Menu

Jennifer D. Wade Journal

Welcome to my online diary, enjoy your stay!

Gassus Interruptus

So, I'm driving through the Blakeslee area this evening, and I see gas at the WaWa is $2.39/gallon.  I stop and pull up to a pump.  Well, no sooner do I swipe my credit card when some woman comes up and starts waving a WaWa gift card in my face.

"How do you use this?" she says.  "It says there's $15 left on it, but the pump won't take it."

I've only stopped at this station once or twice before, and I've certainly never used one of their gift cards.  So, how the hell do I know how the card works?!  But, it was clear the woman wasn't going to go away if I told her that, so I said, "Let me get my pump started and I'll come take a look."

I put in the nozzle, set it on automatic, and started to walk away with the woman.  But, I turned back to look at my pump and the display read "transaction cancelled".  When I tried to restart it, it told me to pre-pay inside.  So, I told the woman that now I was having problems, and we both went inside.

While I was waiting in line, she was asking the girl at the food counter about the gift card.  I didn't hear it all, but it sounded like the girl told her to wait 15 minutes and try again.  Meanwhile, I paid for my gas and went back to the pump.  This time, I noticed that the display told me to "select grade".  Hmmm.  I wonder if that's where I made my mistake the first time.  I blame the woman for breaking my concentration with her distracting waving of the gift card in my face.

How does this fascinating story end?  Well, as I was pumping my gas, I noticed the woman and her husband (?) over at another pump trying again, I suppose, to use the gift card.  I noticed that they ignored the advice to wait 15 minutes.  I noticed on my pump that there were instructions for how to use a gift card.  I'm guessing those same instructions are on ALL the pumps.  So, I never went over to see how they were doing. 

Should I have checked on them?  Maybe.  But, I don't feel too badly about not doing it.  Because I also noticed that their minivan had New Jersey plates.

Go Back

Post a Comment