This morning's experience getting gas involved me attempting to walk inside and asking if I could pay cash. The cashier asked me how much I would like to buy. I said I wanted to fill up and I don't know how much that is. She said I'd have to either pre-pay a specific amount or leave my license with her.
I decided that using credit-card is worth it in this case because the experience is clearly superior:
- You don't have to go inside twice
- You don't have to know exactly the amount you're going to buy
Maybe there are other gas stations that handle cash differently but I am disappointed with what I found this morning.
A deep irony is that gas stations seem to be exactly the sort of place that gets targetted by people who steal credit card numbers and imprint them to other cards. I'm not sure who fired the first shot but there seems to be an atmosphere of deep mistrust between consumer and gas station.