I know... I know... Where the hell have I been? I always have good intentions every time I sit down to write that I'll be better and do this more often. It's a fun and creative outlet and I love doing it. But how on earth does one make time to sit down when there is a toddler running around getting into everything? Oh yah, did I mention we added a puppy to our crew. Yes... a brand new puppy. And he is very much ALL puppy. Chews on things, doesn't mind very well yet, knocks Kannon over because he's young and clumsy, always wants to play... you know the kind. He's a labrador, so he will be decent size, and yes I'm happy Kannon will grow up with a dog. It will be good for everyone. Dogs have a way of teaching us all a number of things. I had a dog when I was younger and have incredibly fond memories of him. Not my purpose for today's blog entry... but at least you have an idea of why I'm so bad at making the time.
No, no... today's blog post is a little more of a rant. No, not a rant... a way of helping people stay informed. Yes, that's it. I'm helping bring awareness. I've got a little story for you, those who haven't already heard it. It's a doozy, and be forewarned that there may be quotes that could be considered offensive to some.
A couple of weeks ago I was staying at my mom's house watching her animals while she and her husband were on vacation in Australia. While I was there I was asked to run up to Portland to pick something up for Bart. Since I was already in the valley with not a ton to do while staying at Mom's, it made more sense for me to run up there one evening instead of him coming over from the coast and having to rush back over for work the next day. On Thursday evening Kannon and I loaded up Cash (the pup) in his kennel in the back of the pickup and we took off to Portland. We maneuvered rush hour traffic with little effort and got what we set out for and began our small trek back down to Albany. A quick trip, straight up and straight back. Once we were out of major traffic, I looked down to see I should probably get some fuel. We exited the freeway just outside of the city at a large truck stop. When I'm traveling alone or with my young child, I make sure to stop at high populated, well lit areas that feel safer. It was about 730pm and I wanted to keep moving so that we could get home at a decent hour and my boy wouldn't be too much past his bedtime when we arrived back at Mom's. I also had left 2 small dogs at Mom's that would need out to potty before bedtime. When I get fuel, I'm notorious for asking for a flat dollar amount. I very rarely just tell an attendant to "fill it up". When pumping diesel into my large pickup, they usually have to slow down the flow for whatever reason and it takes a solid 15/20 minutes to fill it up completely. While it isn't the most efficient method, I typically ask for $40, $50, or $60 of fuel depending on how empty I am, how far I have to go, and how much time I feel like I have. Because I wanted to just get back on the road, I asked for $40 of diesel to the young man who came to my window and took my credit card. It was a busy gas station and almost every pump had someone pulled up to it. $40 was a quick 13 gallons into my pickup and because it was busy there and I didn't feel like waiting for the young man to come back to hang up the nozzle and send us on our way, I jumped out of the pickup to hang up the nozzle myself. When I got out and reached for it, I quickly saw that the green diesel nozzle was still hung up and there was a black handled gasoline nozzle hanging out of my fuel tank spout. My initial reaction was panic. I was instantly furious and quickly found eye contact of the young attendant who had made the massive mistake. I screamed across the gas station for numerous people to hear "Did you seriously just put gas in my diesel pickup?" His hands came to his face and he almost fell to the ground in pure horror. He began apologizing and going on and on about how he had gotten almost no sleep the night before because of a roommate situation and the fact that the roommate apparently watches TV all night long and makes it impossible to sleep. In not so many words I told him to just figure out how to fix the problem. Asking for the manager (whom he had already radio'd to come out) I asked him what the protocol was to get this taken care of. When the manager came out she too, apologized and told me she would get the mechanic on the phone. A few moments later she came back towards me after a phone call made and told me that the mechanic had just sat down to dinner and wouldn't be able to come out to take care of the problem for 2 hours. I exploded with angry words towards her and the attendant explaining in a not so calm way that 2 hours was completely and totally unacceptable. This was a truck stop at 730 at night for crap sakes... they don't have a mechanic anywhere on site. I found it hard to believe. I could not and would not sit there stranded with a 1 year old in my pickup and a puppy in the back. This was a mistake that wasn't my fault, why on earth would any employee think that this was acceptable to make me wait for that amount of time? They offered for us to hang out in the truckers lounge, yah no thanks. I told them we travel alot and would be far more comfortable in my pickup. So I took a few moments to child proof the cab so that Kannon could crawl around at his leisure.
I had plenty of clothing, diapers, and milk for Kannon to be comfortable. But I was in shorts and a tank top and hadn't even packed a sweatshirt for myself given the evening had been hot and I had planned on being back home in a comfortable environment before ever needing to put a sweatshirt on. Serves me right I guess for not being prepared for anything. They offered to feed us on the house and would credit my card back for the $40 I purchased plus fill up my pickup once the gas had been siphoned out. So we waited in the pickup for the mechanic who couldn't be bothered to leave his dinner date early. I was so mad and had an entire ruthless speech prepared for him when he got there. They came out to check on us regularly... the other attendants often asked if we needed anything and knew me by name within 20 minutes. We got a bunch of funny looks for being parked there at the pump for an extended period of time. At the 2 hour mark, I was mad. At the 3 hour mark, I was irate. I went back into the store where the manager was to demand the status of the mechanic that I was relying on but clearly hated. "He should be here anytime..." was the answer I got for the next 25 minutes. He finally rolled in around 11pm. Just as I was getting ready to unleash on him, he hopped out of his big truck and asked if I was the person he was looking for? I snippily replied that "I better be." He began getting all his supplies out. "Nice of you to grace us with your presence." I said to him. The look that he gave me was less than amused. It took me a few minutes to realize this was a guy... just a guy, who was a local farmer who had been subcontracted to come in and fix these minor things. Just a guy, with a family, who did this on the side to make a few extra bucks. Some farmers really struggle and don't make a ton of money. All the money they make goes directly back into their farm. And from the look of his torn flannel shirt and his well worn boots, I realized my rude comments weren't going to do anything. They wouldn't make me feel better, they weren't going to give me back the last 3.5 hours that I'd spent trying to keep a 1 year old wrangled in the cab of my pickup.
Just before he had arrived, Kannon began to drink his last bottle and was almost asleep. I rattled him awake and he was really beginning to get fussy. I put him in his carseat in hopes it wouldn't take too long to get back on the road. Brian began siphoning out the gas and we chatted about farming, leisure activities, and life in general. The more I talked to him, to worse I felt about being so judgmental of his work ethic prior to meeting him. Truly it's the gas stations fault and they should probably think about having a mechanic on hire full time. Or at least one that is truly an emergency on call. The reason I say that is because they admitted to me that this kind of thing happens numerous time a week. Yes... a week. This happens more than once a week. The last time it happened earlier that week was a guy who happened to be by himself and it was late at night, they paid for a hotel room for him because Brian wasn't going to come out in the middle of the night and was going to wait until morning. Again, not Brian's fault... definitely the gas stations issue for not having a proper protocol for making sure things get taken care of. Brian gets finished and fills up my tank with diesel. 32 gallons and more than $125 dollars later and my pickup is ready to be fired up and get back on the road. I had already apologized to him for my quippy comments and he was quite understanding. I also apologized to attendant for being such a bitch. And to the manager for all of my frustrations. Truly it was just a human error... which are normal... because none of us are perfect. I assume I probably scared the young man into never making that mistake again. He genuinely felt terrible and was fearful of losing his job. I told the manager once I was in my calm state that I wished for no such thing. He clearly was a young man with less than ideal home situations, working hard and just lost track of his focus and made a terrible mistake.
On the upside of it all... because I had decided to try and be helpful by hanging up the nozzle myself, I realized the error before I started my pickup. Which definitely saved us all, in a lot of ways. Had I started it and pulled in that fuel that didn't belong in my pickup could have caused a lot of damage. On the upside... it was early enough in the day that Brian was willing to come out at all and we were able to make it home that night and not have to stay the night somewhere.
More often than not, I watch the attendant when I ask for diesel to make sure they pull the diesel nozzle if there is more than one. Sometimes diesel is by itself in it's own pump. The one time that I was distracted for just a moment and didn't watch and trusted when I handed my card over... and this happened. Why on earth are we not allowed to pump our own fuel? When we travel and get into the states that allow self-serve... at least it puts the responsibility on us.
It was a frustrating evening to say the least. It had gotten cold... I learned my lesson and always put in a jacket or sweatshirt. And I was reminded how awesome my kid is for waiting until 20 minutes before we left to really get very grumpy. I'm a lucky gal to have such a tolerant kiddo! And there were no messes when I got back to my Mom's house to let her doggies out.
