Hit The Road Jack And Don't You Look Back No More, No More

It used to be that one of the more covetted jobs for a high school student, at least for a boy, was becoming a "pump jockey" at the corner gas station. Girls need not apply, although on occasion you'd perhaps find a station owner's daughter pumping gas. There were two grades of gas, regular and hi-test, and the kid would check your oil, radiator, and battery as well as wash your windshield, even check your tire pressure and bring them up to what they should be. Cigarettes were in a machine with a sign saying "You Must Be 16 to Purchase Cigarettes". We all knew which stations looked the other way. Cold Cokes, and maybe candy bars were available inside.

Now it seems the fuel is the bait to get you in the mini-mart full of a selection of over priced grocery items, and beer as well as soda and cigarettes. Yeah, they check ID on beer and cigarette purchases.

Now we pump our own fuel, wash our own windshield, and we're lucky if we can find a place that has a working air pump. We check our own oil and battery. You gotta be 21 to work there because of the beer and cigarette sales. So here I am putting twenty bucks worth of regular in the Toyota Tacoma. The tires look OK and I checked the fluids a few days ago. I'll pick up some Milky Way Midnights and a 12 pack of Coke at Walgreens with coupons from their sale flyer.