I’m old enough to remember service stations. When you stopped for gas, a guy in oil company livery (usually wearing a bow tie) would not only pump your gas, he would check your oil, radiator and battery, pump up your tires and clean your windshield. By the time I was old enough to drive myself, the uniform had disappeared, but most of the other “services” remained. If you were buying “bulk gas” at a generic station, these amenities were missing, but it was a small price to pay for the 25.9 cents/gal at the corner Super-Test and you still didn’t have to serve yourself. And you got a ticket redeemable for a free ride at the Phillips 66 amusement park on the edge of town. A pack of Luckies cost as much as a gallon of petrol, and for ten bucks I could fill up my VW, buy my girl and I a burger and shake, and go to the Phillips 66 for a romantic Ferris Wheel ride.
No, this is not nostalgia, but just contrast. Yesterday the tire pressure sensor in my Versa told me I was running low on air. I found a station with a working air pump (no mean feat, they seem to be getting scarcer and scarcer, and the ones that do exist often are busted) and learned that the price of a dose of compressed air had gone up to $1.50 (quarters only, please).
I know the drill. I carefully parked the car so all four wheels could be (just barely) reached by the hose, opened the trunk so I could get to the spare, and removed all the valve stem caps from all the tires so I wouldn’t have to fumble around with them while the pump timer counted down. I knew these pumps did not deliver enough pressure to fill up the factory spare (60 psi), but I carry a full-size spare in my trunk as well.
I worked quickly and efficiently and topped off all 5 tires just in time before the timer cut me off. If I hadn’t been ready, I would have needed 6 more quarters to finish the job.
I know what you’re thinking, instead of bitching about the decline of customer service, you should just go to Home Depot and get yourself an electric air pump for about $40.
Yeah. Right.