This silly clip reminds me of a recent experience I had with a car I rented for business. It was one of those new Chevy Cruzes. The price was right and I wanted to see what my hard earned tax payer money had helped to finish, because if GM had gone under I doubt if this car would have ever made it to market. Well the car was surprisingly fun and comfortable to drive but as I was heading back to Logan Airport I encountered one small unexpected problem. I’m a cheap SOB so I always fill up my car rentals BEFORE returning them. I just hate those obnoxious ‘Fill-Up Fees’ they hit you with if you don’t. So here I am, parked in front of this self-service gas pump, desperately trying to figure out how to pop the ‘Gas Tank Door’ so I can top off the tank, return the car and make my plane back to NYC, but it’s nowhere to be found! I look in the usual places, underneath the driver’s seat, to the left of the driver’s seat, to the right of the driver’s seat, near the left foot rest for the driver, but no dice, no ‘Gas Tank Door - Release Lever.’ Then I start scanning the dashboard. Hey maybe theyve gone electric and now provide some whiz bang ‘Electronically Operated Button’ which opens the tank door for you, but once again I come up dry. Then I consider the odd possibility that perhaps there is no lock for the ‘Gas Tank?’ Im old enough to remember the ‘Oil Embargo’ when desperate people would be forced to siphon off gasoline from their unsuspecting friends and neighbors’ cars just so that they could make it to the nearest gas station, on their appointed day (Odd or Even) to buy more gas. But maybe that’s no longer a worry, and maybe, just maybe I’m looking for a door release which just doesnt’ exist? So I leave my warm car, on this brutally cold New England evening, find the gas tank door and try and try and try to yank it open, but alas . . . . I just can’t. Even with my gloves off. The workmanship is so fine. The perfect circle of a gas tank door blends in so very nicely with the rest of the car that it’s almost a work of art. An aerodynamic marvel to be sure, but there is just no way for me to snake my fingernails underneath the lip of that ‘Gas Tank Door’. So in desperation I get back into my nice warm car and start to scan the three hundred page car manual which tells me everything about this car, everything that is except HOW TO OPEN THE DAMN GAS TANK DOOR! OK I’m starting to worry now. I have maybe 15 more minutes to kill before I risk missing my plane home. It is times like this that I so wish I HAD A SMART PHONE, but I dont so I do the next best thing. I call up GM’s customer service with my ‘Smart Enough – Flip Phone.’ And I reach this lovely woman who is more than eager to help. She then spends a good five minutes scanning the same ‘Car Manual’ I just scanned but from her ‘Computer Terminal’ and comes up with the same results. Nada. As a last resort I ask her if she can do a ‘Google Search’ because if I was home that’s what I would do. In fact that’s what I always do when I’m confronted with any and all of life’s little frustrations. Id just ask Google, “How do you open the gas tank door on a chevrolet cruze?” So she does and reads me the answer. Basically, you just imagine the little round gas tank door is a clock, then press in fairly hard where the hours hand would be if it was nine o’clock, and then when you release the pressure, and Whalla! … The door pops open and you’re all set. No lock, no key, no hidden release levers, just a little pressure in the right place. Had the car rental place warned me of this as I was renting the car this would have been be no big deal but oh yeah, that’s right, they kinda like those obnoxious ‘Fill-Up Fees’ dont they? https://facebook/video.php?v=10155017453215113
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 17:48:24 +0000
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