In Washington, the gas pumps work like this: you approach the pump, the display says 0 gallons/0 dollars, you swipe your credit card, pick the grade, and start pumping. At least at all the gas stations I've gone to.
But last week when I bought gas in Montana, I was confused - the display read something like x gallons/y dollars, where x and y are NOT zero. So it kind of looked like the pump hadn't been cleared out and I was paying for the person who'd last used the pump. I went inside to double-check, and the lady said that she didn't think that's what was happening, but she could run my card and see if anything had been charged to it. It hadn't. So I went outside, ignored the current "transaction" on the pumps, swiped my card, and pumped my gas.
All of the other gas pumps I've encountered outside of Washington have worked this way. I'm used to it at this point (I don't think it's an underestimation to say that I have bought more gas on this trip than I have in the past year of driving my car) but I would like to know why the pump behavior is different depending on where you go. Maybe Washington has more high-tech pumps? We stopped for some gas at the Spam museum today and the pumps didn't even have credit card readers - I had to pump and then pay inside. (What is this, THE DARK AGES?!)
Anyway, just so you all know - gas pumps can be crazy!
1 comment:
We are having trouble here with people filling up, then leaving without paying. I expect you had
a "pre-pay" situation. Ma
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