Will someone PLEASE sell me gas?

Yesterday, I took my car out during lunch for a fill up. I whipped around the corner to the closest gas station and discovered that half of the pumps were marked "Out of Service." The other pumps were full, so I pulled in behind some dude filling his car, preparing to wait a few minutes to get gas.

After I watched the guy for maybe two minutes, he starts waving at me and saying, "It's not pumping anything!" Great. I pull out of the gas station and head down the street.

I next pulled into a gas station attached to a grocery store. This one featured a discount if you used your "Give me the real price, not the inflated one, dammit" customer loyalty card. I pushed my loyalty card into the slot, and it said, "Please reswipe card." I did. It denied me like a fat kid looking for a prom date. I tried approximately three more times. No luck.

I then tried holding the card under the little bar code reader, and immediately a big, red "OK" light alerted me that I would, indeed, be getting gasoline today. I put in my credit card. "Please swipe again." I tried again. "Go see attendant."

I swore. A car was waiting for me to finish, so I hollered that "The stupid thing won't give me gas," and the lady laughed and moved to another aisle.

I approached the gas station attendant booth, and a rather dim looking individually simply stared out at me. No greeting. No "What?" No "Do you need something?" Nothing.

"The pump told me to contact the attendant. Here I am."

Dim child looks at me and chuckles...CHUCKLES...in that way that people who've recently smoked a joint laugh and sort of tip their head back, not really cognizant of their surroundings.

"I don't know, man" is his response. And then he chuckles again.

What the heck? What does that mean? "I don't know, man." Do you not understand that YOU'RE the attendant? Do you not understand that the economy is weak, and ain't nobody gonna give YOU another job? Do you know what gas is? Do you not understand the words coming out of my mouth?

Rather than fight, I just turned and walked away. I gave him no response. I just turned, got into my car, and drove across the road to the next gas station. Gas station number 3.

At gas station number 3, I put in my credit card, the pump accepted my money, and before I could pickup the handle, a kind voice greeted me: "Welcome to McClure." It wasn't too syrupy, and it actually sounded sincere. I turned to look at the attendant booth, and a young gentleman, approximately the same age as the moron at the previous station, looked out and gave a quick wave.

I simply said, "Thanks..." and proceeded to pump my gas. I considered how much more likely I'll be in the future to return to station number 3. I like to reward good service, even if I'm only making a tiny impact. Perhaps I'll write a letter to the other station suggesting that they'd be better served if the station attendant I encountered didn't interact with the public so much...perhaps he could be recommissioned as a parking stop or a traffic cone. Just ideas...