Look, the gas is relatively cheap, but this gas station is ridiculous in all kinds of ways, so you might be better off planning ahead and finding cheap gas farther away or outside the city altogether.
LANE DESIGN
The station itself is at the southwest corner of 19th Avenue and Santiago Street. You can enter from either street, but if you enter from 19th Avenue without first turning onto Santiago, then you're going to be limited to the single pump on east side of the lot. Why? Because there's so little room that they've decided to make everyone park facing south when filling up their tanks. Despite this physical limitation, the gas hoses are the normal ones that don't extend very far, so you have to wait until there's a pump available on the correct side of your car rather than being able either to pull around and come from the other direction or just back into the spot right in front of you. So although they have six pumps total, there are only three that you can use for your particular car, even if the pumps for the other-side tanks are all empty.
STATION ATTENDANT
The first four times I came here, my experience was fine, albeit annoying because I had to wait a long time.
On my fifth visit, there was a sign in the window that said that the station agent was gone and would return in half an hour. Half an hour from when? Really, I can't pay the lower cash price for gas because this place refuses to schedule enough people to cover a lunch shift? It wasn't busy, so I pulled my car away from the pump and waited 15 minutes, but when no one showed, I left.
On my sixth visit, I tried to pay the station attendant with a $50 bill. She took a look at it, held it up, and told me that she couldn't break it. I asked her why not. She said she didn't have enough change. I asked her how she knew how much change she would need when I hadn't pumped my gas yet, and she told me that she wouldn't take it. While we were arguing, someone else came, and I let her pay for her gas. She gave the attendant a $20 and two $10 bills. I told the attendant she now had enough change no matter how much or little gas I got, and she still refused to take the fifty. It was getting ridiculous at this point; another person came and paid, and I could see that the attendant wasn't putting the tens or twenties into a safe, so I knew she had plenty of change. After five more minutes of arguing, she said she would accept the fifty but "you better not beg for too much change!" I think I ended up getting around $39 worth of gas. When I came back for my change, she told me, "See! You get so much change!" and I told her to have a nice night and walked off.
If you don't accept bills over $20, you should have a sign that says so. Still, when the cash price is cheaper than credit price, places should accept all bills. I don't know what was going on with her, but she was very rude and started yelling almost right away.
There won't be a seventh visit. read more
