Comment by kulahan
1 day ago
I just watched a Japanese movie where a character stopped in for some gas. A man comes out, she tells him what type, he fills the gas tank for her (using a cloth to handle the car parts of course!). While it’s pumping, he wipes down her windows. He gets her money and runs to get her change. He steps a bit into the road to aid her leaving. He waves as she leaves.
Is it more efficient in America? Yeah. Is part of that scene her being bored while waiting? Yeah. Are gas prices there probably a bit higher? Yeah.
But there really was something appetizing about it. I’m not sure I could put my finger on exactly what.
This is appetizing in the abstract until you're in the middle of New Jersey and its horrendously cold and rainy and the pump jockey hates your guts because he had to leave his heated hut where the Bruins were on, and makes a half hearted wipe at your icy windshield to guilt you into tipping him for doing something you'd be happier doing yourself.
Not sure if you even realized it but you pointed directly at the very problem with the American version of this scenario.
The tipping.
It's fucked because it distorts the relationship between staff and customers, not to mention it lets businesses get away with underpaying their staff.
Fortunately Japan doesn't do this.
I've lived in NJ my entire life and I've never once tipped somebody at the pump. I've had them wipe down my windshield a single-digit number of times. Where was this?
> …and the pump jockey hates your guts because he had to leave his heated hut where the Bruins were on…
Why would he be watching the Bruins and not the Devils?
He likes pain and suffering, obviously.
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Seems like "it's horrendously cold and rainy" is the worst example to choose to illustrate negative aspects of gas station attendants...? I got to stay in my warm and dry car in this scenario?
You still had to roll down the window to talk to the gas station attendant.
Full service gas stations are the standard in the vast majority of the world. It's also way faster and more pleasant. Same thing at e.g. retail outlets where you'll walk into and have your own little personal army of helpers. I think the major difference is in relative cost of living and labor costs.
Low end labor costs tend to track cost of living costs. In high cost-of-living places, you have high labor costs and vice versa. Most places are much cheaper than America, which means you can afford to hire more people to do tasks that would otherwise be uneconomical.
> Full service gas stations are the standard in the vast majority of the world.
Do you happen to know where one could find statistics on this? This doesn't mesh with my experience at all, and a quick search did not turn up reliable data in either direction. Not-logged-in ChatGPT gave me an estimate of 40-60% worldwide, but that obviously has very low certainty.
In Asia they're ubiquitous and that's already like 60% of the world. I looked up South America and Africa and they're apparently also the norm there. I'm not sure where they aren't the norm besides the Anglosphere and Europe, so maybe ~15% of the world.
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FWIW self-service gas stations are quite common in Japan.
In Italy you can have both at the same gas station if you wish. They usually have self-service and serviced pumps and the price is a bit higher at the latter. Almost makes sense :)
> But there really was something appetizing about it. I’m not sure I could put my finger on exactly what
It's the fact you were not there.
You've described the state of Oregon, where "full service" (they pump, not you) is legally required.
<edit> Ah, my Oregonian neighbors inform me that in the last few years, this mandated institution is no longer in force.
That's changed a bit in the last few years! I'm in somewhat rural Oregon (The Dalles) and in practice none of our gas stations really do full service anymore. Gas prices didn't go down at all
Not anymore, that changed in 2023.
Ah, good to know, thanks. How has the transition been? Stories of people hanging out at the pump for ten minutes before they realize it's not a full-service station?
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Got the American version in New Jersey but it’s much less appealing
I live in Oregon. All three of the gas stations on the way to work pump my gas and wash my windows. Not the waving and stuff, but the rest of it is my normal life.