I felt like I had done some time travel this weekend. After a quick jaunt up the road to some factory outlet stores (mostly looking, pretty much shopped out after the previous weekend with Ryan) I took a few back roads to get back on I-85 to head back to Atlanta. Just before getting back on the freeway, a gas station proclaimed unleaded gas at $1.73 a gallon.
Now, as many of you know, I'll drive 20 miles to save 3 cents a gallon on gas, and in this case, the price was about 10 cents lower than the prevailing rate in the city. So I pulled into what appeared to be a fairly modern station.
Except for one glaring omission: There were no credit card swipes at the pumps.
Channeling 1975, when driveoffs were as rare as buying gas with a credit card, I took a chance and simply shoved the nozzle into the tank and lifted the handle switch. Five seconds later...the displays reset to zero and gas flowed. As it used to do regularly in the days before cheating and paranoia swept the nation.
It was a fun five minutes at this pump. I imagined the air I was breathing was a little sweeter; the people around me a little friendlier; and heck, even the gas was a little cheaper. Somehow I had found a little spot left in the country where trust and doing the right thing still win out over dishonesty and suspicion.
Of course, after finishing my fill, I walked into the convenience store and paid for my gas. As it once was. As it should be.
Interestingly, I also bought a Diet Mountain Dew for the road. Maybe the owners of this station still understand the concept of maximizing sales...and maybe this corner of the world still has a population that cherishes real values.
Anyone else out there have a neighborhood gas station that still allows one to pay for gas after pumping?
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