Featured Story: "Sorry Ponytail-Cashier Man, I forgot to take the gas pump out of my car"

In the midst of sharing so many of my crazy "are you kidding me right now?!" moments, I have heard quite a few stories from family and friends. Pretty much every time, I catch myself saying, "Ohmigosh!! That is so blog-worthy!" or "You need to write that down!!"

I was talking to my sister (Vanessa) the other day and she told me about a recent, crazy-embarrassing experience that happened to her. After we died laughing, I was determined to share the story on my blog! Stories like these just can't go unpublished!

With that said, I'm excited to start "featuring" crazy stories I've heard, experiences that have left someone else saying, "Did that just happen?!"

The following is Vanessa's experience, in her own words..


Victim: Vanessa, sister
Location: Gas Station

After a long day at work I stopped at a gas station to fill my tank. Everything went as usual: I swiped my Rewards card, selected "unleaded" and put the nozzle into the car. While I waited for it to finish filling, I was gawking at a beautiful BMW on the other side of the gas pump. Who do you think the driver was of that fine peace of machinery? A pharmacist that I work with! We quickly struck up conversation. 

About ten minutes later, he got into his car and drove off. After watching his gorgeous little car leave, I hopped in my own car and drove off too. Not even five feet later, and CLUNK! What the--??? Did I drive over the curb? No.. My stomach dropped to the floor when I looked in my mirror and saw that I had forgotten to remove the gas nozzle, and drove off with it still in my car!! 

The clunk I heard was the sound of the gas hose breaking off -- Humiliation! Did fancy-car-pharmacy-man see me? I crept my car backwards a bit, trying to be careful not to run over the now-severed hose. Cars and "witnesses" were trying to get around the awkward scene and stared at me with weird looks on their faces, as I jumped out of my car and attempted to actually reattach the thing! 

It had broken off near the top of the pump-machine and I was way too short to reach it. I'm thinking, What do I do with this thing?! I looked at it, then tried to throw the end over the pump so it wouldn't get run over, but it came writhing right back at me and wouldn't obey! Augh!! Enough of this embarrassing scene!  A curly-headed man across the way was watching the whole thing and wouldn't stop laughing at me. There was a lady in front of me with her kids... She just stood there looking at me with a squished face that reminded me of the crutch guy in the babka-cake-Seinfeld-episode who creepily said "Sorr-ay!" to Elaine after he smashed her toes with his crutches. Ughhhh!

I quickly snatched up my receipt and I drove up to the front of the station window. I forced myself to go inside to tell ponytail-cashier-man what I did! I was so embarrassed!! Thankfully he told me that the pumps are made to break off, in case some IDIOT decides to drive off with it still in your gas tank! Oh man, I never thought I was this big of a ding-dong, but I guess I am! 

Oh my word.. To be honest, I am shocked I haven't done this yet. Unfortunately, I do have a couple "gas station stories" myself.. One day, back in High School, I had stopped for gas and didn't realize it until I made it home, but I totally forgot I had set my gas cap on my trunk. I noticed my little gas tank door was still open and the cap was nowhere to be found.. For a second I panicked and thought, Ehhh.. maybe I don't need it! I bet it's fine.. and then I began to feel paranoid and confessed my stupidity to my dad. He was like, "What?! You can't leave your tank uncovered! You need to go back to that gas station and don't come home 'til you find it!" I'm sure I could have found some sort of replacement cap at an auto store, but I think he was trying to teach me a lesson. Believe it or not - I went back and looked around for awhile.. and found it! I definitely haven't made that mistake again! 

Another crazy experience happened to me after I moved to South Carolina - Justin and I had stopped for gas and accidentally put diesel in my tank!!! AUGH! Didn't realize it until after the tank was full and the car wouldn't start. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday evening and we were several miles out of town, which became a huuuge dilemma. We had to call around to find someone who would actually drive out to where we were - and the fact that it was a Sunday and after business hours, we had a pretty tough time. Finally we found a guy who would siphon it all out for a hefty price. In my defense, why can't all the diesel pumps be a different size to prevent that from happening?? It was so unclearly marked, but definitely an "are you kidding me right now?!" moment that cost us more than just a tank of gas. Haven't made that mistake again either! Good grief.

xo

P.S. If you have ANY "Are you kidding me right now??" or "Did that just happen?!" moments, I'd love to feature the story on my blog! I already have a couple more crazy stories that others have shared with me, I'm so excited! :) 

[Photo - Source]