Philly Today

I got a little frustrated at the gas pump the other day. And believe it or not, it had nothing to do with the $4 per gallon price tag. I usually pay at the pump using a credit card. Most newer pumps ask you to insert your card to begin. But this pump made me press a button first (it had a Credit button and a Debit button). OK, I pressed the Credit button. Then I had to swipe my card. Then it asked me if it was a debit card? Umm… what was the point of me pressing the Credit button if the pump already forgot? In my opinion, just swiping a card should have answered all of those questions in one step. If I’m paying this much for gas, I would at least expect it to be a little quicker. Well, actually I was thinking that before I saw the little sticker on the gas pump that said “Fastest gas pump allowed by law”. That made me rest a little easier. The time I just wasted has been made up because the gas pump is so fast. That’s great, but an even better feature would be “cheapest gas pump allowed by law”. Actually, at this point I wouldn’t mind if it were a price lower than the law allows.