Stranded at the Gas Pump

On the way to teach class yesterday, I stopped first at the gas station down the street so when I headed back home at 6:30 pm, I could just go. Had to jockey to access the pump because cars had entered from both directions, making ease of pumping challenging. Filled the tank, hung up the hose, got into my car and nada, nothing, nil. Bupkus. Not only would the key not turn, but nothing else worked either, including putting the car into gear (it may have helped). I got out again, locked the door, unlocked it, got back in, strapped on my seat belt and gave it another go. Nope.

Stranded at the gas pump with long lines of irate customers wondering what the hell was taking me so long to get the hell out of their way!

I went inside to explain to the attendants why I would be blocking access to the pump for a while, but (it’s a guy thing) the male attendant said confidently, “Let me take a go at it.” Nah, that didn’t work either, but in the process of his trying to do something to help me, he mashed the brake pedal to the floor, ignoring my “Please don’t do that!” warning. My RAV has the anti-skid feature, which means that if the brakes are suddenly stomped, the car locks up tighter than a drum and will not move until I push the magic button on the dash. Didn’t matter in this case because nothing worked and the RAV was not only not moving, but absolutely dead, too.

Triple A was instantly responsive to my plight and assured me that a tow truck would be there within 45 minutes; however, with a class starting in 20 minutes, other phone calls had to be made. The school locks the doors at 2:30, which seems an early end to a school day, but no one was there to answer the phones, so I called the college and explained my plight. Not to worry: someone would call the high school site and tell the custodians that I would not be there for my class. As I hung up from that call, the tow truck arrived on-site.

Basically, the Triple A employee jumped the battery and, as the car roared to life, it rocked forward a bit – which may have unlocked what was frozen. Perhaps it was the anti-skid mechanism, but whatever it was, I was not only on my way in about 15 minutes from making the call to Triple A, but I made it on-time to the classroom filled with students who did not get the message that I was stranded.

Neither did the custodians: no way to contact them by phone either, which adds to the safe, secure feeling of teaching at that site!!