I thought it was 1975 again

I stopped at our little corner gas station to fill up after work today and couldn't believe my eyes. The cars were about 5 deep on each side of the pumps waiting to get in. I couldn't figure it out until I got home and MM said it could be that people were filling up because of the snow storm that's suppose to hit tomorrow. I guess that makes sense.

It reminded me of back in '75 when the first big energy crisis hit. I was a senior in high school and was working at the little corner gas station in Apple Valley. We would have cars lined up about 20 on each side. This was when we pumped the gas for customers. I just stood there and went back and forth for a full 8 hours at a time filling cars.

I ended up going to a different station up the road. This station had no cars in line, go figure. I noticed an odd thing on the pump that I don't remember ever seeing before, at any pumps. There was a warning about static electricity, and that before pumping gas you were suppose to put your hand on the metal of your car to discharge any built up electricity. It also said don't open your car door again while pumping because that could build up more static. I've been filling cars with gas for 34 years now and I don't ever remember putting my hand on the car first to discharge static electricity. I also don't recall that at any time I've ever had a pump blow up due to a spark caused by static electricity. I guess I'm just one lucky guy.