Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Opinion

I thought it quite comical at first. Our attendant was rather slow, so I thought the woman was just giving him a hint. I thought a friendly honk would be nice, but I just assumed she had done this before. Nope. She was going all the way. As she began to drive away, I nudged my roommate in the ribs and pointed as I chuckled. This was funny. I could just see it in my head. She would drive away, the nozzle would gracefully slip out of the tank, and it would be left hanging limply as she drove into the sunset. But this is not Lala Land, and life is not in any way graceful, so I watched the entire thing unfold before me, seemingly in slow motion, as my smile turned to a look of horror. The nozzle liked her car more than it liked its pump station, so it remained firmly connected to her car and instead parted with the pump. Oblivious to the situation, she inched forward, until the attendant ran in front of her car and started screaming.
I looked in awe at the socket where the hose used to lay, and then I turned to my roommate. We both reached for our car door handles, and I told her at the slightest hint of a spark, we should run. My heart was beating about 30 times as fast as it should have been, and I was entirely prepared to say goodbye to my car should I have to run from an explosion.
Fortunately, no harm was done (minus minimal damage to the woman's car) and my roommate and I were on our way. So, I think this is a lesson. Be careful what you do when you are filling up on gas, because you never know what stupid person might be in front of you, attempting to single-handedly blow up a city block. Ha ha…it's kind of funny after the fact, though. No, actually. Not really. I think I peed my pants a little. Good times.

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