Tuesday, January 29, 2008

I was out in the suburbs over the weekend and stopped to get gas and saw this gas pump! I'd never seen one with a TV before.

At first, I chalked it up to yet another suburban phenomenon that we city dwellers aren't exposed to like ample parking, expansive grocery stores, lawns. In some respects we lead pretty sheltered lives.

Then I found out they are all over the place. I just haven't noticed them. Was my face red!

But, I don't think I'm alone in getting into routines where I get up, go to work, go home and repeat the process the next day and the day after that. I stop at the same stores, eat in the same restaurants, and reach for my favorite sweater more often that I should. I guess there's a certain comfort in the familiar, but I should probably shake things up a little more often.

But that gas pump still makes me pause. Is it just me, or does it seem crazy that we need TV to entertain us during the 2 minutes it takes to pump gas? Frankly, the horror of watching the total go up in increments of $3.50/gallon is enough to keep me engrossed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's all about the ads. The pumps may be provided at little or no cost in exchange for the opportunity to put ads in front of the faces of drivers who gas up.

Maureen

Anonymous said...

What a coincidence...I was just at a gas station a couple hours ago thinking the same thing! The TV was blaring some annoying commercial. Wish they'd provide a volume control on those things so we could turn them down.
You're right, it sure says a lot about our culture though.