Most of my readers know I do a lot of driving, in town and long road trips to DC and North Carolina. Driving alone doesn’t bother me but I am very aware of my surroundings when I stop to fill up. I never let the tank get too low that would force me to stop in a ‘less than desirable’ location or where I felt unsafe. I’m also an acute observer of people, be it in grocery stores or at the gas pump, which is the subject of this post.
You know the gas clip on the nozzle? From state to state watching people pump gas I have found that men tend not to use the clip, unless they’re cleaning the windshield and women use it. Why is that?
Men just stand there aimlessly staring at nothing holding down the nozzle.
Well maybe not nothing, some watch the people go in and out that pay inside. Some turn around and watch ker ching ker ching as the numbers rapidly speed by and inwardly groan, "how much is this going to cost"? But for the most part they stand there doing nothing and waiting for the click that tells them they can safely remove their had from the nozzle. Maybe that is how the male brain is wired?
Now let’s go to the females. I rarely ever see a woman standing there holding 
onto the nozzle. No she uses the clip! We hate getting that nasty gas smell on our hands. Most of the time I will clean the windshield, I’m pretty anal about driving with dirty windows. If they’re clean than I get back in my vehicle and wait to hear the shut off sound. Back to the pump, "no I don’t want a receipt, car wash or anything else."
I live in a northern state where there is snow 4 months of the year. Spring and fall tend to be cold, so I wear gloves more months than not. I have all types of gloves, from snow shoveling, my daily black leather cashmere that I wear all winter, and gas pumping gloves that reside on the floor of the backseat. Never ever make the mistake of pumping gas in good gloves, it’s a mistake you won’t repeat, take it from me.
What brought all this on? Today at the gas station. I see a well dressed man in business attire pumping gas. I wish I could have snapped a photo from my cell phone to show you. He was holding the nozzle with one hand, talking on his cell phone with the other, and oblivious didn’t care that he had failed to pull up next to the pump. Instead he pulled in at an angle making everyone go "carefully around him and his Hummer 2".
Don’t even get me going on that subject!!
I use the clip. In cases where the clip has been broken off I’ll sometimes wedge something under the lever so the gas will pump without my interaction.
When I was learning to drive in NJ as a teenager it was illegal to pump your own gas there! (it may still be, I was there in 2000 and they still has attendants).
I too am a frequent gas station user and can’t help but notice habits as you do. What gets on my nerves are pumpers that “top off”. The pump handle goes up and down, up and down, as if there is an exact amount that must be reached. I can somewhat understand that there are those who must round off to a whole number or to something divisible by ten. But really now.
I usually hold on to the nozzle, lean back against my old Jeep Cherokee and watch the pump eat my wallet for lunch. Two reasons for this.
1. Almost all gas stations are self serve now and the station owners have removed all the clips from the nozzle handles so you have to hold the trigger.
2. My last experience with using the clip to keep the trigger open, I watched a couple gallons of gas shoot out of the filler while I was washing the windows (I’m rather anal myself and in a hurry that day) and continue to shoot all over the pump, the concrete and under my car by the time I got around to the nozzle to shut it finally shut it down. In other words, the release mechanism failed.
The moronic attendant stayed in the store even though he watched the whole thing from the window although he did come out after I finally got the gas shut off (the nozzle was jammed so it took a couple of seconds) with the spill cart. Ask me how soaked my pants and sneakers were with gasoline. And I had to pay the for all the gas that went everywhere except my tank. My fault I suppose for not staying with the nozzle, something I usually do.
Delmer – I hate it when the clip is broken!
Loach – the joys of being an urbanite, you don’t have to drive everywhere!
Keli – it’s hard to stop EXACTLY at the magic number, guess that’s why so many people do what you described. Me…when it stops I’m out of there.
Kirk - your answer intrigued me…all the gas stations I go to are self serve, from home in MI and all the highway driving I do. Most have clips. Wonder why they don’t up there in Vermont? I HATE it when I get a pump without a clip. I’ve never had one spill out either, but now that you mentioned it I’ll probably pay more attention.
Ahhh we barely even have those clips anymore! Anyway, with gas prices the way they are I can’t really afford to just fill it all the way up, nor could I afford to just drive anywhere I want. What I try to do is go late at night (yes, air temperature has a small effect on fuel density and I want my free pennies!) and just grab a couple gallons to last the bare minimum. This weekend has been particularly bad as the hurricane brought prices back up (at least here in the south) right to as high as they’ve ever been.
John – thanks for stopping in. Since I wrote this post on Friday the gas here in Michigan has gone up over 50 cents per gallon. Today it was a whoppin $4.29/gallon!
That Hummer dude sounds like the classic stereotypical clueless jerk.
Seems like every gas station I go to, the clip is always broken or non-existent. And I *would* like to use it if I could.
I got gas last week at $3.54, right before the prices leaped up to $3.86 or whatever it is right now, maybe more.
you’re right, I’m one of those guys that pumps without using a clip. I don’t mind holding the lever though simply cuz I prefer controlling the volume that goes in my car. I’ve tried using a clip before and I almost got into trouble : the clip was kinda spoilt and it wouldn’t allow me to unclip the lever…I ended up filling 15-20 dollars more petrol while struggling to remove the clip. Thank God it didn’t overflow or anything like that…
@cilicious: you got it with the Hummer dude, unfortunately there are a lot of them where I live.
@uncannyman: wonder if the model of the car or an older gas nozzle come into play?
I enjoyed reading this…… and I do have to admit that I do not pump gas…… my hubby does it and I will watch next time to see how he does it…giggle
I never use the clip. Most pumps i go to don’t have them anymore.