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.

Wow... surprise...

Here's a Facebook post from after I posted the story of the aforementioned car rollover in Barrie. In an amazing coincidence the girl I went to check up on is the niece of a friend and former co-worker of mine at Trader. What are the chances of that?
____________________________________________

Reay Jespersen - Old coworker/friend Jeff Louie, it's my honour to introduce you to Devan Brophy, my (step-)niece whose car rolled yesterday and who you were awesome enough to stop and check on. Small world. 
Not sure if there's any easy way for you guys to talk, but suffice to say, Devan: Very happy you're ok. Jeff: You're a better man than most for stopping to help someone in need when most people didn't.
Like  · Share · 25 March at 13:54 ·

Devan Brophy, Steve LeBlanc, Marcy Zee and 15 others like this.

Devan Brophy - Haha thank you. I have messaged him to say thanks for stopping. I can't believe he found my purse outside of the car. . I couldn't figure out why it was full of snow. Like HOW did my purse fly out??? It was in the seat beside me

25 March at 14:14 · Like

Reay Jespersen - Crazy. SO glad you're ok.

25 March at 14:20 · Like · 1

Trudy Lamport - Thank you to Jeff for stopping. We are so very lucky Devan is ok. Everyone who stopped we are so very thankful for them !!!

25 March at 15:01 · Unlike · 1

Jeff Louie - Hi Devan. I'm glad you're all right. When the other gentleman asked if you were okay, you said you were, but you might be a bit dizzy from being flipped around. I saw all your stuff including your purse/bag and sunglasses on the side. I was thinking I should help you pick them up, but I thought the police might not want anything from the accident scene to be moved around. I hope you managed to find everything before it got too dark. I think I saw a police car coming up to the scene around 10-15 minutes later.

25 March at 17:41 · Like

Marcy Zee - You're a hero Jeff Louie

25 March at 18:56 · Unlike · 1

Michael Heyoka Ratt - You rock Jeff Louie.

25 March at 19:18 · Unlike · 1



Jeff Louie - Thanks guys that's nice of you to say. I'm just glad Devan is okay.

25 March at 23:19 · Like · 1

Jeremy Weise - Its Jeff Louie, the nicest guy in the world, of course he would stop!!!

26 March at 09:26 · Unlike · 1



Travis Gibbons - Nice one, Louie!

26 March at 09:33 · Unlike · 1

Elisa Krovblit - Wow, small world. And glad she's ok!

26 March at 10:23 · Unlike · 1

The Accident

I believe the accident happened somewhere along the blue line on the sb lanes of Hwy. 400.

So I'm driving south on Highway 400 on Monday afternoon around 5:40 p.m. after my last delivery in Barrie. Conditions are good. There isn't any snow on the highway and visibility is clear. Since it's not congested traffic is moving at a good clip - probably 100-120 kph. I'm looking ahead when I see something happening approximately 300 metres down the road.

Since I was a fair distance away and it happened quickly I didn't get a good view. All I see a big puff of snow from a vehicle that just ploughed through the snowbank (2-3 feet high) on the shoulder. (There's still a lot of snow in Barrie even though there isn't much in Toronto). Things (snow and other items) were flying all around. I believe it did at least one flip (but probably more) before coming to rest.

Even though I was kind of in a hurry to get back to the city I figured I'd better stop. A lot of cars had slowed down, but most kept going. When I got there one car had stopped on the right shoulder. A lady was standing beside it not doing much. Another car had stopped on the left shoulder. A man got out and put on a yellow safety vest and tried to cross three lanes of traffic. He made it across without too much trouble. One car had to hit the brakes to avoid running him over. But, most cars had slowed down a lot by this time.

Upon arrival at the scene I was preparing myself to extricate an injured person/persons from a car. But by the time I pulled over on the shoulder, put my hazard lights on and got out of my van a young lady with brown hair (perhaps in her late 20s or early 30s) had already gotten out of the driver's side and was walking around. Miraculously, she didn't seem injured at all.

The man and I approached her not walking too quickly since there was still a bit of snow on the side of the highway (perhaps 6-12 inches) and it wasn't easy to walk through. Besides, we saw that she wasn't in distress so the situation didn't seem urgent. The man spoke first. He asked her how she was. She said she felt all right. Maybe a little bit dizzy because her car had flipped over (at least once even though it had landed upright).

Stuff was strewn all over the place. The car was damaged. Not heavily. The trunk was kind of crunched. It was fully open and the contents were all around. Maybe she had just gone shopping. I noticed her bag and sunglass a bit further away. They probably came out of the interior of her car.

Since the young lady looked okay and I was in a bit of a hurry to get back to Toronto I asked if they needed me to stay. The man said they were all right. I guess they could handle things from there. I believe the guy was on the phone when I took off. The other lady was still standing by her car on the shoulder of the highway.

I was considering helping the girl pick up her belongings as I walked by them on the way back to my vehicle. But I thought I should leave them in case the investigator (when he/she came) wanted to take pictures of things where they lay. I hoped someone would get there soon because the light was starting to dim. It would be hard to take pictures and even harder to find/pick everything up afterwards.

I didn't see how the accident happened. I'm not sure if all three of them were involved. I noticed a bit of damage on the passenger-side front bumper of the guy's car as I was driving away.