I am not a gas station attendant.

[Roland]

I don't know what it is. It has been decades since all but a tiny handful of places in the US switched to the way they are now. Nevertheless the occasional lady comes in and wants this or that done for her.
I help, because I was raised well and even if I wasn't I wouldn't want to be the guy that didn't help a lady.
That said, when it happened today I really wanted to explain all of this to the latest damsel in distress.

Convenience store jobs are basically similar to retail jobs. Most of the people that apply at my store seem to be younger women with some background as a cashier somewhere else. The skill set is totally different than that of the old fashioned gas station attendant. Gas just happens to be one of the things we sell.
I may have to make that "I am off the clock" hat reversible with "I am not a full service gas station attendant" on the other side.

[Slave to the Phone]

I get angry at women playing the helpless female card. Unless said woman has a physical reason that she can't do basic car stuff, she is just using people because she doesn't want to deal with it.

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?

Of course, some guys are clueless as well. I don't want y'all to think I'm being sexist about this. Everyone who drives a car should be able to do basic stuff.

[notalwaysright]

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.

[Android Kaeli]

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.

[KellyHabersham]

I get angry at women playing the helpless female card. Unless said woman has a physical reason that she can't do basic car stuff, she is just using people because she doesn't want to deal with it.

My mom is a lot like that, although with her, it's not playing the "helpless female" card so much as she's not good at stepping out of her comfort zone and learning/trying new things.

[Seanette]

I give a pass to those living in Oregon or New Jersey, since they aren't allowed to pump their own gas.

I grew up in Oregon, and my first solo trip out of state did pose a challenge. I was headed for Seattle to visit a friend, noticed after crossing the border into Washington that I needed gas. Found the gas station OK, could not figure out the instructions on the pump (I was a bit tired, and am not the most mechanically capable person around).

Fortunately, another customer noticed the Oregon plates and the confused expression, so he very kindly showed me how to operate the pump.

[Ceir]

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.

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. By my standards it's about the easiest thing you can do with your car.

[Seanette]

I don't get it either, and as stated above, I grew up in Oregon.

[Aragarthiel]

I've only pumped gas once, though I also don't have my driver's license yet. It shouldn't be too hard to follow the instructions on the little screen thing.

There's a gas station about a mile from my house that used to have really, REALLY old gas pumps, the kind with the numbers that rotate to show how much gas has been put in, if that makes any sense. I could totally understand someone not knowing how to operate those, since they don't take any payment at the pump and there really aren't any instructions on when you're able to start pumping.

[EricKei]

really, REALLY old gas pumps, the kind with the numbers that rotate to show how much gas has been put in, if that makes any sense.

Analog dials? Wow. That pump WAS old.

[BrenDAnn]

We have a unique situation in the town I work in. There was, for years, if not decades, a full-service station across town. A lot of the town's elderly went there, because hey, full service, why not? This station only shut down a couple of years ago. We, and the other stations in town, had an influx of these elderly folks, who hadn't pumped gas, because the full-service station had done it for them all those years. Those folks, I give a pass to. I also give a pass to the elderly women who hae never pumped gas, because their husbands always did it, and are just learning it after their husbands pass away. I feel for those women, I really do. If people are nice enough, I don't mind helping pump gas, or set up a credit card at the pump. The ones who get rude and demanding don't get that service, however.

[BlaqueKatt]

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. By my standards it's about the easiest thing you can do with your car.

I don't get it either, and as stated above, I grew up in Oregon.

Safety and liability

And in new jersey at least it adds, at most, a whopping nickel per gallon to not have to get out in rain, snow, other inclement weather, and creates jobs.

[carryonnow]

As a convenience store manager I am many things:

janitor, clerk, food service manager, bookkeeper, landscaper, window washer, sanitation engineer, car wash service tech, customer service manager, information desk, concierge, assistant to the voice living in the GPS, receiver, grocery manager, loss prevention and asset protection---and gas station attendant.

The reality is that we don't know if a person is physically disabled when we are called to help some one put air in their tires, check the oil, fill the washer fluid, or dispense their fuel. Is it annoying? YES Do I have a to-do list of 45 items more pressing than pumping fuel?? HELL YES!!. Do I want to go stand next to a stranger's car and help them?? No, not always. Does this task fall INSIDE my job description...YES, unfortunately it does..."provide world class unforgettable customer service to ALL guests."

(Sorry but I couldn't take the other perspective on this issue.)

[protege]

Analog dials? Wow. That pump WAS old.

Locally though, some stations (especially the Gulf ones) still had them into the 1990s. IIRC, those stations were individually owned, and the owners were too cheap to replace them.

[judecat]

I'm 62 years old, and have never owned a car, or had a drivers license in my life. I'm an the overnight C store cashier -- so I'm sorry, if you can't pump your own gas, find someone else to do it for you. And no I don't feel sorry for the old women who purposely never learned how to do things because their husbands did it for them. because IMO that's just laziness. Unless it's actual physical labor that is beyond my physical limits then I can do anything my husband could do.
Besides, at my place of work we are forbidden to pump the customers gas -and at least when there is only one cashier on duty we are forbidden to leave the store (even to smoke -- we have to stand in the doorway and act like a door stop.)