Do You Tip The Gas Jockey?
Had an unusual thing happen the other day after the guy pumped my gas… He asked for a tip.
Been going to the same box store gas station for about 6 months because their gas price is consistently lower than the rest of the places around me.
Usually there’s a line, but I’m ok with that. I plan for the wait.
As you probably know, New Jersey is the last state in the nation that requires someone pump your gas every time. No self serve.
Just last week, however… something odd happened. The guy said in a low key voice after he pumped the gas, “No tip?” It was a quiet thing, I barely heard it but there it was: a blatant request for a tip.
I’ll be honest with you, it kind of bugged me. Up until that exact moment, I never considered tipping the petroleum transfer engineer unless there was an extreme circumstance. And, by extreme I mean something like: he volunteered to clean my windshield or checked the oil or tire pressure. Or if the weather was so damn hot or cold that I appreciated him standing out in the elements dealing with it while refueling my ride.
But asking? Hmmmmm.
To be clear, I’m not against tipping the gas jockey. Like I just said, there’s cases where I do it, but lets face it: it’s pretty rare. None of those circumstances that I just mentioned were the case on this particular day. The dude didn’t clean my windows, didn’t check my tire pressure… and it wasn’t wicked cold out. Just a normal, warm-ish November day at the Jersey Shore.
But he asked. Because it was spoken so softly, I pretended I didn’t really hear the guy and went on my way.
But today I was still curious about the topic so I asked the question on the WRAT’s Facebook page. “Ya’ll Ever Tip The Gas Jockey?” A bunch of you guys shared your opinion with me. Turns out, I’m not alone in thinking that it’s a rare occurrence to tip the gas jockey. But some of you guys said that you do it every time you fill up.
Well, I tip my hat to you folks who tip the gas jockey each and every time! And, I’ll be honest with you, I’m going to rethink my position on this topic.
In these days of using my debit and credit card more than cash, I don’t carry singles that much (as opposed to years ago when having a stack of singles came in very handy for tipping… ahem!)
So thanks for the help in thinking this out… But, asking for a tip? That’s probably always going to be a no in my book.
