Does anyone else HATE, simply HATE, to stop for gas?

[Honeycombe8]

As I was filling up my car a couple of days ago, I was thinking about how much I HATE to stop and get gas for my car.

Seriously. I detest it. I've run out of gas several times in my life because I put off stopping for gas too long. I now make sure I get gas in time, so I don't run out. But I still absolutely hate it. I don't know why.

So I was just wondering....does anyone else feel this way? Or do I maybe have some deep psychological thing about getting gas for my car? (Just kidding about the second question.)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I don't actually hate to do it.

But I think it's probably because I don't need to very often. My car gets pretty good mileage, and I don't drive long distances very often.

So, I get gas approx. monthly.

[Stuart G]

2. I do. I hate it too. It is because of the cost..

These oil companies in the Chicago area have the price around three dollars and 95 cents a gallon at 83 dollars a barrel..Only 60 cents less than it was when oil was one hundred and 40 dollars a barrel. The oil people are whores..Oh ..
that is a real insult to the oldest profession...

[Honeycombe8]

8. I know what you mean. But it's not the cost. This dates back to when

This feeling I have dates back to when gas was cheap. I hate the process of having to go and get gas, the stopping, the standing there pumping. The nuisance.

I brush my teeth twice a day or more. I don't hate that. I wash my hair twice a week. I don't hate that. I don't understand the hatred for the gas thing.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. My Dad did. I can't tell you how many times we ran out of gas because he pushed it to the limit.

[cliffordu]

4. Yep. That is why I don't own a car.

I HATE oil companies

[Denninmi]

5. Honestly, no, the stopping part doesn't bother me.

What annoys the Hell out of me is the fact that manufacturers are allowed to put gas tanks on either side of a vehicle depending on model.

As a result, people are going opposite directions trying to get to the pumps.

The tank on my Chevy is on the passenger side. I can't tell you how many times I've been going "against the flow" of people trying to get to the pumps, or waited for someone to move only to have a driver going the opposite direction zoom in and steal my spot.

[Honeycombe8]

6. I have just the opposite problem. My Subaru had tank on passenger side,

which I found convenient. My Honda Fit has tank on driver side. I seem to be circling tank aisles to find a way to stop facing the right direction.

[jp11]

7. Sorry nope.

I dislike it, just as an annoyance when the station I want to go is busy so I put it off another day but I might not feel like it so I put it off again. Also sometimes I have to delay it till I go to the store to get cash I'm too cheap to pay the bit more they charge for using a credit card so I have to get cash back off my debit card.

I don't drive that much and don't fill up to avoid carrying lots of gas I don't need, extra weight, I probably add more every 2 weeks or so.

[Honeycombe8]

9. They don't charge extra here in Dallas for using credit card. I haven't heard of that. nt

[Ter]

46. I never could understand those who rarely carry cash

Are you afraid of getting robbed? Not being snarky, just curious.

[jp11]

47. I rarely have any use for more than $40 every 2 weeks or so.

Really the only things I 'need' cash for are gas, and the barber, don't buy coffee/lunch/etc. I'd rather have my money in the bank so I can pay more on bills over letting it sit in my wallet/home for the future. In the bank it is ready to go for many more things I do than in my pocket.

[Tigress DEM]

59. If I have cash onhand it feels like "free money" and the budget goes out the window.

For some reason if I have to track it via checkbook or even go online and can see where my money is going, I'm more diligent. If it's cash in my wallet, it's fun money. When I was young, I'd put my cash in envelopes and mark down what it was for to keep myself from spending it.

When I got older, if I have cash money, then the kids or grand kids want every little thing they see. It's like they can smell the ink or something.

Tig

[Curmudgeoness]

10. I hate it too.

I can't say why. It isn't rational. It seems like a waste of time, or it is spending money on something that I don't really see. But I felt this way even before gas prices went through the roof. Good prices, high prices----didn't matter.

Or maybe it is because I remember the days when someone at the gas station actually pumped it for you, and I resent doing it myself??? I have no idea. But I hate it.

[ChazII]

16. I don't hate pumping gas for my car

but I do hate the lack of full serve stations. Like you, I remember the days when there were several attendants at a station. One would take care of the windows while the other checked the tires or under the hood.

[quakerboy]

49. I can't do anything about the cost of gas

But for the stopping and pumping and all, just come to good ol' Oregon. Ya hand your card out the window, say "fillerup regular&quot if you happen to be a relatively prosperous person, that is, otherwise its "5 bucks regular&quot and wait for the process to be done while listening to your radio. or reading a couple pages of your book. or sending a text message. All safely ensconced in your drivers seat.

Also.. no sales tax. The price you see on the shelf is the price you pay.

Also, We have beaches, mountains, high plains, and rainforest. A serious lack of inimical wildlife. temperate weather.

Best. State. Ever.

[Curmudgeoness]

53. I always thought that Oregon would be a good place to live.

Whenever I have looked into it, the cost of living has been too high or the area I was interested in had no jobs. I have an uncle in Portland and an ex-sister-in-law who I am still in touch with in Eureka. But I can't see affording to live in either place.

Does gas cost a lot more there because of the need for gas attendents? We are always told that pumping our own keeps the price down.

[quakerboy]

54. Nope.

The cost bounces around, one week we are higher than the closest comparable state(WA) and the next, we are lower. But when there is a difference, its usually no more than a few cents, definitely not worth crossing the river to buy gas there. Not even worth pulling off the highway while going through if there is a convenient station on your way home.


Cost of living? I am not sure what all is involved in cost of living, but everyone who has visited me from out of state over the last year seems to think housing prices are super cheap here. A house seems to go for maybe 1/5th of the price it would in LA, about half of what it would in Vancouver BC. Granted those are fairly spendy places to live. Groceries seem to run fairly similar to anywhere else(except apparently Germany, where food is cheap and everything else will cost you a pretty penny), phone bills and cable costs are getting pretty standard around the nation. As I said, gas bounces around, but its never been too far off of our neighboring states. Power bills seem in line with what I see nationally, maybe a little cheaper because of our significant hydro installations. No sales tax, but I believe we make up for that with a higher income tax.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

11. You can always fart with each step. Its fun in a juvenile way!

but seriously ya, I hate stopping to pump gas. Maybe I'm lazy, but I'll drive out of my way to go to a full service station. I don't mind paying more.

[Major Nikon]

13. Yeah, we call those "the walking farts"

Grandma always had a bad case of the walking farts. I'm not sure why. Nobody talked about it much.

[geardaddy]

25. We call that "crop dusting"

[bigwillq]

12. No

I actually stop at a gas station quite often, so getting gas is never really a big deal for me.

[LynneSin]

14. I'm the same way which is why I bought a house 3 miles from work

Gas tends to last me all month unless I do alot of travelling which is very rare.

[MiddleFingerMom]

15. I didn't hate it, but I really did resent it.

.
.
.
In the early 80's, I had a great VW Rabbit diesel that got 37 city and 52 highway
mpg's (what the FUCK happened to us since then?). When it hit "E", there were
actually over 35 miles left to go.
.
I ran out of gas once and called my buddy Phil, who showed up in record time
with a can of gas. He LOVED giving me grief about running out of gas with a
car that gets 50 mpg.
.
About a year later, I ran out of gas again (within about a 1/4 mile of where I had
run out before. I called EVERYONE I knew... from my GF to friends of friends...
JUST to keep from having to call Phil again. Nobody was home. I finally gave in
and called Phil.
.
This was almost 30 years ago, and I bet Phil is STILL telling people about his
dumbass friend with the gas-sipping car and the sieve-leaking brain.
.
.
.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. I hate the whole procedure

It's not just having to stop to get gas, it's going through the whole pulling up to the pump, paying, pumping the gas, etc. There's always some dingus that doesn't pull up to the farthest pump so the next person in line has to go around them and back up to the free pump that the dingus was too fucking lazy to pull up to.

I REALLY hate it when the pump has the lock broken off so you have to stand there squeezing the trigger for every drop of gas that goes into the tank while you freeze or get rained on and become aphixiated from the disgusting fumes. I also hate it that they can't seem to invent a pump that doesn't drip gas all over your pants and your feet when you go to hang the damn thing back up again.

I DESPISE having to pump my own gas in foul weather. When it's 20 below and the wind is ripping the last thing I want to do is stand outside my toasty warm car stuck with a pump trigger with a broken lock so I have to stand there getting frostbite squeezing every drop into the tank wondering if the skin of my hand has welded to the trigger and I might be stuck there till spring pumping everyone's gas day and night till my hand thaws off the trigger.

There should be a service that you pay monthly for that will go to your house and put gas in your car for you while you sit in your house comfortably watching tv or having a nap or taking a shower or whatever else one does leasurely at home.

[Trunk Monkey]

18. I ride a motorcycle

and I hate stopping for gas so much that I actually got a couple 5 gallon cans that I fill up every week so I can gas up at home (as opposed to stopping 2 or three times on the bike)

[Enrique]

20. yes, procrastination is irrational

I've heard that people that are chronically late are addicted to the rush of it. Maybe you get some kind of rush from being on the brink of running out of gas.

[Honeycombe8]

35. That's an interesting thought. It's a possibility. nt

[LeftinOH]

21. The person at the adjacent pump ALWAYS has his/her "music" blasting away;

which makes the gas pump experience especially annoying. It. never. fails.

[Bake]

22. Yes, I hate it!!

But after running out a couple of times, I don't trust my "gas light" on the dashboard anymore. When it gets down to about 1/8 of a tank, I start thinking, okay, in a day or so, I need to get gas ...





Bake

[raccoon]

23. Get a hybrid. Then at least you won't have to stop as often. nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

45. I don't know how much the kilowatts cost.

The energy has to be generated from oil, gas or coal, at a power station. I have not seen figures showing the cost of the electricity for a car.

[quakerboy]

50. Hybrid.

With a hybrid, the cost of electricity is irrelevant. No external power station is involved. You put gas in, you get motion out. It just happens to be more motion than most other domestically available cars per gallon of gas.

Are you perhaps thinking of a plug in or a straight electric?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

57. A plug in. Don't know what a straight electric is.

Cost of kilowatts turned into costs per mile.

[quakerboy]

58. Most hybrids are not plug in

You put in gas, not electric. So electricity has no direct bearing. You just have MPG same as any other car.

Straight electric is an electric car with no gas engine. Hybrid has a combustion engine and an electric motor in combination.

[RebelOne]

24. The only thing i hate about it is the sticker shock after filling up. n/t

[NewJeffCT]

26. No, it's a necessary evil

I've never run out of gas in nearly 30 years of driving.

[Denninmi]

27. I always carry a couple of 8 ounce cans of gas line antifreeze in the car.

If you run out of gas, pour one or two (no more than 2, though) in your tank -- that will get you a couple of miles, enough hopefully to get you to the next gas station. I've saved myself a couple of times this way. I don't think it's too hard on the engine if you add gas right away to dilute the alcohol. Whatever, it works.

[Nye Bevan]

28. I like it because I get to buy a chocolate bar and a coffee (nt)

[Arugula Latte]

29. I still hate it even though in Oregon only station attendants can pump gas.

I put it off too much, too. I just can't stand gas stations and the whole process.

[Honeycombe8]

36. Really? Why doesn't Oregon have self-service stations? nt

[Arugula Latte]

38. State law...New Jersey is the only other state with this mandate.

Both state laws prohibiting self-serve were passed more than 60 years ago ...

* * * *

My fellow Flossers Jason English & Chris Higgins will never know the joy of getting out of the car and filling their own tank. No, it’s not mental deficiency or lack of opposable thumbs. They simply live in states where it’s illegal to do so.

Jason lives in New Jersey, where the state legislature decided in 1949 that “because of the fire hazards directly associated with dispensing fuel, it is in the public interest that gasoline station operators have the control needed over that activity to ensure compliance with appropriate safety procedures.”

Higgins lives in Oregon, where a similar law was passed in 1951, supported by a whopping 17 declarations rationalizing the prohibition of “any person other than the owner, operator or employee [of a dispensary where class 1 flammable liquids are dispensed at retail]” from using “pump, hose, pipe or other device for dispensing the liquids into the fuel tank of a motor vehicle or other retail container.” Violating this law would get Higgins slapped with a $500 fine.

In plain English: New Jersey and Oregon don’t trust people to not blow themselves up while pumping gas, and would rather leave the job to professionals (gas station attendants), who undergo rigorous training where they learn that it’s bad to smoke while pumping gas, bad to leave the car running, and bad to put gas anywhere except a car’s fuel tank or other approved containers.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15455

[Honeycombe8]

48. Oh, well, if they're gonna impose strict rules like no smoking while pumping....

I am always careful to keep my ciggie in my mouth and away from the tank, while pumping. They must think I'm a moran!

[Polly Hennessey]

30. Hate

I hate it. I don't know why. It is not the price. It just seems annoying or inconvenient. I always need to put gas in the car when I have other things to do. I think my car does it on purpose.

[BamaFanLee]

31. A complete waste of my time.

When I retire I will buy a completely electric car. Then I can fill up while I sleep.

[4th law of robotics]

32. I hate paying for it. Stopping? Not so much

And maybe you are resentful of your car for consuming so much of your time and resources when it should be serving you.

Tell me about your relationship with your mother. . .

[Honeycombe8]

37. LOL. That gave me a chuckle. nt

[laundry_queen]

33. I hate it less now

that I can pay at the pump. Something about getting 4 kids out of their carseats in -40 degree weather to go inside and pay and having to come back and buckle everyone back up that made me avoid ever going anywhere. Saved me a lot of money in gas.

I still hate it, because of all it represents, but it's not as inconvenient as it used to be (plus the kids are bigger now, only one left in a car seat).

[Nikia]

34. I hate it

For some reason, I always have a hard time opening the gas cap. I have never been able to get the pumping part to lock and am too embarassed to ask for help so I have to hold it the entire time. I always manage to get some gas on my hands. Unfortunately, since I now live 25 miles away from work, I have to fill up more often. Whenever possible, I try to get my husband to do it. In my part of Wisconsin, since I have started driving in 2001, I have never seen a full service gas station where they have people to pump for you so that is not an option.

[struggle4progress]

39. I'd enjoy it more, and do it more often, if the gas was free. Seriously, somebody needs

to talk to those gas station folk: they're not getting nearly as much of my business as they could

[vanlassie]

40. I hate having to stop to pee.

At home. SO annoying. Sometimes I actually avoid liquids! And yes I also hate having to stop for gasoline!!!

[Evoman]

41. I tend to enjoy it.

I live really close to all amenities, so I basically walk everywhere. When I do have to fill up, it's usually when I'm going on a trip. I love pumping the gas, then going in and buying a coffee and some snacks for the road.

Life is all about finding the small pleasures in mundane tasks. Buying coffee is always a pleasure for me, no matter where I am or what the situation is. Hell, the worst is having to pump in the cold and rain, right? Now imagine how good a hot chocolate or coffee is in those conditions. Warm and delicious.

[Honeycombe8]

56. Well, I suppose I could try to change the way I look at it.

Try to view it as a mundane task that should be enjoyed for what it is.

[tabbycat31]

42. I don't mind stopping for it but hate paying for it

And this whole pumping gas thing is taking some getting used to. Last week, I took a job assignment in VA and am slowly adjusting to self serve because it is not NJ.

[HipChick]

43. Yes.. I have a deep seated psychological issue about it...the cops had to pull me out of a busy road

the other day where my car stopped dead...

They were smirking the whole time too...

[TrogL]

44. It's fine now that they have self-serve pumps

I used to hate it because the gas station attendants wanted to socialize or ask stupid questions.

[quakerboy]

51. Not so much.

I hate the cost. I do everything I can to make it as long inbetween gas stops as possible. But I don't really mind the process itself. In fact, here in Oregon, the attendant does everything, and I can deal with the phone call that has invariably arrived after I started driving, when it is not legal here to answer it.

When leave Oregon, its almost like a game. I actually keep score. I get a point if I do every aspect of the gas up without mistake. If I make a mistake, the gas station gets a point. I am 9-2 right now.

[Initech]

52. I don't hate stopping for gas, I do hate paying for it.

My next car is going to be a plug in hybrid - I don't care about the monthly cost of ownership - the less gas I buy, the less GOP I support, the better.

[Dash87]

55. I hate it because it seems so passé.

I know we haven't kicked our gas and oil addiction yet, but I dream of the day when gas and oil are referred to as something we left behind - like coal / steam powered engines.