As far as defending it against criticism, I doubt if those are serious comments. There are some people who entertain themselves by disagreeing with everything. There are others who would disagree with anything posted by someone they perceive as being on the opposite side of the political spectrum. I think that one or the other of these is things is probably going on here.

I think the process probably started in the early 70's, when long lines at the gas station took away the attendant service, and long lines appeared in the post offices. People noticed that they got away with it, and we were off to the races.

I agree that there has been a collective lowering of standards, which is not something that works to our advantage in a variety of ways.

As it happens slowly, people don't notice and protest it, and get used to it as the norm.

And then defend it against criticism, as some have done here.

Kyahaha!

Get off my lawn!!

riverat,

You are wrong!! They should have filler tubes on both sides of the cars so the driver has a choice.. No more waiting for the correct line to the pump..

My biggest gripe about gas stations isn't caused by something the stations do; instead, it's caused by automakers. So many cars have the gas filler tube located on the right-hand side. This forces the driver to park on the left side of the pump.

The problem is that in almost every other aspect of driving in the United States, all traffic must stay to the right. And all cars used to be made with the filler tube on the vehicle's left side, which conformed to the "stay right" rule.

But beginning in the late 60s or early 70s more and more vehicles were manufactured with their gas filler tube on the right side. This suddenly forced people to drive toward one another at gas pumps, resulting in untold aggravation and uncountable numbers of bumps and fender benders as drivers heading opposite directions were forced to jockey into position to fill their tanks -- whereas before they could simply stay to the right and drive in-line.

It's ridiculous. And whether by a standardization agreement arrived at between automakers, or a law imposed on them at federal level, every vehicle sold in this country should be required to have its gas filler tube located only on the vehicle's left side as a simple means to improve the speed and efficiency of the "pit stops" we drivers have to make. Everyone would benefit, everyone would experience less stress at gas stations if this were done.

As much as the infrastructure, it's the intrastructure. We have been fractured.

/ it's broke; fix it.

Why even bother to wash your car with this ongoing grab-bag of crappy weather. You may as well hand that 4-5-6-7-8 bucks or whatever you're paying to the first homeless person you see. Other than that, it is a changing world and I have mentally detached myself from the hellish chore of dealing with idiot customer service and even monthly bills; everything is set up for auto-rebill. I love calling and getting the auto-voice saying, "your wait time is approximately 60 minutes".....and that is a true story from about a week ago.

May God Bless.

...and so it all began....at the carwash.

One pet peeve I can't seem to overcome is people who don't have any patience.