Photo by Flickr user meddygarnet
Over the weekend I pulled into the new Arco gas station in Moraga to fill up. As I popped the gas tank cover I looked over directly across from me and see two guys standing next to their car smoking cigarettes right near the pump. Based on their demeanor I felt uncomfortable even looking at them so I did a long loop around them to get to the machine to pay. Then I walked back the same way and peeked at them again before selecting the grade and saw they were still smoking. Finally, I started pumping and waited far back from the pump. While pumping I envisioned one of the guys flicking his still smoldering cigarette butt in my direction engulfing me and the gas station in flames.
In my mind smoking and gas stations don’t mix but is it really a big deal? Should I have taken off immediately after seeing this or is the danger overblown? I don’t think it would have been a good idea to go up to them to inform them that smoking is not permitted near gas pumps unless I wanted to get hurt so that’s out of the question.