Urban Skills: On The Road
[Updated: Heck Of A Guy Blog Updates ]
Every year on vacation, I rent a car. Every year, I forget to check the location of the gas cap. Every year, I vainly attempt to glimpse said gas cap in the side view mirror while I’m driving, utter vile curses when I inevitably fail to see anything other than the semi half-heartedly veering away from my erratically swerving car, and then stew over the malignant nature of the engineers who originated and perpetuate this design flaw, the corporations that build and sell such automobiles, and any higher power that tolerates their existence until I surrender to the increasingly desperate signals from the dashboard instrumentation that the car is completely, absolutely out of gas — really, no kidding this time. I then pull over to a gas station and drive toward the side of the gas pump where I have calculated, taking into account my mythical male mechanical aptitude, my history of similar experiences, and my knowledge of the psychology of the foreign and domestic automotive industry, the gas cap should be. Then, at the last possible moment, I swerve to the other side, where I discover that I’m wrong, curse some more, … well, you get the idea.
Nowadays, I still forget to check the location of the gas cap on my rental car but the atmosphere of Vacationland is less laden with colorful language because most of the time this problem is solved by glancing at the gas gauge. Many cars (and most rental cars, it seems) now have an arrow pointing to the side of the gas cap printed on the gas gauge.
Urban Skill Supplement
Unless your car is turned off so that you can safely snap a photo, a gas gauge reading similar to that shown here means you have a problem that is more significant and acute than, albeit related to, the location of the gas tank.
Credit Due Department:
Lifehacker
