What...another gas station review?!? Well...yeah. I was once told, by an older relative who loved…read morecliches, "If you can't find something nice to say about something, don't say anything at all." Like all good cliches, there's an essential truth there. However, this is Yelp. Negativity is, of necessity, sometimes part of the Yelp process. But, in this particular case, I do have something good to say, and even though I've belabored to the point of excruciating boredom various gas stations in the area, this is one I never thought I'd review...either positively or negatively...because I have, in the past, so seldom patronized it.
And I still only patronize it occasionally because the prices are so damn high, and always have been. But during this past year (plus) of Covid, this was a place I found myself patronizing with increasing frequency.
Eons ago, this place was owned and operated by an independent. Back then, I worked part time taking advertisements for a local newspaper, and that independent owner would place ads for female gas station attendants. Female gas station attendants only. Female gas station attendants dressed as Hooters waitresses. (No, I'm not making this up.) Nobody ever mistook me for Alan Alda, but at one point I asked my boss, "Is it ethical for this guy to place ads like this? Is it even legal?" My boss kind of shrugged, and the guy kept placing his regular ads, so obviously it was legal, if not exactly ethical.
Some years later, I guess Exxon bought the guy out, and sexist, misogynistic individualism was replaced by colorless, corporatized efficiency. The mechanic shop that the Larry Flynt wanna-be ran (and he was actually a reasonably good mechanic; I got my car repaired here once way back when) became a Mavis Tire. Whatever was there before the 7-11 became a 7-11 (I once, some years ago, wrote a middling review on the 7-11, but I haven't patronized them in years).
The gas station was not a regular stop for me, because the prices were always...always...too high. If I was in a hurry to get to upstate NY via Rt. 287, and I needed gas, I'd bite the bullet and gas up here. But it was rare.
What's changed? Well, the prices are still high (although not as obscenely high as the Exxon stations in nearby Liberty Corner, Warren and Bernardsville), but the service is consistent, and consistently good. During this past year and a half, the attendants always...always...have worn masks. They're quick, efficient, and...hard to believe, but it's true...personable and friendly. Occasionally, they'll even wash your car windows. Who does that anymore?
More and more when I'm returning home late from work...tired, drained...and not looking forward to getting up early the next morning in order to gas up before heading back into work, I'll stop here. It has easy access from Rt. 78, whether you're heading East to NYC, or West to the Poconos.
Caution does need to be exercised, as vehicles zip in from Rt. 78, or from the direction of nearby Warren and Martinsville, and other vehicles back out abruptly from the 7-11 into the line of vehicles zipping in from Rt. 78 and Warren/Martinsville (as well as vehicles from around the back of the stores). Cars are supposed to proceed in one particular direction when entering and exiting, but they often don't.
I've also always found it annoying that if I use my Exxon card to pay, I have to recite my zip code to the attendant. (In fairness, that's happened in other Exxons, from Hoboken to North Brunswick.) When I'm tired, as I almost always am, that can be a moment of some confusion, and hesitancy (as an aside, it's funny to me that I can have trouble with my current zip code but can remember our phone number from when I was a kid living in Wayne back in ancient times). But...weighing the negatives against the positives, the positive attributes ultimately win out.
Polite, friendly attendants consistently wearing masks, and often going the extra mile in terms of customer service? I may be a fan with some reservations (higher gas prices, an air hose for tires that eats quarters like certain Rap "artists" eat Percocet's, a kamikaze like parking situation, etc.) but I have become a fan.
