Gas Station Attendant Puts Customer’s Cigarette Out For Him – IOTW Report

Gas Station Attendant Puts Customer’s Cigarette Out For Him

33 Comments on Gas Station Attendant Puts Customer’s Cigarette Out For Him

  1. Meanwhile, in an alternate Universe, the gas station attendant doesn’t notice the smoker, and he, the smoker, and everyone present go up in a giant fireball, along with the gas station, and everybody wonders, “Why didn’t someone stop that guy?”

  2. @ed – If you were to hold a lit cigarette in the same hand as the running petrol pump nozzle filling your tank you would realize your error. Briefly.

    A lit cigarette is unlikely to ignite a puddle in an open, well-aired place, but fumes are a different matter.

  3. That’s nothing. I was fishing once when I saw a dude pouring gas from a 5 gallon can into his boat. Seems normal had this been done at the dock. However, this Darwin candidate couldn’t be bothered shutting the boat off, taking it out of gear or extinguishing his cigrit. No shit, he was spinning in circles while hanging the gas can off the rub rail to pour gas. All the while he had like a 140mm sized lit breathing antler flopping between his lips!

  4. As the grandson of a gas tanker truck driver, I can tell you that a tanker full of gasoline is not as dangerous as an empty one. A full tank will burn hot for hours, but will at least give you a chance to escape in one piece, even if that chance lasts for only a few seconds. An “empty” tank is full of fumes and will just explode.

  5. Twice I am at the pump up on the Navajo Reservation, and some assholes roll up with a car that won’t start up again. The first time the dimwits ask me to jump them. I said ‘after you push it away from the pump’. Apparently that was too hard. He asked one of his homie’s to do it. I had to cut short my fueling to get the hell out of there. The next time the jackass is right on the other side of the pump. Made it to the next gas station on fumes, but untoasted

  6. I work for a large c-store chain. Years ago we had a dumbass pull up to a pump, start pumping and started to light a cigarette. The lady at the pump next to him got out of her car with her young son and politely asked the man to put out the cig. He laughed and said he was going to prove to her that you can’t start a fire with gasoline. She grabbed her son and ran for the building, just as he held his lit cigarette over the car’s gas cap/opening. I’m not sure what his last thoughts were, but I suspect something along the line of “oh sh.t”. He was killed, his car exploded and the section of the gas station’s canopy blew away.
    Oops.

  7. I worked at a self serve gas island back in 78. Self serve was a fairly new thing back then, and every other driver was a smoker back then. People who were used to sitting in their car smoking while a grease monkey filled up were now looking for cheaper gas at self-service, and they became quite angry when I told them I wouldn’t unlock the pump while they were smoking. Also, the auto shutoff mechanisms were not the best back then, and splash back onto the customer was a fairly common event. It was normal to see patches of cat litter soaking up spilled gas next to the pumps. It seems like the gas stations have gotten much cleaner and safer, while the driving public has gotten much dumber.

  8. I once was very attached to smoking cigarettes. Even I didn’t take it to the ‘splodey point of affection.

    There are commenters on the yt vid stating that a lit cigarette will not cause gas to combust, completely ignoring the bit about vapor. Wish they had warning signs on ’em so I could avoid those people post haste. Skin grafts are painful, and that’s the better conclusion to the usual chain of events.

  9. I live on a river that is heavily used for recreational boat traffic. Across the river from us is a marina with the gas pumps. Had someone NOT use the blower before starting his engine after fueling up the boat. Very nice explosion, and the attendant simply untied the boat and pushed him away from the dock.

    When the fire department arrived they had to use someone’s boat to try and get to the fire and eventually it simply burned to the water line.

    USE THE BLOWER TO VENT THE FUMES BEFORE STARTING THE ENGINE!

  10. Those YT commenters are confused by a, seemingly odd at first glance, factoid about cigarettes and gas.

    As RosilindJ refers to, it’s the vapors that explode. You need oxygen for it to combust. So a lit cigarette while filling the car is the most dangerous part of the whole thing.

    I have seen a lit cigarette extinguished when thrown into container with gasoline in it. The guy was proving a point about combustion – you need the gasoline in vapor form mixed with oxygen.

    The reason an empty gas tank is more dangerous, explosion-wise, than a full one.

    So those YT commenters are morons vying for their place for a Darwin award.

  11. Never used a fire extinguisher, but i did use a baseball bat to scare a guy back in teens working at a full service station.

    I was also cursed out by an old man smoking a cigar when i shut the pumps off on him.

    Had a guy throw a can of pop at me ( we made him pick it up..very politely ).

    Had a drunk guy i turned the pumps off while he was smoking. Cursed me out..from a distance..said he wasn’t going to pay. Put the nozzle back in after the $3.00 he pumped and drove away. Only problem, he had prepaid $20.00. We had Kentucky fried chicken on him that night.

  12. Had a stupid fuck walk up to opposite side of me filling a can with lit cigarette. I had to decide whether or not I was in eminent danger of serious bodily injury or death right then….

    Idiocracies are dangerous places.

  13. It’s not just cigarettes around gas tanks that can cause a fire but cigarettes around old fashioned car batteries filled with battery acid can be just as explosive if not worse. I once heard of a guy who burned himself severely while checking the level of acid in a car battery while smoking. I grew up pumping gas for my Dad at his gas station back in the late 60’s and early 70’s and believe me I saw plenty of morons smoking around their cars while gas was being pumped. What’s even worse is the yellow nasty film that was always on the insides of car windows especially inside the front windshield. We had a customer, a big fat slob called “Budweiser” Buck who was a notorious chain smoker whose windows were always coved in yellow grimy film that I had to clean every time he came in since were a full service gas station. I have never seen a guy consume so much beer in my life as ol “Budweiser” Buck did, of course he died from a massive heart attack from all that beer, and an enormous beer gut and a terrible junk food diet many years ago.

Comments are closed.