2y ago

Don't forget to tip your gas station

170 comments

This is tipping culture out of control.
- Tipping culture is tipping culture out of control.
  You should see the insane way it's worshipped in the USA, all as an obviously thin front to avoid paying wages and giving workers rights. It's wild.
  
  Worshiped? What country do you live in? The biggest argument I see for it is 'its absolutely bullshit but some jobs that's almost all they make'
  I don't think I've ever, in my 41 years here, seen a single human being say it's an amazing system.
  
  there's a great citations needed episode on the shitty origins of it and the shitty circumstances it creates: https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded/ep-118-the-snitch-economy-how-tipping-and-rating-systems-pit-working-people-against-each-other
  Waiting tables. Bartending. Hospitality, food delivery, beauty salons, rideshare driving. The service industry, as anyone who has worked in it knows all too well, is notorious for relying on tipping to undercut employee wages and deputize individual customers to determine how much money a worker should be able to take home. Amid increasing recognition of these injustices, a number of campaigns and new laws surfaced, pre-pandemic, to abolish or meaningfully reduce the practice of tipping.
  But despite the best efforts of these campaigns, tipping remains the industry - and American society - standard. Indeed, the perverse logic of tipping has broadened into an ever-present 'snitch economy' - an ecosystem of tactics like mystery shoppers and Uber and Yelp rating systems designed to police the behavior of workers while outsourcing the costs of said supervision to customers and other workers.
  In the process, our snitch economy pits those being surveilled against those doing the watching, and the judging. Through a ubiquitous public-facing network of rating and reviewing other people’s labor - and often the behavioral disposition they exhibit while working - people with otherwise very little power are elevated to temporary positions of authority over others, fostering a culture of surveillance rather than one of solidarity. The snitch economy serves the dual purpose of not only giving working people a false sense of power when they’re the ones being served, but also reducing millions of human interactions to opportunities for not only snap judgments, but subjective rewards and retribution.
  
  Tf are you on about? Idk where you're getting your impressions from but it is absolutely not 'worshipped' in the US.
- I think it's shopped
  
  I could see them doing this
  
  These screens aren't usually touch-sensitive, no? I don't usually fill up at Valero's, but those buttons on the side are often used because the screens aren't designed for touch. I'm in a cold climate though, so maybe they just don't use them here...
- Hopefully it's close to a tipping point
- Corpos with their first already up your ass, now asking for more: "Come on, just ~~the~~ a tip?"

I should be legally allowed to smash those screens if they play ads while I'm pumping my gas.
You used to be able to mute them by pressing one of the side buttons but now that just cancels your transaction and stops the pump.
I don't need advertisements shoved in my face every second of every day.
- Standing there pumping gas is one of the last vestiges of just stopping and being there.
  Last time I discovered a machine’s ads couldn’t be muted, I stopped the pumps and I’ll never go back to that gas station.
  The level of disrespect is mind boggling.
  
  Second button down on the right didn’t work?
- You guys have ads on your gas pumps?
  Ok the US is really the preview of the dystopian future companies imagine.
  
  We have them in France too :(
  
  It’s hell
  
  It's annoying but I wouldn't call it dystopian.
  At least where I live, it's an equal mix of "wear your seatbelt", "don't text and drive", and weed dispensaries.
  It's not exactly prime advertising space, so you really just get PSAs and weed.
  Worst part is when you're getting gas late at night, say after driving back from a family dinner in another city and so you're tired and full, and you're all alone at the pumps on an otherwise quiet night.
  Something deep inside the pumps makes them decide to start playing their advertisments from all the pumps at once, but they're not perfect, so they're just a little out of sync.
  So it's dark and you're tired, relaxed, and almost home. When out of nowhere, from all around you, comes the stereophonic cacophonous cry of "B-B-B-BONGS! B-B-B-BLUNTS! AND MORE, AT THE HOUSE OF DDDDANKKKKK!"
  It's definitely annoying, but I wouldn't call it a dystopia.
  
  Yep - screens on every pump play ads the entire time you get gas.
  
  It's actually one of the few places I'm fine with ads. I'm just standing there and I can't look at my phone so why not. Ads are only annoying when I'm trying to do something else like watch a video.
- I don't drive much anymore, but when I did I would avoid gas stations with screens (aside from payment screens obviously). If I saw that an unfamiliar gas station had one, I'd get back in my car and get gas elsewhere even if it was a tad more expensive. Forced viewing of advertisements makes me violently angry, and I don't need the stress of trying to repress that anger
- Alright I haven't been to a gas pump in a few months, but when did they start playing ads??? Shit is crazy. Maybe I just never noticed, come to think of it I've never been the one pumping the gas before
  
  Some have been playing ads for years.
  
  They’ve been playing ads for at least a decade.. though in the early days, some of the gas stations near me played some cringy jimmy kimmel shit instead of ads (somehow, i preferred having my ears violated by the ads)
  Yet one more thing that makes me thankful to have gotten rid of my car completely.. not being dependent on gas stations is super liberating.
- You used to be able to mute them by pressing one of the side buttons
  That only mutes the shit that plays constantly from the pump even when nobody is there using it. Once you start pumping, they start playing different shit that can't be muted.
  
  Depends on the station. I am still able to mute at most of the stations I've used recently.
- What is this world coming to?? That's just nuts

This has to be from theonion

Please tell me this is photoshopped and these fuckers aren’t seriously asking for tips at self service stations…
- Hey, don't be so cruel. These machines are paid below minimum wage, and if you don't tip, they won't be able to pay their rent and student loans.
  
  they won’t be able to pay their rent and student loans.
  You mean their software subscriptions and cloud storage fees.
  
  Those night classes to move up from soda dispenser to gas pump will pay off eventually.
  
  Do real servers not deserve to pay their rent/student loans?
- Yeah haha definitely fake, these pumps don't have touch screens so this interface wouldn't work on them. Choices have to be aligned with the 4 buttons on the left and right. Second one from the top on the right side will mute the ads also.
  
  I'm sorry, did you just say "mute the ads"? Damn, america really is in the terminal stages of late stage capitalism
  
  Second one from the top on the right side will mute the ads also.
  Not always.
- That touchscreen plays ads loudly as well.

Wait, you guys don't pump your own gas by default? Is this some American thing I'm too europoor to understand?
- Most states do (illegal to pump your own in New Jersey), but the joke is more about tipping culture in this country.
- This meme isn't implying that it's unusual to pump your own gas. It's implying that tipping culture in the US is progressing to the point of asking you to tip when you didn't receive a service performed by anyone since you did it yourself.
  Self service is the default for most of the US. New Jersey and (I think) Oregon require full service gas stations though.
  
  I think Oregon got rid of that law last year... New Jersey still has it though
  
  Oh, I see. Yeah the wording is weird in that case, "forced" to pump your own gas
- In some parts of New York you have to wait and have someone else pump your gas, they call them and attendant. I lived in New York for a while, and it was just terrible, any gas station that required you to wait for someone else to pump your gas I just drove past. Because they would always be slow as hell. Meanwhile it was a clear in and out at all of the self-service stations
  
  I've almost never seen this in NY. It's a jersey thing, and it's stupid as fuck.
- In Mexico there are people working in the gas station, and it is up to you to tip or not, I usually only do it when they (unasked) clean my windows.
  
  Same in Brazil - in fact, if you tried to pump your own gas the employee would probably get scared and call the cops lol

Drink a verification can of Mountain Dew to continue pumping gas.

It's because the POS (point of sale) software isn't customized for the application correctly. Either through laziness, ignorance, indifference, or a level of greed that only insane troll logic could make sense of

So since you're the one providing the labour in the transaction, this means you're getting a tip FROM the gas station, right? R... Right?
- In which case I'll choose the 200% tip
- Yes, you just have to pay it yourself since you are also the customer

Not only do you pump your own gas you also are the one to pay at the pump and deal with any issues that come up.
- I scan my own groceries and i'll keep track of the hours to eventually hit them with a "freelance register operater" bill for €55 an hour.
  As i'm freelance i need to pay 49% taxes on that and another x amount for insuring myself in case i have a work related accident, i'll be left with roughly €20 an hour which is a little over my actual wage as i'm apparently so skilled they want me to do the job so it must be worth it to them.
  I think everyone everywhere should pull this shit, even if it's just to make a point. Show them how much they rely on free labour while living in big houses and driving fancy cars lol.

Sure, I'll leave a -20% tip!
- Here's a tip; stop asking for a tip.

This is why we have arson

It seem to be best practice, and predatory best practice.
Some people fear of being jugded if they don't follow the mass. And the tip screen make them question themselves like "everybody else tip, what will they think if I don't ?" "What if someone watch over my shoulder and feel disgusting if I don't tip ?"
- And those people we call "suckers"
- Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. (Augustine)

Actually, I'm gonna need a refund

You pump gas good! TIP YOSELF

This is clearly fake. Tip screens all now start at 20 or 25% .

Goddamn 2023. The tip screen embarrasses me at work, where I make a normal hourly wage.
"Just hit the skip button bro"
- I find myself apologizing for my company’s systems all the time.
  Our POS doesn’t display the amount you’re about to pay. I read it to you, but it doesn’t display. It’s disrespectful to the customer IMO.

Where I live we had one gas station with full service when I was a kid, and it cost like a third more than any other gas station in the area so almost no one went there and it eventually went to self serve pumps like every other station. Aside from the one time I went there I have always pumped my own gas, and I'd feel weird if someone else did it for me lol
- The cheapest gas station around me is the only full service one around. I hate it. I'll pay extra to not have to deal with the forced interaction. Tipping cancels out the discount anyways.
- A state near mine that I visit occasionally has laws in place that prohibit pumping your own gas. I always forget this and get out of the car, which leads to a very awkward confrontation with the attendant. It definitely feels weird.
  
  You must be near New Jersey lol I think that's the only state left that has that law
- I have never pumped my own fuel on my car except when I visit the US. I feel like a 7 year old handling that pump thing. Happy I don't have to do that where I live.
  
  My parents started asking me to pump the gas for them since I was like 10, so I'm pretty used to it now lol

If only I could give a negative tip.

Sad robo noise. Machine would be sad. They won't be kind to you when they take over😉

I would leave them the tip of my penis

Don’t give them anymore ideas. Mine is already already playing non stop 60 decibel ads
- 60 decibels would be an improvement at the corner station for me.
- I love when they boost the volume so much it's clipped to the point I can't understand it :)
- I'm surprised people haven't poked the speakers out yet
- Second button from the top on the right is mute on most of them.
  
  Drilling a hole mutes it for all time!

So who would that money go to?

Or they just display you loud ads, same intentions.
- If you hold down the second button down on the right side for a second or two, it mutes the ads.
  
  It used to

Say psych right now

FOAD

"Say 'McDonald's' to end commercial."

Let's move away from a car-centric society, please.

This is a tip for me being such a good customer, right?
Can I start asking businesses for tips? Like for not committing crimes, and paying for my goods and services as agreed upon, you're going to have to subscribe to the premium customer program.

I wish gas was $3.457 where I'm at. (So wierd that has years fractions of a cent)
- It's $5.99 where I'm at.
  We're winning!

Welcome to New Jersey /s

Is this real?! 🤯

I want to ask if this is real. It looks real.

I live in a state where I don’t pump my own gas and I couldn’t possibly be laughing any harder at you all right now.
- They trust me to pump my own gas where I live, so there's that.
  
  Ya I’ve seen videos of what the general public does when they are given “trust” to the gas pumps. No thanks.
  In either case you get to stand outside in the wind and cold while you’re forced to pump your own gas. Have fun with that!
- And they charge you for that, it's why your gas is more expensive than other states.

170 comments