This gas station is wickedly convenient for filling up your rental car before returning it to Budget or any of the other airport-location car rentals. Especially if you take the Airport exit off of I-95, which spits you out at the road right next to this Mobil en route to Belvedere. There I was, at the light to turn onto Belvedere with Budget directly across from me, and this mostly empty gas station definitely convinced me I could rapidly fill up that last little bit of gas that I might have use between home and returning the rental car. I pulled in, right up to the first pump station.
I was shocked at how old the display and interface was on this gas pump. It was not only shockingly slow, but it wanted me to leave my card in for a long time, and when I had pulled it out immediately (as is normal these days), the console began beeping an error message that I had to figure out how to cancel out. Then, after accepting my card after a longer-than-modern transaction during which I wondered if I would ever get my card back, it put me on an 80s-looking interface with exactly 3 options:
-car wash
-make a donation to X charity
(these were on the top left)
-close
(hidden on the bottom right)
I found this ridiculously deceptive and weird - I just wanted to pump gas, which is why I was at a gas pump, at a gas station! I wanted to laugh, I wanted to scream, I wanted to take a picture so I could laugh about it later, but the clock was ticking on returning my rental. I finally decided that 'close' was the safest answer, thinking it would close out my transaction. Instead I was miraculously transported to the pay for gas options.
Please laugh. And see if you accidentally buy a car wash. Anyone who can take a picture of this screen before me wins! read more