For those of you that don't know, there is a law in New Jersey that basically states that all gas stations must be full-service. A law was passed in 1949 stating that it was far too dangerous for citizens to pump their own gas because it was so flammable. That law is still in place.
So I was driving up to Atlantic City last month and had to stop in New Jersey to get some gas. It took FOREVER for a gas station attendant to get over to my car to start pumping the gas. My guess would be a five minute wait. I wanted to just jump out of my car and start pumping it myself. Finally, someone did show up and pump the gas for me.
Here's another thing that nearly caused me to laugh out loud. The pump that I pulled up to had the credit card slot built into the pump, which is obviously meant to make it easier for self-service customers to pay for gas. He took the card from me and actually inserted the card into the pump. Did I really need a guy to walk over to me, take my credit card and turn one step to insert the card and then hand me back the card? Good lord. After roughly 2 1/2 hours at the gas station (slight exaggeration), I headed off to complete my trip.
Late last month, I went up to see the Chiefs game when they played the Giants. Most of the drive is through NJ. As hard as I tried, I was going to run out of gas before I hit the New Jersey state line. So I was forced to fill my gas at a New Jersey gas pump. When I pulled up, I immediately thought back to my previous New Jersey gas filling experience. So when an attendant didn't show up after 10-15 seconds, I got out of my car with credit card in hand and headed for the pump intending to insert the credit card into the pump. Imagine my surprise when an attendant showed up before I could get a card into the pump and asked me how much gas I needed. I told him and he started filling the gas tank. When the gas finished, I got out of my car and headed back to the tank like I was going to remove the filling handle from the gas tank. Yet again, I couldn't make it back there before the gas attendant showed up to remove the handle and send me on my way.
The moral of this story is:
If you have a car with out-of-state plates, pretend you don't know New Jersey law and try to fill your gas tank yourself. You'll get immediate service and be on your way in a hurry.
