Story & Photos – Joseph Boyle
It was so embarrassing. I see this all the time. A customer drove up to the Safeway Station and parked so close to the gas pump, they had to side step between their minivan and the pump.
As the customer worked the credit card and pump hose, she got dirt, mud and grease all over the part of her attire that hits the chair first. I am not picking on the women. Guys do this too.
In an effort to avoid embarrassing her, I chose to not take a photo. Instead, I am including two photos of another car showing you the basic concept of the right way (top) and the wrong way (above) to pull up to a gas pump.
It is really quite simple, but most of us do not think about it.
Give yourself plenty of space. The hose will reach.
The next time you are at the gas station and want some entertainment to break the boredom, look for a pump hugger.
Don’t you have anything better to do? Ya ever heard the old saying? “Mind your own bees wax?”
HAHAHA, it looks like we know who drives this car by the posting of Denis.
All I got to say to this driver is, “just drive normal, and that includes driving to the pumps!!
What’s the problem here? There are actually a couple of good reasons for pump hugging. One is if you are trying to fill your car from a pump on the opposite side of the gas cap, i.e. filling a left side gas cap from a pump on the right side. This is especially true if the gas cap is on the left side and you are at a station that allows only one-way traffic (think Costco), the lanes to fill up on the right are always shorter. At some stations getting the hose to reach is tricky, and sometimes impossible so you need to hug the pump. The other is when the pumps lanes are wide enough to allow a car to pass between two cars filling up, so the car behind can get out and doesn’t have to wait for the car in front. In any case, there is no affect on other drivers that I can see.
Gary, you have a point there!! Looks like a small BMW there though. Please don’t tell me its a Miata, lol.