FILL 'ER UP! Do you remember when you used to say those commanding words to a young man who, in those bygone days, was known as a filling station attendant?
He would snap out a friendly "Yes sir!" and start a hose mechanism which measured gasoline into the fuel tank of your car. He would, if asked to do so, wipe your car's windshield with a half-clean cloth he kept dangling from the rear pocket his coveralls. As service station equipment modernized the hose itself metered the gasoline and cut off the flow of fuel.
That was a point at which we should have noticed a distinct change in the occupational category. The attendant, when smart-hoses started taking over, was an endangered species we did not list at the time. It was not uncommon for college boys to work their way through school by pulling shifts either nights or over week ends and holidays "pumpin' gas" at a big filling stations downtown or at one of the exchange points along the Intestate, super highways, freeways or Toll roads.It was a regular job classification term used just as "soda jerk" was for many of their buddies who worked at places where refreshments or old-fashioned drug store "fountains" were maintained.
The job called "pumpin' gas" was given a final, fatal kick into oblivion wit the coming of the cards. The Credit card put the payment off for a time at a premium and the other card paid for the purchase right now, pronto... even as the expensive fluid is being transferred from safe storage to your car's thirsty fuel tank. Listen! You can hear it's gurgle! It's so quiet. There are are no people around. There is no near to hear you say: "Fill 'er up!" Gassing up the family car is now one of the loneliest of all locales!
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 5-29-06 [c327wds]
