Being one of those teen-age, gas station attendant types, I can attest to
the stupidity of people when they pump gas. There are reasons for the
warning stickers and signs around the pumps, and I can only plead that you
pay attention to them. If some of you reading this ARE the people that
ignore the warnings, I hope you never kill anyone because of your actions.
The recent push to get people off of cell phones while pumping, and to
ensure that you don't wedge the handle open with your gas cap (at least at
Chevron,) are rather interesting rules to enforce. I find it amazing that
people would rather increase the risk that they kill themselves than have a
five-minute interruption in whatever conversation they're carrying on.
It's also amazing how annoyed people become when you tell them to remove
their gas cap from the nozzle. The premise behind that is simple, if the
nozzle doesn't have something to keep it on without you there in the first
place, it shouldn't be left. I've taken a nozzle (not attached to a pump of
course,) wedged a gas cap in it, and dropped it multiple times. I would say
that 50% or more of those times, the cap stayed in the nozzle. Well, if you
do that in the real world, and the nozzle slips out of your car. Well,
guess what's now spewing all over the ground?
Any way you slice it, fueling your vehicle is a dangerous process. When
you're fueling, you are also venting all of the gasoline vapours (the
actually flammable part,) from the underground storage tanks. If you don't
believe me, put your head under the nozzle as you fuel and leave it there,
but don't blame me when you become high or unconscious. All I can ask is
that you heed the warnings that are in place. If you need or want more
information, most stations have pamphlets on safe fueling practices, just
ask. After all, you are probably standing on top of over 100,000 litres of
gasoline when pumping.
Thanks for listening,
-Kyle
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:05:03 EDT