All Pumped Up
Cidu Bill on Jul 9th 2008
I surely do appreciate the illustrated guide, because I live in New Jersey and sometimes when I’m out of state I forget how to pump my own gas… but what’s the actual joke here?
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Luann, comic strips, comics, gasoline, humor | 56 responses so far
Arthur Jul 9th 2008 at 12:13 am 1
He carefully follows all of the steps only to find out that the hose can reach only the near side of the car, but the gas cap is on the far side. Most self-serve pumps have very short hoses.
Mel Jul 9th 2008 at 12:48 am 2
I thought that too, Arthur, but there’s clearly enough slack in the hose to reach the tank.
It was only after this that I realized the tank is on the other side of the car.
PeterW Jul 9th 2008 at 12:59 am 3
His gas flap is on the other side.
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 01:04 am 4
Even in New Jersey, we can pull our cars alongside the wrong side of the gas pump. I still don’t know what the JOKE is supposed to be, though.
Howabominable (aka Lindsey ^_^) Jul 9th 2008 at 02:01 am 5
The joke is supposed to be that after going through all the steps of trying to pump his own gas, such as opening the tank, inserting the credit card, selecting the grade and removing the nozzle, the tank is on the wrong side. I live in a state where 99% of gas is self-served so I understand it pretty well :). Whenever I pull up to a gas station I think, “Which side is the tank on?”
Louis Jul 9th 2008 at 02:07 am 6
Try this sometime- you get more gas if you park with the petrol tank on the far side of the car. Most hoses are long enough to reach over a small car, and you get all the petrol that’s already in the hose for free!
It’s true…although kind of irrelevant here in Japan where all most stations you get the fuel pumped for you and the hoses come down from the station roof. And also there are usually station attendants to tell you which side of the car your tank is on.
He would’ve been able to reach, too, if he’d parked a bit closer to the pump
Shah Jul 9th 2008 at 03:53 am 7
Not really funny, but the kind of comic that makes you half grin, knowing you’ve been there and done that.
Suzii Jul 9th 2008 at 04:01 am 8
The joke is that the careful breakdown of the steps of the task is supposed to make him look like a meticulous fellow. The kind of meticulous fellow who pays attention to details. The kind of detail-oriented meticulous fellow who never finds himself staring at his car wondering why it doesn’t have a gas tank any more.
Of course, a completely absent-minded person would go through all those same steps, but the rhythm of the top row, especially with iconography like his turning full-face to focus on whatever he’s doing (even looking at the *door* while he gets out!) and the precise-looking finger-pointing, along with the absence of anything that could distract him, is crafted to give the impression of competence.
I think we’d have to call it a less-than-complete success.
furrykef Jul 9th 2008 at 06:56 am 9
One of those jokes that makes less sense after you think about it: he already opened the gas flap without realizing that he was parked on the wrong side. Could that happen? Sure. But here it looks more like the cartoonist just chose a lazy way to indicate that the gas tank is on the other side.
- Kef
Tom T. Jul 9th 2008 at 07:24 am 10
Well, he opened the gas flap by pushing a button inside the car. He didn’t walk around the other side.
Powers Jul 9th 2008 at 07:32 am 11
Wait a minute — in the first panel isn’t he pulling up to the pump with the pump on the passenger side? And isn’t that where the car’s gas tank is? How did the car get turned around?
Nicole Jul 9th 2008 at 08:48 am 12
Powers, and that is the joke. In a surreal moment the cartoonist has drawn the car in a different position than in the first panel. Luann’s dad recognizes that he is being made a fool of by his creator and is angry. Clearly a commentary on the relationship of man and his god.
OK - maybe not
Size Jul 9th 2008 at 09:55 am 13
I like Nicole’s idea. This strip isn’t based on Ibsen by any chance is it?
Nicole Jul 9th 2008 at 10:48 am 14
Size … well I have to admit that I had to read up a little on Ibsen, but sadly no… I don’t think the comic strip Luann is in any way based on anything Ibsen wrote — lol
Cindi Jul 9th 2008 at 11:10 am 15
When my younger sister was learning to drive I told ere there were 3 things to always keep in mind. Keep in mind we live in NJ where you can’t pump your own gas even if you wanted to….
any way I told her
1. wet leaves are a slippery as ice
2. always be nice to the gas station attendant ( lest he retaliate by dribbling gas down the side of your car)
3. Remember which side the gas tank is on - some attendants get very testy about that even if the hose can reach.
BTW - I totally saw my self in this comic - When ever I am out of NJ and am faced with pumping my own gas I am so focused on how to pump to remember where my tank is ( Lord help me if I am in a rental car! ).
Morris Keesan Jul 9th 2008 at 11:16 am 16
I suspect that the car turning around is a continuity error, and that the intended joke is that the guy is so clueless or absent-minded that he doesn’t know where his gas tank is, and is staring at his car wondering why there’s no place to put the hose.
(As someone who ALWAYS pumps my own gas, I can’t conceive of this actually happening. There are occasions when I’ll pay a few cents more per gallon in order to go to a self-serve station, because I know I’ll stop pumping when the tank is full, instead of overfilling it to bring the purchase up to a round number [particularly pointless and annoying when paying with plastic]).
elizabeth Jul 9th 2008 at 11:33 am 17
isn’t there a recent/current car commercial that shows this happening to several people? the gist being that, because of the great gas mileage, they fill up so infrequently, they forget what side the gas tank is on? (too bad i don’t remember what kind of car it is! lol)
Frank Jul 9th 2008 at 12:08 pm 18
I try to avoid NJ. Not out of any disdain for the place, but it entailed the need to pass through NYC until I discovered the Tappan Zee and the GSP. I always assumed the lack of self serve pumps was a GSP boondoggle to provide jobs for unemployable relatives of pols - similar to the toll taker on the Mass TP. I didn’t realize that there that many politicians with relatives in need through out NJ.
Ray Brady Jul 9th 2008 at 12:40 pm 19
Frank, if you’ve ever had your gas pumped in New Jersey, you would know that it’s highly unlikely that any service station workers are related to any New Jersey politicians. They may, however, all be related to each other.
DPWally Jul 9th 2008 at 01:03 pm 20
In most recent cars, the gas pump picture on the gauge includes an arrow showing which side the cap is on.
In the second panel he checks the diagram. It seems like this diagram is intended to show which side the cap is on, but is so poorly designed that it’s impossible to figure out which way it’s pointing. He guesses wrong.
I don’t think that’s what the cartoonist had in mind, but it at least has the potential to lead semi-funny joke.
DPWally Jul 9th 2008 at 01:11 pm 21
Continuity: In panel 1 he’s driving BETWEEN rows of pumps. It’s reasonable that he pulled up to the row on the left rather than the right.
Louis: I don’t think it works that way. Since the start-stop control is the nozzle, you always get what’s already in the hose and always leave with the hose full.
NJ: I believe it’s illegal to pump your own gas in New Jersey. When that law is threatened it’s defended as a safety issue, even though the experience everywhere else proves that’s not an issue.
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 01:27 pm 22
Full-serve in New Jersey is rarely, that I’ve seen, defended as a safety issue, because that would imply we were stupider than the residents of 48 other states.
This is, in fact, one of those cases where the public is smarter than the businesses that are trying to cheat us: We’re told that self-serve gas will be cheaper than full-serve, but we absolutely know that self-serve will end up costing us what full-serve costs now, and full-serve (if we can find it) will be more expensive.
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 01:28 pm 23
Cindi, I hope you remembered to tell your sister about the @#$%^ deer.
Cedar Jul 9th 2008 at 01:36 pm 24
I had a job that required a lot of in-town driving, a rental car was provided for me. Every month I got a new car, and I could never remember which side the gas flap (btw, never realized that that is what those are called) was on. It was especially obnoxious in a crowded station; I often just canceled the credit card and drove to a different station.
DPWally Jul 9th 2008 at 01:39 pm 25
Last time I heard this discussed, I heard the safety defense. Though it sounded like one of those things where the speaker knows it’s not true, and knows everyone knows he knows it’s not true, but says it anyway because he has to say something minimally plausible.
Is there another state with the same law? Or are you implying NJ residents have arithmetic issues?
You’re probably right about the price. Same reason suspending the gas tax wouldn’t lower the price and resuming the tax would increase it.
David Skaar Jul 9th 2008 at 02:20 pm 26
DPWally, last I knew Oregon didn’t allow self-service. My dad learned this in Oregon when an attendant started the gas and then wandered off while the pump was working very slowly. He then waited for someone to take the nozzle to speed it up, and came back to tell my dad he couldn’t do that.
OR and NJ are/were the only two states like this. The story I heard in Oregon was that it was to prevent convenience stores from selling gas and undercutting gas stations, using the store revenue to subsidize lower gas prices. Now just about every gas station has become a convenience store because the profit margin on gas is too low to make it viable.
Also, in the lower 48, OR usually is in the top 5 states for average gas prices, while NJ is typically a little below the national average. I’m told this is mostly due to NJ having lots of refineries around, while OR doesn’t, as well as some tax differences. Or maybe the attendants in OR get paid a lot more than those in NJ.
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 02:20 pm 27
Oregon is the other full-serve state.
Count Shrimpula Jul 9th 2008 at 02:22 pm 28
Oregon is the other state where pumping your own gas is illegal, DPWally.
Well the last time this came up in Jersey, when gas prices were pushing (gasp!) about $2.50-$2.75 a gallon, it was brought up as a way to shave a few cents off the price for using the self-serve. And people revolted, and the safety issue was brought up. You may have missed it, Bill, but I’m in Jersey too, and I remember it. And it was quite distressing to see my fellow New Jerseyans argue vehemently that they were stupider than everyone in the 48 other states where pumping your gas is legal and common. Or hell, that they’re stupider than the high-school dropout or barely able to speak English immigrant getting paid minimum wage to pump the gas. Yes, clearly one could never hope to be able to replicate the work of such a meticulously trained professional. I hear they go through a 2-year training period before they even let them on the pumps!
As you might be able to tell from my tone, I really wish I could pump my own god damn gas, and I despise that law. It’s not that I don’t love sitting for 5 minutes waiting for the attendant to meander over to me when I’m in a hurry, or watching him overfill my tank to get my total to a nice round number when I’m paying with a damn credit card and it doesn’t matter anyway. I love those things. But I’d like to have the option to pump my own gas. It’s not like the full-service stations will just disappear overnight. Especially considering how apparently terrified the people in this damn state are of being given the option to pump their own gas. I am truly disgusted by my fellow New Jerseyans who are so pathetically terrified of pumping their own gas. Like that’s even 1/1000th as complicated as driving the car to the gas station itself! Jesus!
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 02:24 pm 29
David, NJ’s lower gas prices is a combination of those two factors, but lower state taxes on gas is the primary one.
Of course we have the second- or third-highest auto insurance rates, so it all pretty much evens out.
Cidu Bill Jul 9th 2008 at 02:44 pm 30
The problem, Count, is that there’s no such thing as “the option” to pump your own gas: That’s the term the gas station owners’ association uses, but what they’re really seeking is THEIR right not to hire attendants (and make us pay a surcharge for attendants if they do decide to hire them).
I don’t know any New Jerseyans who would object to a change in the law if we could somehow have an iron-clad guarantee that all service stations would continue to offer full-serve for customers who want it, and that full-serve would be offered at the “going rate” with the discount for self-serve station owners claim legislators are depriving us of.
Nicole Jul 9th 2008 at 03:10 pm 31
The direction this thread has taken has reminded me of this Daily Show segment on the topic of self serve vs full serve.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=114630&title=pump-my-ride
Count Shrimpula Jul 9th 2008 at 03:48 pm 32
Thanks Nicole. I thought about linking to that too, but I was too lazy to look it up before.
Bill, I think the fact that New Jerseyans are so damn scared to pump their own gas would ensure that the vast, vast majority of stations would still offer full-service. The market would simply demand it, at least for a while. And if they eventually scaled it back? Well, 48 other states handle it just fine, I really feel confident that we’d be ok.
I don’t even really give a damn about the savings/surcharge. It would be a couple cents a gallon, which most likely wouldn’t even add up to a dollar per fill-up. People are so neurotic about tiny changes in gas prices. It’s idiotic to wait in line for 40 minutes to fill up at a station that’s 10-15 cents cheaper, but people do that. Let’s say you have a 20 gallon tank, and it’s on E. 10 cents a gallon is going to save you $2.00 if you fill it up. Where the hell else would you wait 40 minutes to save $2.00 on something? My time is more valuable than that. And my ability to pump gas is more valuable than worrying about being charged a 50 cent surcharge if I get full-serve for some reason.
Suzii Jul 9th 2008 at 05:01 pm 33
Count, you gotta take transit more. I’ve got all the same objections to full-serve here in Oregon, but since I only have to fill up once a month or less, it’s not worth more than a sigh and an eye-roll.
Although if you’re the sort of person who fumes that immigrants with the guts to start from the bottom in a place where they’ll have to learn a new language and a whole new culture are stupid — well, maybe you just walk around getting mad for the entertainment value, no? Maybe there’s no point in changing anything that you don’t like, since you’ll just find something else to keep your angry up?
Cindi Jul 9th 2008 at 07:52 pm 34
Speaking for myself ( of course) I would not be interested in pumping my own gas - I hate having the smell on me. Being a Klutz makes it a certainty that I will get some on me - not just on my hands.
I have yet to pay $4 a gallon for gas ( Fingers crossed that it will continue to be so) All things considered, I am quite happy with the way things are.
And Bill - my sisterly advice didn’t extend to deers - there was enough evidence of that danger laying around on the roadways that I figured it wasn’t needed. ;c)
Highjinx Jul 9th 2008 at 09:20 pm 35
Suzii - Wow, it would surely be nice to live and work where I could simply “take transit more”. Not all of us have that luxury, but when I did I surely appreciated it and took advantage of it at every opportunity.
But I don’t think you’re being fair in your assessment of Count’s comments, either in stating that he is calling all immigrants stupid or in that he’s just ranting for the sake of being angry. Just because you don’t care about this issue doesn’t mean that anyone who does feel strongly is wrong and/or crazy. And although you don’t feel as strongly about this issue, saying that Count called immigrants stupid is a blatant, inflammatory falsehood.
Susan T-O Jul 9th 2008 at 09:36 pm 36
Interesting. I can’t remember the last time I’ve even seen a full-service station. I’m sure there must be some here in California *some*where. . . and if self-serve is cheaper, why am I paying $4.47 a gallon?
Frank Jul 9th 2008 at 10:36 pm 37
Back in the day, before self serve, it was sort of a rite of passage/match thing to pump your own gas. Now,as much as I’d prefer to let someone else to the filling, I tend to do it because because of price, speed, and non availability of full serve.
Mucho comentary produced by a ho-hum cartoon.
Frank Jul 9th 2008 at 10:41 pm 38
correction: match thing should be macho thing
Highjinx Jul 9th 2008 at 10:55 pm 39
I used to drive past 20 self-serve stations and 1 very pleasant and efficient full-serve station on the 25-mile drive home from work, and the full-serve station was always within 2-3 cents per gallon of most of the self-serve stations. If I wasn’t in a hurry, I was tired, I was dressed nice, or the weather was bad, then I went full-serve. If I was in a rush, I always went self-serve, because it was always faster (even 10 seconds can make a diff sometimes). Also - I always went self-serve when I was buying one gallon to get me to payday! One time a New Jersey attendant threw my money back at me when I bought 2 dollars in gas and paid him in my last laundry quarters!
Morris Keesan Jul 10th 2008 at 10:03 am 40
The town where I live has a local bylaw prohibiting self-serve gas stations, which is why I almost never get gas locally (if I’ve been careless and allowed my tank to get dangerously low, in which case I’ll get a few dollars worth, enough to drive to a self-serve station). The argument given when this law was passed was that if self-serve were legal, there would be no “full-serve” stations left (the name is a laugh — when was the last time anybody saw a “full-serve” station? Now it just means “we pump your gas”), and old people who couldn’t pump their own gas would be stranded. This in spite of the easy availability of non-self-serve stations in all of the surrounding communities without such prohibitions.
Count Shrimpula Jul 10th 2008 at 10:59 am 41
Suzii, I’d love to be able to take public transportation, but there isn’t really any public transportation to speak of available where I live.
And I was not calling immigrants stupid. I rewrote that paragraph, and after I posted it, I realized someone might be able to interpret it as that. I’m surprised it took this long, frankly. I’ve got absolutely nothing against immigrants, the relevant point there was that they barely speak English (again, not a problem, I wouldn’t magically know a language immediately as soon as I moved to a new place) and yet there doesn’t seem to be any trouble teaching them how to operate the gas pumps. Hell, they can’t even refer to the written directions on the pump if they get stuck, and they still don’t have trouble.
My point being that pumping gas is not difficult. It’s about 3 steps total. If someone’s never done it before, it doesn’t matter how stupid they are. It doesn’t matter if there’s a language barrier there. All you need to do is just show them how to do it one time, without saying a word, and they should be able to pick it up. And to pretend that that is then too difficult for the people in this state to handle is ludicrous, and insulting. Shit, I wasn’t even insulting high school dropouts. Some of my best friends are high school dropouts. But you don’t exactly need a god damn PHD from Harvard to operate a gas pump!
Steve K Jul 10th 2008 at 12:29 pm 42
I self-serve every time I go to the station. I would go miles out of my way to avoid full-service. I can’t imagine living in NJ or OR.
Of course, I also change my own oil, rotate my own tires, etc.
But the nozzle turns on and off. There’s a convenient trigger. There are large instructions. Sometimes the hardest part about pumping gas is figuring out which way the stupid credit card goes in the slot! It’s not rocket science…
Spill any? …little tip. When it clicks off when you’re full, give it a tiny shake to get those stubborn drops out of there.
…okay, that sounded dirty…
Cidu Bill Jul 10th 2008 at 01:25 pm 43
As long as it isn’t more than three shakes, Steve
David N Jul 10th 2008 at 08:29 pm 44
I don’t think ANYONE got the joke here, and it sure took me awhile. The person that mentioned the car being lined up the wrong way was close - the dad checks the gauge very carefully for which side is the gas tank, pays very methodically, … and then discovers he went to the wrong pump island.
He never went around to the other side of the car to that pump island, he just got out and went to the pump right next to the driver’s side door.
Kinda funny, but I hope he didn’t waste a whole lotta time drawing it.
Highjinx Jul 10th 2008 at 10:06 pm 45
Count - Don’t worry, your comments weren’t offensive when read carefully, and I think 99% of people knew what you meant. As a recently-reformed Jersey-ite, I definitely agree with you.
Tom T. Jul 11th 2008 at 12:27 am 46
For #44, I don’t think the dad is checking a gauge re: the side with the tank. He’s just pushing the button that opens the flap.
Morris Keesan Jul 11th 2008 at 09:56 am 47
Count Shrimpula, your post #41 is offensive to people with PhDs from Harvard!!
Judge Mental Jul 11th 2008 at 10:59 am 48
Cedar: I also have never heard the term “gas flap” before. I have always heard them referred to as “fuel doors”.
David Skaar Jul 11th 2008 at 11:15 am 49
This comic reminds me of Charlie Chaplin’s take on setting up a joke. Greg Evans has a topic that everyone is familiar with, just about everyone has done this and will recognize it. His problem is that it’s such a simple gag that it’s not funny by itself, and the setup is key (and he has to stretch to fill the Sunday space). He could have just had a single big panel with the car at the pump, the fuel door (gas flap!) on the wrong side, and dad clutching the nozzle, on his knees, screaming Khaaaaan! He went the other way, showing the intricate work you must go through to fill up with gas, making the reader wonder where this is all going, the tension gradually building, the reader biting his fingernails, finally the grand payoff is reached, at which point the reader says, yup, done that, and goes on to read Get Fuzzy.
Charlie Chaplin’s theory on comedy was that you show a banana peel on the sidewalk, then show a well dressed overweight woman walking towards it. Cut back and forth between the woman and the banana, zoom in on the peel, zoom in on the foot, back and forth, preparing the audience for the slip and fall. Then have the woman step around the peel and fall down an open manhole. Therefore, if dad picked up the nozzle and the gas pump exploded, that would be comedy.
Count Shrimpula Jul 11th 2008 at 01:16 pm 50
Curses, stepped in it again!
Cliff Jul 11th 2008 at 03:35 pm 51
The car didn’t turn around if you look in the first panel he is actually pulling up to the pump on the FAR side not the one on the near side.
I don’t think I have ever seen anyone attempt to pump gas with the tank on the far side of the car, ever. I too live in Jersey and despise being out of state where I have to pump my own gas. If it isn’t going to be less money I see no point in doing it myself.
I thought the joke in this one was kind of obvious.
Andie Jul 15th 2008 at 11:52 pm 52
This happens to my husband and me whenever I drive his car or he drives mine (as often happens on a road trip or some such thing where we switch off), as his car and mine have gas flaps on opposite sides.
Jack Jul 17th 2008 at 08:02 pm 53
He went through all that trouble of getting ready to pay for the gas only to realize that his tank is on the other side of the car.
LC Jul 19th 2008 at 12:28 am 54
This would have worked so much better if they had kept drawing the side mirrors on the car. After they disappeared from the first few frames it just looks like the gas door is a mirror and dad’s blocking the other.
Bill (Ashburn Stadium) Nov 29th 2009 at 05:49 am 55
This IS intended as offensive to New Jersey drivers! As a long-time professional driver from Pennsylvania, they are some of the worst drivers I have ever seen.
First and foremost, nearly all NJ drivers have some kind of phobia against using a turn signal switch.
Second, when I worked for the Reedman car dealership in Langhorne, PA (which was once the largest single-location auto dealership on earth with 150 acres and 5,000 cars) in the mid-1990s, we had two traffic circles on the property at either end of a private bridge which was built to PennDOT specifications, over PA 213, a four-lane highway. I saw at least two NJ drivers go around the circles the wrong way - NJ is known as the capital of the traffic circle!
Third, during the short period where NJ used validation stickers on their license plates, there were so many dumb drivers who put both stickers on their rear plate! The stickers were meant to be put on both plates. Fortunately for PA drivers, PA got rid of the front plate in 1952.
Getting back to the full-serve gas pumps in NJ, I have also heard that the reason Trenton won’t legalize self-serve is because of the “fire hazard”. They are afraid some clown will light up when they are pumping their own gas. Look at the attendants at many NJ gas stations - they look like a sleeper cell of al-Qaida!
I prefer the Sikh Indians (the ones with the turbans, and they are monotheistic) who operate the Sunoco on US 130 South in Burlington. Sikhs are very nice people.
I’ll also go to Wawa as well - that’s a convenience store chain based in the Philly area.
Here in PA, full-serve (if you can find it) costs about 40 cents more per gallon than self-serve.
Mitch4 Nov 29th 2009 at 09:42 am 56
As an odd coincidence, in the last couple weeks I’ve seen a couple videos of a traffic / perception expert promoting traffic circles in the U.S. as a potentially big safety and convenience win. Specifically he studies drivers’ eye movements, and is suggesting ways to un-clutter the signage and clarify the borders, to get U.S. drivers past what he considers our unreasoning reluctance to use traffic circles. (Or “circuses” as he calls them in his transatlantic way.)
(However, none of this changes the well-established fact that this country’s worst urban drivers, combined with the worst traffic planning and signage, are to be found in Boston.)