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My brother lives in Oregon. He was complaining to me the other day that Oregon's requirement that you are not allowed to pump your own gas is an obvious COVID
by JPKab 7y ago
My brother lives in Oregon.
He was complaining to me the other day that Oregon's requirement that you are not allowed to pump your own gas is an obvious COVID transmission vector.
To get gas in Oregon, he follows these steps:
1.) pull up to gas station
2.) Roll down window to hand attendant (who isn't wearing a mask, nor is required to) his debit card.
3.) Get card back from attendant.
4.) Sanitize the debit card
5.) Sanitize his hands
6.) Hope that the attendant is washing his hands, and that he didn't breathe COVID onto him through the open window.
Not saying this isn't a great, noble effort.
Just saying that, in some aspects, these states aren't doing a good job on obvious things within their own borders.
Why the hell is Oregon still doing this, and not requiring masks from gas attendants anyway? Maybe it is required, but my brother told me he has yet to have an attendant wearing a mask, so possibly not enforced???
- DoreenMichele 7y agoI'm curious: Was that the law before the pandemic? If so, couldn't the pandemic be a good reason to campaign to change the law so Oregonians can pump their own gas?
- dahdum 7y agoThat law hasn't changed because it's essentially a jobs program. They did retcon equal access for the disabled / elderly in there, but the ADA covers it well enough for every other state.
- jmckib 7y agoIt's also part of the reason you can't buy liquor at a grocery store in Oregon. If we really need more pointless jobs, I'd rather the state just hire some people to dig holes and fill them back up. At least everybody else wouldn't be inconvenienced that way.
- jonas21 7y agoWhen pumping your own gas, you touch a pump handle and card reader that have been handled by hundreds of other people in the last few hours. Is that any better?
- DoreenMichele 7y agoYou can use disposable gloves and you aren't interacting directly with someone who may do something like cough on you. I would say "Definitely yes."
- lozaning 7y agoI drove through oregon a while back for the eclipse for the first time ever. I'd already filled my tank a quarter of the way by the time the attendant came out and yelled at me. I was so confused.
- JoshTriplett 7y agoOregon has already lifted the restriction on pumping your own gas, for exactly this reason.
- kelnos 7y agoAdd "not allowed to pump your own gas" to the list of "things that are completely unnecessary and stupid that have been removed because of COVID-19 and never need to come back".
- xref 7y agoIt’s a job creation/protection play, like grocery stores where the union won’t allow self-checkout. No idea if the law is achieving its goals or if it just exists because of historical inertia now, but that’s why it exists.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoWhere are there checkout clerk unions blocking self-check out? Not saying it's impossible, but I've lived in WA, CA, VA, DC, TX, and NY, plus 1.5 years in Australia, and going on 6 years in Canada and have consistently seen self check-out everywhere.
- arh68 7y agoOregon, yet again? https://katu.com/news/local/initiative-looks-to-limit-number-of-self-checkout-machines-in-oregon https://katu.com/news/local/initiative-looks-to-limit-number...
- kelnos 7y agoOh, I know why it exists (I grew up in New Jersey, which has [had?] similar laws); I'm just reiterating that it exists for stupid reasons.
- odysseus 7y agoI wonder if New Jersey has done the same ..
- mrfusion 7y agoPeople aren’t trained to operate a gas pump. That’s what they told me last time I visited Oregon.
- yellowapple 7y agoFor all they know I could be a Certified Petrol Pump Master™.
- blaser-waffle 7y agoPresumably the different colored belts (Pump Master Black Belt, etc.) let you pump different grades -- or diesel.
- kelnos 7y agoThey must have some very complicated gas pumps in Oregon, much more complicated than the pumps used in nearly every other US state... ;)
- Fjolsvith 7y agoSeen something similar at Walmart. An attendant at the self-checkout area was wiping down the scanners but wasn't wiping the keypad.