Gas Station Adventures

Gas station adventures, you're asking yourself. Really? What sort of adventure could you have at a gas station?

It all started on a foggy Monday morning. My delivery route had taken me from Brampton to Georgetown to Barrie. It was a slow, nervous drive due to the fact you could barely see 10 metres ahead of you. And this lasted pretty much the whole day.

By 4:00 p.m. I was nearing the north end of my route in Barrie. Suddenly the skies started to darken. And I mean, really darken. Day turned to night as a huge, menacing cloud enveloped the city. Then, boom, the heavens opened up.

Rain poured down and thunder and lighting came crashing from above. It was pretty intense by the time I got off the 400 at Mapleview Drive. By this time I was low on gas and dreaded having to stop. Even though most gas stations are covered, I was sure I was going to get soaked by the rain that was pretty much going sideways.

On the offramp there were four or five vehicles ahead of me turning east onto Mapleview. The weather was so bad we had to wait for the light to change before making the turn.

Two traffic lights to go before the Esso station.

Now on Mapleview I hit another red light. Then the lightning hit. And the traffic lights went out. It was actually our (the east-west traffic) turn to go. But, like good drivers, we sort of treated it like a 4-way stop.

The next set of traffic lights were out when we got to them too. We waited a few seconds and, presto, they came on again. Same with the power at the nearby Esso station on the corner. Hallelujah! We have gasoline!

When I got to the gas station and pulled up to the pumps they were in the process of being re-booted. The screens showed the progress as it happened. Slowly.

By this time more drivers were arriving and standing around waiting for the pumps to start working. Even though I was impatient I had to wait since I was low on gas.

After a few minutes a couple of guys nearby me had their pumps working. Then the lady's across from me started up. Finally mine came to life. I slid my Esso points card in the machine and then tapped the Esso Speedpass that I use from work.

Nothing happened.

The total ($30.??) from the person who previously filled up was still on the screen. I hit the regular fuel button again and again and again, waiting for the total to reset to $0.00 so I could start filling up, but it wouldn't go.

Finally, I pressed the intercom button and spoke to the attendant. He told me to replace the nozzle and cancel the transaction and just fill up first and then come in to pay. I didn't really want to do that because I wanted to pay at the pump and not have to run through the rain, but I did anyway.

It still took awhile before the pump reset itself to $0.00, but finally it did. I filled up to $88.14 and went inside to pay. At 95.9¢ per litre, the price here was 9¢ per litre less than in Toronto!

I guess none of the pumps allowed anyone to pay at them because the line inside was longer than normal. When I got to the cash I told the guy I was at pump 9 and said something about it being $88.

The guy gave me a confused look and said he had no record of anyone filling up for $88 at pump 9. I asked him if he was sure and he showed me all the transactions for pump 9 on his screen. The last one was for $30.?? which was the one before the power went out.

He asked me if I was sure the pump actually put gas into the van and I said, I think so. Of course I couldn't be sure because you have to put the key in the ignition and turn it for the needle to move. So he asked me to run outside and do it because he couldn't cancel the transaction if I paid for it and hadn't gotten any gas.

So I went outside again and checked. After turning the ignition the needle moved to full. So he completed the transaction and I paid with Sid's Speedpass.

Now if I really was sneaky and wanted to save Sid some money I suppose I could have said, it didn't work, but I didn't. It was just weird how the pump had no recollection of me filling up with nearly 92 litres of gasoline.