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| Issue #24, September 8, 2006 |
Jiggle, Jiggle
Burping Your Car at the Pump on County Road 39 in Southampton
By Dan Rattiner
Low on gas, I pulled into the Hess Station on County Rd. 39 the other evening. The credit card part of the pump I went to was out of order. You’d have to pay in advance in the deli, then pump whatever you set aside. So I pulled up to the next pump, which worked.
I swiped my card and was pumping the gas into my Land Rover, when I noticed something very unusual going on at the pump I had just left. Another car had pulled up there. A 20-year-old sedan of Ford vintage, with little puff balls across the inside top of the windshield above the rear view mirror. A man in blue jeans, suspenders, work shirt and straw hat had been pumping the gas. But now he had stopped. And he had grasped the rear fender above the gas cap, and he was shaking his car from side to side, making the little puffballs jiggle.
At first I couldn’t figure it out. But then it hit me. He was shaking his car so he could get all the gas for the money in. If this worked, he wouldn’t have to go back to the deli.
The man saw me looking at him and our eyes locked. He’d been caught in the act. Somewhere in there, the metal gas tank would expand, apparently. He smiled and gave it one last jiggle for luck.
I’d never seen anyone do this before while putting gas in his or her car. A few days later, I told this story to a friend who listened to it with a straight face.
“I do that every time,’’ he said.
“You’re kidding.’’
“No. Really. It’s called burping your car. A few air bubbles come up, you get more in. Somewhere down the line, with the extra few pennies worth you put in, it means one less stop at the gas pump. Only I don’t jiggle it with my hands. I turn around and bump the fender with my butt. It’s more subtle.’’
You learn something every day. I’ve got to try this.
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