Bonus Post: Driving misadventures (a trilogy (part 2, The Gas Station Incident))
(I'm doing a trilogy on driving misadventures (in case you couldn't tell from the very informative title of this post) and if you haven't caught part one, check it out!)
So a couple of months ago, I received my driver's licence (to my eternal delight). For the first couple of days, I mostly just drove to work and picked my siblings up from school. It was great fun, except for the time that I almost ran out of gas. As a new driver with a quarter of a tank, I wasn't sure how much further I could go. The last thing I wanted to do was run out of gas and have a panic attack and generally freak out.
Thus, I headed to the gas station. Now, I have filled up with fuel before, but never all by my lonesome. (But go me! Being an adult! (Ha.)) So I found my way to the gas station, but all the spots were full. That was fine, I could wait. But which pump should I go to? And which side was my tank on? (AAAHHH PANIC!) I spent a few minutes debating, and finally decided to just stay put and wait for the person ahead of me to finish, except for when the person in the line beside me finished. Should I just wait, or could I back up and go into the next pump?
And to make matters worse, that Surf Lifesaving Girl was standing at the doorway to the gas station asking for donations, watching me the whole time. Probably judging me. Do you have any idea how much that freaked me out? I HATE it when people watch and probably judge me. No pressure, right?
No fear, I was a responsible adult. I backed up a little, pulled over to the pump beside me and shut the car off. A few minutes later, I was standing next to my tank, realizing that oh, I pulled up to the wrong pump. My tank was on the other side.
Darn it all.
I tried to pull the hose around to my tank, but to my despair I discovered that it could have reached if only I'd have pulled up closer to the pump. I turned to see the Surf Lifesaving Girl watching me, and that it was it. I was done. I replaced the hose, hopped back in the car and drove away, shaking my head the whole way at my failed attempt to be an adult.
Halfway back home, I discovered that I hadn't put the lid back on the gas tank.
What was your first experience with filling up with fuel? Were you excited or scared to get your driver's licence? Have you ever had any strangers (possibly) laugh at you?
So a couple of months ago, I received my driver's licence (to my eternal delight). For the first couple of days, I mostly just drove to work and picked my siblings up from school. It was great fun, except for the time that I almost ran out of gas. As a new driver with a quarter of a tank, I wasn't sure how much further I could go. The last thing I wanted to do was run out of gas and have a panic attack and generally freak out.
Thus, I headed to the gas station. Now, I have filled up with fuel before, but never all by my lonesome. (But go me! Being an adult! (Ha.)) So I found my way to the gas station, but all the spots were full. That was fine, I could wait. But which pump should I go to? And which side was my tank on? (AAAHHH PANIC!) I spent a few minutes debating, and finally decided to just stay put and wait for the person ahead of me to finish, except for when the person in the line beside me finished. Should I just wait, or could I back up and go into the next pump?
And to make matters worse, that Surf Lifesaving Girl was standing at the doorway to the gas station asking for donations, watching me the whole time. Probably judging me. Do you have any idea how much that freaked me out? I HATE it when people watch and probably judge me. No pressure, right?
No fear, I was a responsible adult. I backed up a little, pulled over to the pump beside me and shut the car off. A few minutes later, I was standing next to my tank, realizing that oh, I pulled up to the wrong pump. My tank was on the other side.
Darn it all.
I tried to pull the hose around to my tank, but to my despair I discovered that it could have reached if only I'd have pulled up closer to the pump. I turned to see the Surf Lifesaving Girl watching me, and that it was it. I was done. I replaced the hose, hopped back in the car and drove away, shaking my head the whole way at my failed attempt to be an adult.
Halfway back home, I discovered that I hadn't put the lid back on the gas tank.
What was your first experience with filling up with fuel? Were you excited or scared to get your driver's licence? Have you ever had any strangers (possibly) laugh at you?
I've done that! I used to always forget which side my gas tank was on. And every time I go to get gas, I have this fear that I'll get too far away and then I'll have to try to back up and drive in closer and that people will watch me and judge me trying to wrestle my car into the proper position. So usually I end up parking too close and one time I could just barely slip out my car door. :P
ReplyDeleteAGH! That was really rude of Surf Lifesaving Girl. I hate it so much when people just stare at me! It drives me crazy. I don't appreciate being watched like I'm under a microscope or like I'm on display in a museum or worse, I'm something in a zoo. . . And when I say something about it, people are always like, "What? Am I not allowed to look at you?" as if I'm the one making things awkward. . .
Good post!
PS I tagged you for the One Lovely Blog award. :D
DeleteI AM NOT ALONE. YAY!!! It makes me feel better that someone else makes the same mistakes as me :)
DeleteI KNOW!!! I get nervous enough when someone isn't watching me, and it gets way worse when someone is.
Thank you! I'll check it out!
Man, I feel like such a young child because all you bloggers can drive and I can't. And you're all around the same age as me. Darn it xD
ReplyDeleteIt won't be long, Grace, it won't be long. Then you can wreck havoc on the roads with your fabulous driving :)
DeleteMy dad has had me fill up the gas tank when I was probably eleven or twelve. He would always watch, and stuff, but it gave me experience at a young age on how I'd have to do it when I was finally able to drive by myself.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to gas station stories, though, one time I realized I didn't have enough gas to get to school on a morning when I had an 8AM class, so I ran up to the gas station at 6:30AM and was tired and cold but there was a beautiful sunrise and I was like, "blah." But also it was nice.
That is my story.
That's awesome of your dad! (My dad actually did that too, but I just kind of panicked and freaked out :/)
DeleteThat is a very nice story :)
Tip for filling up and trying to remember which side your fuel tank is on. Take a look at your fuel indicator on your dash where you see the little fuel symbol and your level of full to empty. Right beside that little fuel symbol is (usually) an arrow, and it points to which side of the car your tank is. Viola! I have been driving a while and still have times where I forget which side it's on so this comes in real handy :) now trying to remember to release the fuel hatch is another story...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! I've learned my l lesson now, so hopefully I won't make the same mistake twice. Thanks for visiting!
Delete