me smile! I'm an assistant manager, and my view is much the same. Do I really enjoy doing those things? Mostly, no, but I do them. All part of the daily annoyances of a c-store/gas station!

[wolfie]

That's one thing I've never understood. -Why- do Oregon and NJ specify you can't pump your own gas? I've never lived in either, and it's just the most bizarre thing to me.

I've pumped my own fuel in NJ (haven't needed to fuel in OR). There are exemptions to the "attendant must pump" law. One is diesel (lobbying in order to allow cardlock stations), the other is motorcycles - apparently an attendant scratched a tank that had a custom airbrushed paint job that cost 4 figures, and the station got sued. Gas stations lobbied for the exemption in order to avoid future suits. I can think of an easier solution that wouldn't require an exemption - policy to not fill any vehicle with clearly expensive paintwork around the filler, give them directions to the nearest out-of-state gas station instead.

[judecat]

Maybe it's a class thing, but I know no-one from the working class who had such a life where the husband did everything and the wife just sat there looking pretty, even pre 1940's And after WWII, which is when the elderly women today would have been of marriageable age, I really don't know anyone who lived like that. Heck, my 91 year old Aunt was a defense plant worker during WWII. Heck my mother who would be 101 years old didn't live like that -- my father worked outside the home, and came home and expected to do NOTHING once he was off work.

But where I live, I'm considered one of the elderly women.

[HiddenMica]

The only one I ever gave credit too... was a 80 something little old lady... She had never pumped gas before...

In fact she broke down crying over it. Her husband had just died and he always did the gas for the car, even when he stopped driving because of his eyes failing and she did all the driving. Even when they had two cars, he would go fill her tank for her twice a week while she did house chores.

It was sad, I showed her, and helped her out. She seemed to get it an apologized for crying on me but she was just the sweetest little thing.

[Roland]

No it most definitely falls outside the job description. I help the ladies that can't change a tire or pour cold water in to a radiator because of reasons that have nothing to do with the job. If some guy did that he would be out of luck.

[Bloodsoul]

I never did learn how to work the latch that holds the pump in place. XÞ

[Teskeria]

My Mama had rules for when you can learn to drive. And I used them with my kids, now my daughter is gonna gfollow them with her kids. You have to know three basic things:
1. how to pump gas (including where and what kind)
2. How to change a tire yourself (I get a pass now because I am handicapped, but I had to know then)
3. How to check and top the important fluids (oil, brake, transmission, coolant, water <in radiator - hey I'm old>, ect.
Once you demonstrated to her you could handle these 3, and you were old enough, you could go for a license.

[Seshat]

Maybe it's a class thing, but I know no-one from the working class who had such a life where the husband did everything and the wife just sat there looking pretty.

My grandmother didn't know how to write a cheque, manage more than household money, pump gas, fix a door, or any of the 'male' tasks. But she certainly didn't sit there looking pretty!

There were clothes to make, laundry to do (without a washing machine at first, then with a wringer-type machine: both a lot more work than laundry is now), children to raise, rugs to beat (no vacuum cleaner!)...
She raised four daughters, two of them during the Great Depression (the younger two were born after that). Lived through both world wars.

But first her parents, then her husband, expected that she would do one set of tasks, and the husband would do the other set of tasks. And granddad was ... what was metaphorically called 'strict'.

While I do believe my Nan was beautiful, she never had time to 'sit around and look pretty'. Even though there were many things we expect women to be able to do these days that she never learned to do.*

(* by the time Granddad divorced her, she was not healthy enough to do most handyman-type work.)

[BrenDAnn]

Thank you, Seshat. That's exactly the kind of situation to which I was referring. I'm not sure if it's class, so much as just different couples doing things different ways. Either way, I still give a pass to those folks.

[judecat]

But that's part of my point Seshat -- if your grandmother raised children during the depression, then most likely she's not around to be pumping gas at my place of work. And her children who were raised during the depression, like my brother and sister in law, did not grow up in that kind of culture. The elderly women driving around now where in their 20's and 30's in the 60's and 70's. A large percentage of them were working outside the home at that time, so they weren't all that sheltered.



My grandmother never knew how to pump gas, but then my grandfather didn't either, both were born in 1880 and never had a car. She cooked from scratch, beat rugs, raised children, and still had a wringer washer when I was little in the 1960's. But since Pop-pop worked 50-60 hours per week, and was dead tired when he came home, she also managed the household money, payed the bills, scheduled repairs, etc. And before she had children she also worked as a clerk in her mother's candy store. In my world, the men weren't going to do any more work once they were off from their jobs, because work was hard. But your grandmother and mine are not who I'm talking about -- I'm talking about the women now. And no woman who did not live with a household staff of servants should be all that helpless.

[Seshat]

My Nan only died fifteen years ago; but she wasn't driving for the last ten years or so of her life.
(She did learn how to pump her own gas, though not without spilling some while she was learning. I think Dad taught her, while he was teaching her to drive. He'd never have left her helpless with such basic tasks.)

But yes, all four of her children can (or could) pump their own gas, change their own tires, and check the basic fluids. I know for certain that Mum could also do any car repairs she was physically strong enough to do: though usually it was Dad who did the repairs while Mum did other chores.

The older two aunts still had a great deal of the 'women do X, men do Y' mentality, Mum and her younger sister were born about a decade later, and have a lot less of that. Two of my aunts, though, chose to marry men who have that mentality. (No, not the two older. One of the older, and the youngest sister.)

Hm. So yes, I guess you're right in that the daughters of the Depression and later should - for the most part, but not entirely - be willing to at least try to pump their own gas and do other basic 'traditionally male' chores.

[greek_jester]

OTHO, people with rental cars get a pass from me. Its a new to them car, so they might not know how to open the hood or gas tank, but if its their personal car and they don't know how to do it? What is wrong with them?

Reminds me of the early 2000s when I rented a new petrol engine Fiat Punto to go on holiday.

It had a massive tank, so my round trip from just above London to Blackpool didn't empty is, so I didn't have to refuel until just before I returned the car (you get charged through the nose if they have to fill the tank; something like nearly a pound a litre more than at the local petrol station).

I pulled up at the petrol station and tried to get the petrol cap off. And tried. And tried. And started cursing and (possibly) kicked the damn tyre.

Up swaggers a man from the next pump over to help my 4' 10.5", plump, bespectacled female self. He tried. And tried. And tried. And had no more luck than me.

Lather, rinse, repeat for the next few guys who swaggered up until there were half a dozen of us (including the manager of the petrol station) all failing at getting one little fuel cap off.

Cue an older chap in overalls strolling up, flicking it off with a twist of the wrist, then ambling off again. At my profuse thanks he admitted that he was a mechanic at the same car hire place I was returning the car to, and that everyone struggled horribly with that particular make and model car.

Pity really. With the fuel economy and comfort I'd been considering it for when my current car finally died. There was no way I was going to deal with that fuel cap every time I filled the car up, though!

[protege]

My grandmother didn't know how to write a cheque, manage more than household money, pump gas, fix a door, or any of the 'male' tasks. But she certainly didn't sit there looking pretty!

There were clothes to make, laundry to do (without a washing machine at first, then with a wringer-type machine: both a lot more work than laundry is now), children to raise, rugs to beat (no vacuum cleaner!)...

LOL that sounds like my grandmother. She and Grandpa got married just after WWII, and in rural PA, that's how it was. Back then, it was expected that the husband managed the checkbook, any home repairs, and took care of the car. The wife's job was to cook, clean, and raise the children.

Little wonder that when my grandfather died in '89, she had no idea how to handle her finances. My mom showed her, and she knew a guy (one of the VPs, no less...who was a friend of the family) at the bank who was more than happy to answer questions and help her out.

Grandpa was very frugal with money. We're talking only 3 or 4 TV channels, a wringer washing machine (no dryer ), and very few vacations. Considering my grandparents lived through the Depression, in a mostly undeveloped county, I can't fault them for that.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I'm a female, and *I* can pump gas just fine and dandy -- hey, someone's gotta do it, right? Besides I don't want anyone else to do it.

Same here. Mama can't exactly get out of the car herself and stand long enough to pump it, so I'm the one doing that. Every station near us is self pump (some places do offer help for disabled persons if they have 2 or more persons on duty in the store, which is helpful if Mama's by herself and has to stop) so I've gotten quite used to sliding that debit card and using the pump myself.

Now if it's anything under the hood, Mama knows how to check the oil and fill if needed. Anything beyond that, we've got 2 guys we can call if they are home (our neighbor directly behind us or the one next door.)

If they can't help with it, our mechanic gets a call and, if the car is driveable, we'll make the 23 mile trek to his shop to save on the tow fee.

[Catwoman2965]

I give a pass to those living in Oregon or New Jersey, since they aren't allowed to pump their own gas. Once I had to stop for gas in an iffy area and the freaking plastic part that you turn broke off. I was left with the bit which actually is screwed into the tank. I tried myself, but thankfully someone came out of the closed gas station and he was able to somehow unscrew it.

But generally speaking, yeah, you should know how to pump your own gas. I feel that way sometimes with the extra super duper helpless customers at my work. If you act all fluttery and "oh, I just don't know!" about everything, no one at my store will feel the need to play superhero.

I totally agree and I'm FROM NJ. Went to school in MD, and had a car my sr. year. Within a day of my arrival back at school, I asked a friend who was from another state to come with me, and show me how to pump gas. She did, and almost 30 years later, I can still do it. I will admit, when I travel, I sometimes get a little befuddled as no two stations have identical pumps. But I can usually figure it out!