Service Station

One of my granddaughters (we have 13 of them!) heard me say that I needed to find a service station, and she asked me, “What is that?”

I told her that it was like a gas station, but gas stations do not have any service. Of course, that brought up another question: “What does service mean?” Wow, that’s a loaded question for me, and I thought yes, what does service mean today. You go to a counter to order tea or coffee, and they flip the tablet around and ask you for a tip and the choices are 18% or 20%! For what?? For taking my order and making my tea? I am paying them to do that. Of course, there on the bottom of the page is “custom tip” where you have to take time to say, “I don’t want to leave a tip.”

Now I am not one of those people who either leave no tip or a disgusting tip in restaurants or with the taxi or whatever. I have two grandchildren whose incomes depend on restaurant tips, so I am aware of how these people make their living. Whether it is Waffle House or a classy restaurant, I strive to leave a good tip. I love it when a server is attentive to our table in a restaurant and one who anticipates our needs. I enjoy rewarding their service.

I went on to explain to my granddaughter that long ago when you went to a gas station an attendant would not only pump the gas, but they would also clean the windows of your car, check under the hood  to make sure that your oil, radiator and battery were ok, and they would check the air pressure in your tires.

I did not go into all this but in the “old days” it was common to visit the service station to buy tires, batteries, to have tune-ups on your car, to get your oil and filter changed, to get new belts and hoses and other automotive repairs.

I recall a good friend of ours and fellow church member back in the late 70s who was a gasoline distributor and owned service stations, struggled over the decision to build her first convenience store that sold self-service gasoline. After a few months she was elated and planned to convert other full-service stations to convenience stores because they enjoy a higher and more consistent profit margin than just selling gas.

I am convinced that is why many gas stations today have pumps that won’t give you a receipt. The display on the pump says, “Clerk has receipt.” They want you to come into the store and buy something else. Gasoline has a small markup so I am told, so why do they increase the price of gas 20 cents overnight, but it takes two weeks for the price to drop 20 cents??

At the age of 12 I had my first paying job. I worked at my uncle’s service station on Saturdays. He paid me $.50 an hour to wash windows, check air pressure and check the oil. I carried around a metal milk case to stand on as I could not reach all of the windshield or check the oil without it. I received zero tips. I learned that no matter how well I did my job, some people were just snotty. They would not even say thank you. But that did not keep me from doing my best because when someone praised my work, that was a huge encouragement to me. I learned a lot about customer service in my first job. I also learned some people skills that have stuck with me all my life.

Break time was my favorite part of Saturdays. I purchased a nickel coke and a nickel package of Tom’s peanuts. You guessed it. I poured the peanuts into my glass bottle of coke.

I love the anonymous quote that goes something like this: “The more memories you make, the richer the tapestry of your life becomes.”

It is never too late to make some memories. For those of us who are seniors, we need to make memories for our children and grandchildren. Go make some memories.