History Old "pump Jockey" story thread

Back in the early 60s I worked at a 24 hour full service station/cafe/motel on old 66 after school for 50 cents an hour. Grown men got 10.00 for a 12 hour shift. They used to have gas wars. When regular got down to 10 cents a gallon, it was cheaper than that old tractor gas, so the farmers around the area line up to fill anything they could, like dirty cream cans and such. We had cars lined up at our 4 pumps past midnight filling up on the cheap gas, and they still got the oil checked and a wind shield wash! People would to come in and get 50 cents or a dollars worth of gas.
No matter the price of gas, every Saturday night this kid, maybe a year or two older then me, would fly in off the hiway in his 55 Ford with 4 slick tires, have me put in 50 cents worth of regular and a quart of Wolf's Head re-refined oil. He would grab an orange pop, dump a bag of peanuts in it, and spin his tires all the way back to the hiway. About midnight he would be going home and stop for another quart of oil and an orange pop.

 

He would grab an orange pop, dump a bag of peanuts in it,.[/quote]

I've put peanuts in a Pepsi, but never heard of anyone putting them in a bottle of Orange pop


HellRaiser

 

Kids used to put peanuts in Nehi, Orange Crush and Nugrape.

 

I remember the old con deal in AZ and NM back in the 60's. The guy would check your tires, and squirt some oil behind one of the tires. He would tell you your shocks are leaking badly, and you shouldn't drive another mile that way, and they have shocks on sale! Of course, there was also an auto parts store next door or across the street.

Anybody else heard of this trick?

 

Jeez, the full service station. 2nd shift paradise for a high school grease monkey. Access to tools, a tow truck, and a beer cooler.

Memories......how about standing on the car wash activation hose, cause it needed to spray NOW, to extingish the ceiling. Because instead of the normal wet-tp snowball fight, you had an aerosol carb cleaner & match flameathon. And ignited all that TP stuck to the carwash roof.......

We used those old wood sticks to measure the outdoor tanks. Me and the kid from the texaco station across the road would have 16 foot sword fights in the street if our paths crossed at closing time.........

Superintendent of my school district gave me the most uncool ass chewing of a lifetime in a case of mistaken identity. Came in drunk on a friday night a month later needing a front tire patched and didn't even recognize me. After smoking that tire bald, swapped it on the opposite back corner and gave it right back to his drunkass.

Random trivia, a 350 powered wrecker runs the quarter somewhere in the 24 second range

I've seen the same tow truck break something like 6 driveshafts/U joints. Hot summer night, new guy in the truck, few of our classmates hanging around......if you popped the clutch at 2000 or more on dry pavement, something was gonna give. 3000 or more and the shaft would actually roll out from under the truck

Or the time my dumbass was gonna use a 1 ton wrecker to drag an 18 wheeler with no air that died right around the corner from the station. That "here's your sign" gag didn't exist yet, but the trucker's face said it all. Sure didn't stop a hell of a try though

 

I have 2 that stick out. The first I helped a friend who owner a Chevron later ammoco and he helped with my race cars sponsor wise. He night he asked me to go on a service call at the local wresling arena. When I arrived the bigest star of that time Jackey Fargo.s Cadallic would not crank. I jumped it off and the alternator was bad. I installed a battery and drove to the Chevron found a alternator and sold a new battery. He gave me a 2o dollar tip {good money in 69} and free passes to all his matches. The next happened in 64 the first job in huntsville when I moved here. A customer came in with a 56 Olds he said " fill it up and check everything" He went to the rest room. after about 20 minutes we decided to check on him. He had cut both his wrist stood over the comode bled until he passed out then died. After the cops and coroner came We had to clean it up. I quit that night. The car sat outside. After a week that car came up missing. It was odd a few weeks later one of the mechanics came tp work with a 51 chevy olds powered... At another friends 24 hour place I always hung around on the weekend after the beer joints closed up. I kept cash and bought a lot of spares and tools and a few other things... Bobby..

 

In the winter time we had a bus battery on the back of the service truck for cold jump starts. It was a cold snowy day, and I had the flu. I thought that I needed the money more than I needed to be in bed. I got a call to come start some old dude--I jumped it,shot ether down the carb, cranked it till the stater was about to glow---NO GO!

The old guy started to give me a hard time, and I said--man I don't feel to good, I'll have to send somebody else over to help. He wanted to insist that I get his car started.---So I puked all over him and went home to bed---great customer relations guy here!!!!!

 

I used to work at an old BA station just as they were all changed to Gulf stations. This was an after school job so I worked the evening shifts. One day 2 guys in a big beat up Pontiac pulled in for gas. Half way through the fill there was a loud pounding and yelling coming from the trunk. The driver jumped out and let 2 guys out of the trunk. They were coughing and gagging from the gas fumes that were leaking into the trunk. Turns out they were heading to the Drive-in 2 minutes up the road and were going to sneak the two in the trunk through the gate.

The owner of the station used to run a couple of modified 55 chevys at the old Brooklands speedway. These were ugly beat up jalopies with huge offset camber and good ol dirt track tires. They were loud and beautiful to a 15 year old. The old man used to test drive them on the highway out front. One day he took one out and disappeared down the road. a few minutes later the 55 came screaming by at high speed with a cop car right behind him with full sirens and lights. Just as I was thinking I would need to find a new job, the two cars pulled in together. Turns out the cop was driving the stock car and the old man was driving the cop car. Both had a great time and I would guess checked off a "to do" on thier list

 

These story's are great, These things would make a great movie.

 

It was tried on me in the early seventies.......Okc, I-40 and Meridian, the Texaco. I couldn't have afforded new shocks anyway.
I also got the qt low, empty can deal in Fort Smith about the same time. Pissed the guy off when I checked it myself and caught him.

 

I worked in a Mobil station that was open 365 days a year. Low wages, but since the station (like most of them, I assume) employed lots of part time employees that didn't like to show up for their shift, I had plenty of opportunities to increase my paycheck by working two or even three shifts in a row. Unfortunately, no sex for gas stories, but I did accept a Homelite XL chain saw in good working order for $10.00 worth of gas one night. Got one hell of a nice splinter of wood embedded in my hand one night while letting the tank gauge stick slide through my hands (finally dug it out of my hand about a month later). There was one nice looking older lady (she in her mid to late 30s, me in my very early 20s) that developed a habit of coming around after work on the days I worked the evening shift to "talk"......I wonder what ever happened to her. Drove to work one very snowy winter day when all of the roads were closed (I didn't know, and probably wouldn't have cared if I did). Worked for ten hours, and had a total of seven cars pull up to the pumps. Luckily, I had bought over 100 '50s and '60s Hot Rod magazines from an older guy that lived a few blocks from me and still had them in my car, so I sat at the counter and read them all evening (no, the "older lady" didn't stop in that night).

 

wow so the employees got the "full service" lol

 

In 63/64 A bunch of us would hang around a Mobile station on 12th and Belmont, never was hired there but the guy that ran the place hated to fix flats. I would go there after school and fix a pile of them every night for 50 cents a piece. It was a great place to hang out, always someone stopping by to visit and talk cars and girls.
The owner would come by every now and then and run us all off but we would be back. that place and the guys I met there are some of my fondest memorys, too bad most of them are gone now. And GASSMAN yours was an aw some story.

 

I worked at a gas station/feed store in 1979. I was 15 years old and this was my first job. It was in a very small podunk town in Oklahoma, nothing but old timer farmers. I was paid 1.00 per hour, remember this was 1979. Damn I was young and dumb.

My main memory from working there was everytime a oldtimer came in he would make me raise the gas hose high in the air to drain the gas from the hose!

Fast forward 29 years, just the other day I was helping a handicapped man put gas in his car, I couldnt believe it when he asked me to raise the hose to drain it. lol

 

One station I worked at was just a couple miles from the Indy 500, and out of towners were always pulling up to the pump, and waited for you to come out--not for gas, but directions to the track. This got to be a lot of fun--we would give them directions that had 4 left turns involved.--next thing you know they would come back past the station again. You would thing race fans would have enjoyed their 4 left turns at Indy, but not the case

 

I prefer "Fuel Dispenser Technician" ,, I works 2 summers at a station,,was fun..you have your regulars who can be nice or just a PIA ,,one old gentleman had a 65-66 Chevy and it was like new,,he took very good care of it.. He would always mix hi test and regular,and always paid me in silver dollars ( which I'd get at the end of my shift and save ) a nice friendly old guy,,wonder what ever became of him.

 

How about, Petroleum Transfer Engineer.

I also had a customer that would ask for RETHEL
1/2 reg & 1/2 ethel .

 

Had some guys pull up in a Grand National that was beat to shit from one end to the other....They got $10.00 and paid me in quarters out of a huge pile in the trunk. Obviously had been breaking into pop machines......

 

I believe 'Fuel Flow Consultant' is an actual Ohio job description listing...that's downright 'fuelish' !!

 

When I was a kids in the 70's my great uncle had a gulf station. Used to love to go hang out up there. He had a guy working for him that looked exactly like superman. We just knew it was really him. He would give suckers to any kids in the car when people got gas. In college I worked at an exxon for a friends dad. Would always volunteer to work at the old station that was built in the 50's. Place was cool as hell. Was hard to get into so not alot of traffic exept for the regulars that had been coming forever. It's a college town so lots of out of town dads sent their daughters to us since we were more than happy to take care of them. ;-). We got lots of business though because we didn't scam folks and really did only fix what was wrong. I guess they trusted an old style station like they grew up with more than Walmart or whoever. Buddies would come by and hang out when it was slow and the boss didn't mind as long as customers were taken care of. I miss that place, it's a Walgreens now. :-(

 

Two gas stations, one on each side of the street. Guy pulls in, takes a look at the gas price in full-service, drives off to the other side of the street for self-serve gas a few cents cheaper.

Then he has the nerve to come back in through the full-serve, shut off and tell my boss to put 32 lbs of air in all the tires. So, my boss being the kindly neighbor that he was, gets the air guage, air hose promptly checks the tire pressures. The first one might have 22lbs., so he puts it at 54lbs! And so on. He said he got kinda nervous a couple of times worried the tires would blow.

 

Here's one I posted on another thread a while back, but it seems pretty appropriate here too. Wish I could say I've gotten smart since then, but I'm sure there are people who would disagree.

Anyways -

My first "real" job was being a pump jockey at a gas station when I was sixteen (1960-61).

I was left alone there for a few hours one slow Saturday afternoon. An attractive young lady (probably 10 years older than me) pulled in with a '50s Ford convertable. She said she was looking to buy the car, but the motor was making a funny sound - or something like that - and asked if I would give it a quick check.

Well, I had no clue as to what to look for, but was greatly enjoying her company and attention, so of course I said yes. She pulled into the service bay and I confidently popped the hood. I piddled around checking the belts, plug wires, etc., and found nothing obviously wrong.

Still, she was pretty sweet looking, and quite friendly, so in a lame attempt to impress her further with my exceptional mechanical knowledge, I removed the air cleaner and poked around some more. Seems like it may have been a flathead, but either way there was an old style oil fill tube with a breather cap - filled with something like very coarse steel wool - slipped down over its top.

The breather was oil-caked, so I took it over to the parts washing tray, dipped it in and shook it around to clean it out. I slipped it back onto it's tube and told the little honey to hit the starter. The instant she did, there was a very loud noise, and quite a bit of smoke. The explosion blew the breather cap off and it banged loudly on the underside of the hood. At the same time, the dipstick shot out of the motor, careened off the inner fender, and flew across the room into a window pane - which of course, it busted out.

We were both terrified, and needless to say, that was the end of my attempts to impress the young lady. I quickly put things back together and she sped away before the smoke had cleared - probably happy just to be alive.

I can't remember how I explained the broken window to the boss when he returned - but I found out the next day that another employee had filled the parts cleaning tray with gasoline when he ran out of solvent. The excess gas had run down the oil fill tube into the crankcase and ignited when the gal hit the ignition switch.

Live and learn -

 

I worked at a local Texaco station in 1964 when I was 16. On Friday night,this cute redheaded girl would come in with her fathers '63 Galaxie convertible. I'd fill the gas tank ;wash the windsheild while checking out her legs and check the oil.
THEN,I'd get under the dash and disconnect the speedo so Dad wouldn't know how far she traveled. Of course she didn't get out of the car.She just moved over a little and I got a nice view.

I never found out who reconnected the speedo on Saturday morning for her. Probably whatever lucky guy she picked up on Friday night.

She was always nice to me but being a grease monkey I knew she was waaayyyy out of my league.

 

i worked at a sohio station in beavercreek ohio in 1971-1973.a buddy of mine worked at a carpet warehouse,and sometimes would deliver carpet.he discovered while at the station visiting with me that if he backed up to the rear of the lot,revved up the motor in that big box truck and dumped the clutch, that he could pull the wheels on the truck about 2-3 ft in the air....the truck had to be fully loaded,though.at 17-18 yrs old we thought that was the funniest thing we had ever seen in our lives...over and over till the clutch started to burn up...young and stupid

 

Early seventies...these outfits called sizzlers were the rage with girls. Kind of a short dress with some matching panties. Several days, sports car...girls missing the matching parts!!!! Damn I loved doing windows, Ya never know what you are gonna get!!!! Oh to be young again!!!!

Oh yeah...we were young and pretty smart ass, so the folks that came in lookin' for directions that were all uppity and shit, got the canned answer----- 5 blocks make a left then go...... You know the routine!!!!

 

I worked at a Chevron station in the mid 1970's. One day a lady came in with a Datsun pickup saying it didn't run right and was making noises. She was proud that she had just changed the oil herself. I put it on the lift and was about to remove the oil pan plug, when she shouted, NO, NO, that's the drain plug, and was pointing at the tranny plug. She had drained all the tranny fluid out and piled 5 more quarts of oil into the engine. Working Sunday's alone was cool since I could bring my CZ motocross bike in and work on it, and my buddies could bring their cars in. Sometimes the boss would cruise by and bust me for working on other cars for free.
An older Chinese man would come in each week to get "seeks dollas" of gas for his AMX. Always $6. Back then you didn't have to be politically correct and Felix ( Mexican assistant manager ) would come out mocking the man, making crude faces and chanting seeks dollas... Nobody got mad.

 

Was helping the mechanic change a tailpipe and muffler on a regular's car, something on the road smashed it underneath. Don't remember what kinda car, except it was fairly new and decent and we'd all pumped many tanks into it. Anyway front of the muffer is sliced, it tilts forward and out drops a mangled but useable wingnut.

Pick it up in amazement and go up underhood. It's sporting a dirty old wingnut, of the replacment variety. Not like the oem sheetmetal one that just rolled out of the muffer.

Finish the job, and ask her if it's ever had any trouble....claims she bought it new and that muffler job was the first significant work of any kind........we didn't ruin her day, it was obviously not an issue.

 

In 1973 I worked at a chevron station in Anahiem Ca. This hippy came in and I filled his bug and when I told him how much he owed he said "its Jesus's gas and I dont have to pay for it. " the boss was walking by and stopped and said " You just missed him 10 minutes ago, he was here and said to quit giving it away." The hippy looked shocked and scrounged up the money from the floor of the car.

 

In 1968 I was in the U.S. Navy and stationed in Pensacola Florida. I was working part time at a Standard oil station. All the Navy and Marine Corps officers going through flight training all had new G.T.O.s and Corvettes . My buddy and I after doing a tire change on a 427 powered Corvette had to take it for a "test hop" to make sure the tires didn't come off. Before I knew it we were going 110 mph down the highway! That was one hell of a "test hop. " Not only did the officers had nice cars they also had nice looking wives/girl friends! Oh yeah the tires did stay on!

 

I was going to school in Pittsburgh Pa. in 1970. I got a job in a full service Exxon station where regular gas was 37.9 cents a gallon. In Indy it was 30 cents a gallon. I remember thinking to myself "what a rip off " 37.9 cents for a gallon of gas!