Has anybody ever seen a female gas station attendant?
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Massachusetts is 99% pump-your-own-gas, but there are a few independents here and there which are attended; weirdly, they’re usually better prices, too. I can only speculate that, by getting professionals to pump the gas, they’ve got higher throughput or maybe less liability insurance or something — I have no idea.
Anyway, yes, once, but I think it was probably the owner’s wife who was filling in because he had the flu or something of that nature, because I only saw here there the one time.
Yes, of course. They’re outnumbered, but not invisible.
As a NJ native (born and raised, and still living there) I can honestly say now that you mention it I don’t recall ever seeing a female gas station attendant. And that encompasses over 45 years of driving and buying gas.
I see them all the time, if you count the ones who “attend” by sitting in a cashier’s booth.
In general, +1 BillR
and I do recall in the last few years a female gas station attendant pumping gas at an incredibly rare full service station in Bath, NY.
346 W. Morris St.
Yes. When I was growing up in Watchung Matty owned one of the stations in town. His daughter was working there by the time I was driving.
I live in Oregon. It is not uncommon at all to see them.
just in the movies (in 1979).
I started buying gas in 1969, long before self service, and I don’t think I remember even one female attendant. Cashiers inside don’t count – I assume we are considering only those doing the pumping.
I lived in NJ for quite a while after self serve came in everywhere else, and none there also.
I think maybe once or twice. It’s just that self service has been the norm since the 1970s and at that time there were still popular notions as to what many considered “men’s work” and what they considered “women’s work.”
However, women doing traditionally male dominated jobs were less stigmatized than were men doing traditionally female dominated jobs.
Somewhere, back in the 1960’s, I read something about testing the concept of self-service stations, and supposedly the testers found out that women did not like to use them, because of something to do with putting a part of the male anatomy into a part of the female anatomy. At the time, I thought the author was full of it, and I still do.
Sounds a bit like an x-rated film…Girls who Pump, Vol. 39
In the early ’70s Nebraska didn’t allow customers to pump their own gas. This gave rise to a class of station known as “Mini-Serve”, in which an attendant would pump your gas, but not wash the windshield or check the oil or the tire pressure, etc. An entrepreneur in my hometown decided to riff on this idea by opening the Mini-Skirt Drive, in which your fuel was delivered by young ladies in short skirts. After the novelty wore off, most folks kept going to the local Co-op and Skelly stations, and the new place didn’t last too long. I was reminded of the old Mini-Skirt Drive recently on a trip to Honduras in Central America. Apparently their country doesn’t allow self-serve gas, as every fuel station had attendants pumping and also taking payments – their version of pay at the pump in their almost exclusively cash-based society. The majority of the attendants were young, attractive females. I’m not sure if this was intentional marketing or just coincidental.
I’ve only ever seen one on the cover of this very excellent book
A touch of Baader–Meinhof Phenomenon there. I recently finished the book The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is an alternate history novel that features a greatly accelerated space program (due in part to an asteroid striking DC). The main character and several others were WASPs in WWII. I don’t recall hearing of the WASPs before, at least not by that acronym (I was aware that women were used as pilots) then they’re mentioned in the description of that book you listed.
Hmmmm . . . to make this even more Arlo-ish . . . is that why Hubby volunteers to keep my car’s gas tank filled? Now I have a thought in my mind that I cannot unthink . . . thanks, MiB!!
“I recently finished the book The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.”
I put this on hold for Hubby; his usual alternative history books are of the ‘What if X won X War’ type, but this sounds like a good one, too. (I think Harry Turtledove is running out of ‘what if’s’.)
I haven’t heard of Harry Turtledove – do you recommend him?
I don’t ’cause I don’t care for alternate history books (they are ALWAYS more depressing than the reality, if you can imagine – you know, like the Axis win WWII and Hitler becomes king of the world or some such, etc.). However, Hubby has read every single one, so yeah, he recommends ’em . . . https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/harry-turtledove/
“Harry Turtledove is a prolific novelist and historian of America, having written some of the most successful historical novels. He is well known for writing many successful novels based on the historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history genres. “
I put this on hold for Hubby
Ah. There’s also a sequel, The Fated Sky, that I’m currently reading.
Got it – thanks!
Andréa, I went to the library website to look at his available titles, and it looks to me like he’s kinda stuck in WWII.
Maybe the reason alternative histories are worse is because it’s hard to imagine the other kind. What would the world look like if there had never been slavery, or if women were recognized as equal to men? I can’t even imagine it.
“. . . there had never been slavery, or if women were recognized as equal to men? I can’t even imagine it.”
No more difficult to imagine than if the South had won the Civil War, or Hitler had become king of the world, or at least, president of the US.
Chak – Turtledove’s PhD is in Byzantine history, and if you get the books that are related to that they’re pretty good. Over the Wine-Dark Sea would be a good example. I find the books compelling but disappointing – he creates really neat worlds, but the stories don’t live up to it. I don’t recommend Darkest Europe (he’s trying far too hard) or Alpha and Omega (the Jewish characters, who are very central to the story, don’t feel very Jewish, but as I’m not, I could be wrong on that.)
YES.
The lead character in the “Lady Astronaut” books I mentioned is also Jewish, of the Southern variety.
Hubby asked me to thank you for recommending The Calculating Stars, which he just finished, and is starting The Fated Sky immediately.
I’m glad he enjoyed it. It had a lot of exploration into personal stuff for the lead, and that can be a negative for some. I just finished the second book myself.
Just read about one in Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety:
[scene is post war Italy]
“At Gubbio, where St. Francis civilized the wolf, we slept one night in an old monastery […], and while buying gas at the local AGIP station the next morning, heard a passionate cri de coeur from the girl who manned the pump. She said she was trapped in this medieval prison of a town. She turned her lips inside out when we protested that it was the most picturesque town we had ever seen, a jewel-box of a town. Oh no no no no no. There was no news, no entertainment, no action, no life. She held her nose and gagged, yearning upward toward more breathable air. She wanted to see the world — Paris, London, America. She was disappointed and scornful when she learned that we came from places named Boston and Hanover, places she had never heard of. Americans who mattered came from New York or California.”
Resurrecting an older thread to mention to Andrea that the third book in the “Lady Astronaut” series came out this year. It’s The Relentless Moon. If she hasn’t discovered it already, might be a holiday present opportunity.
Since you’ve resurrected it, I thought I’d give a shout out to Code Name Verity and its sequels by Elizabeth Wein. WWII WASPs, female spies in France, and the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp are all covered fictitiously, but well researched. Cf: Wish Me Luck TV series, Lilac Girls, and Calculating Stars
Comics I Don't Understand 
Massachusetts is 99% pump-your-own-gas, but there are a few independents here and there which are attended; weirdly, they’re usually better prices, too. I can only speculate that, by getting professionals to pump the gas, they’ve got higher throughput or maybe less liability insurance or something — I have no idea.
Anyway, yes, once, but I think it was probably the owner’s wife who was filling in because he had the flu or something of that nature, because I only saw here there the one time.
Yes, of course. They’re outnumbered, but not invisible.
As a NJ native (born and raised, and still living there) I can honestly say now that you mention it I don’t recall ever seeing a female gas station attendant. And that encompasses over 45 years of driving and buying gas.
I see them all the time, if you count the ones who “attend” by sitting in a cashier’s booth.
In general, +1 BillR
and I do recall in the last few years a female gas station attendant pumping gas at an incredibly rare full service station in Bath, NY.
346 W. Morris St.
Yes. When I was growing up in Watchung Matty owned one of the stations in town. His daughter was working there by the time I was driving.
What came to my mind was a sad story from a few years back where a female gas attendant was killed in a hit-and-run from trying to stop a “gas-and-dash.” https://calgaryherald.com/news/crime/driver-jailed-11-years-for-running-over-gas-station-attendant-during-gas-and-dash
I live in Oregon. It is not uncommon at all to see them.
just in the movies (in 1979).
I started buying gas in 1969, long before self service, and I don’t think I remember even one female attendant. Cashiers inside don’t count – I assume we are considering only those doing the pumping.
I lived in NJ for quite a while after self serve came in everywhere else, and none there also.
I think maybe once or twice. It’s just that self service has been the norm since the 1970s and at that time there were still popular notions as to what many considered “men’s work” and what they considered “women’s work.”
However, women doing traditionally male dominated jobs were less stigmatized than were men doing traditionally female dominated jobs.
I’ve only ever seen one on the cover of this very excellent book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CQZ6EKW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Somewhere, back in the 1960’s, I read something about testing the concept of self-service stations, and supposedly the testers found out that women did not like to use them, because of something to do with putting a part of the male anatomy into a part of the female anatomy. At the time, I thought the author was full of it, and I still do.
Sounds a bit like an x-rated film…Girls who Pump, Vol. 39
In the early ’70s Nebraska didn’t allow customers to pump their own gas. This gave rise to a class of station known as “Mini-Serve”, in which an attendant would pump your gas, but not wash the windshield or check the oil or the tire pressure, etc. An entrepreneur in my hometown decided to riff on this idea by opening the Mini-Skirt Drive, in which your fuel was delivered by young ladies in short skirts. After the novelty wore off, most folks kept going to the local Co-op and Skelly stations, and the new place didn’t last too long. I was reminded of the old Mini-Skirt Drive recently on a trip to Honduras in Central America. Apparently their country doesn’t allow self-serve gas, as every fuel station had attendants pumping and also taking payments – their version of pay at the pump in their almost exclusively cash-based society. The majority of the attendants were young, attractive females. I’m not sure if this was intentional marketing or just coincidental.
I’ve only ever seen one on the cover of this very excellent book
A touch of Baader–Meinhof Phenomenon there. I recently finished the book The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is an alternate history novel that features a greatly accelerated space program (due in part to an asteroid striking DC). The main character and several others were WASPs in WWII. I don’t recall hearing of the WASPs before, at least not by that acronym (I was aware that women were used as pilots) then they’re mentioned in the description of that book you listed.
Hmmmm . . . to make this even more Arlo-ish . . . is that why Hubby volunteers to keep my car’s gas tank filled? Now I have a thought in my mind that I cannot unthink . . . thanks, MiB!!
“I recently finished the book The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.”
I put this on hold for Hubby; his usual alternative history books are of the ‘What if X won X War’ type, but this sounds like a good one, too. (I think Harry Turtledove is running out of ‘what if’s’.)
I haven’t heard of Harry Turtledove – do you recommend him?
I don’t ’cause I don’t care for alternate history books (they are ALWAYS more depressing than the reality, if you can imagine – you know, like the Axis win WWII and Hitler becomes king of the world or some such, etc.). However, Hubby has read every single one, so yeah, he recommends ’em . . .
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/harry-turtledove/
“Harry Turtledove is a prolific novelist and historian of America, having written some of the most successful historical novels. He is well known for writing many successful novels based on the historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and alternate history genres. “
I put this on hold for Hubby
Ah. There’s also a sequel, The Fated Sky, that I’m currently reading.
Got it – thanks!
Andréa, I went to the library website to look at his available titles, and it looks to me like he’s kinda stuck in WWII.
Maybe the reason alternative histories are worse is because it’s hard to imagine the other kind. What would the world look like if there had never been slavery, or if women were recognized as equal to men? I can’t even imagine it.
“. . . it looks to me like he’s kinda stuck in WWII. ”
Not really . . .
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/harry-turtledove/
“. . . there had never been slavery, or if women were recognized as equal to men? I can’t even imagine it.”
No more difficult to imagine than if the South had won the Civil War, or Hitler had become king of the world, or at least, president of the US.
Chak – Turtledove’s PhD is in Byzantine history, and if you get the books that are related to that they’re pretty good. Over the Wine-Dark Sea would be a good example. I find the books compelling but disappointing – he creates really neat worlds, but the stories don’t live up to it. I don’t recommend Darkest Europe (he’s trying far too hard) or Alpha and Omega (the Jewish characters, who are very central to the story, don’t feel very Jewish, but as I’m not, I could be wrong on that.)
YES.
The lead character in the “Lady Astronaut” books I mentioned is also Jewish, of the Southern variety.
Hubby asked me to thank you for recommending The Calculating Stars, which he just finished, and is starting The Fated Sky immediately.
I’m glad he enjoyed it. It had a lot of exploration into personal stuff for the lead, and that can be a negative for some. I just finished the second book myself.
Just read about one in Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety:
[scene is post war Italy]
“At Gubbio, where St. Francis civilized the wolf, we slept one night in an old monastery […], and while buying gas at the local AGIP station the next morning, heard a passionate cri de coeur from the girl who manned the pump. She said she was trapped in this medieval prison of a town. She turned her lips inside out when we protested that it was the most picturesque town we had ever seen, a jewel-box of a town. Oh no no no no no. There was no news, no entertainment, no action, no life. She held her nose and gagged, yearning upward toward more breathable air. She wanted to see the world — Paris, London, America. She was disappointed and scornful when she learned that we came from places named Boston and Hanover, places she had never heard of. Americans who mattered came from New York or California.”
Resurrecting an older thread to mention to Andrea that the third book in the “Lady Astronaut” series came out this year. It’s The Relentless Moon. If she hasn’t discovered it already, might be a holiday present opportunity.
Since you’ve resurrected it, I thought I’d give a shout out to Code Name Verity and its sequels by Elizabeth Wein. WWII WASPs, female spies in France, and the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp are all covered fictitiously, but well researched. Cf: Wish Me Luck TV series, Lilac Girls, and Calculating Stars