Rants - Posted by Steve Mount
I have to elicit the help of family for help in dealing with these pet peeves of mine, even if the help comes from the Left Coast - one must start somewhere, right? I've already exhausted my possibilities at home - I think if I mention these to Karen again, she may just punch me.
The first has to do with cigarettes - I know there are smokers in the family, and my peeve is not about smoking itself. Fortunately, I live in a state where restaurants are all smoke-free, so smoking does not impinge on my life very often. One time it does, however, is when I'm driving, cycling, walking, or even just mowing a lawn. The object of this peeve: butts. Not "she's got back" kind of butts, the cigarette kind. Some smokers seem to think that they have a right to toss their butts out the window of their cars or into a storm water runoff grate and think nothing of it. I've been to countless beaches where the sand was littered with butts. People who would never think to toss a Styrofoam cup out the window have no problem with butts. I think the practice is indefensible, but one argument for littering butts is that they are biodegradable, and so it is like tossing an apple core out the window.
I think the piles of butts that gather in gutters and in beach sand belie this notion. I've seen butts survive immersion in water for months. Every winter, butts emerge from within snow piles as they melt and leave behind the detritus. They are not biodegradable. Worse, they have done the job of filtering carcinogens and toxins from the smoke before it entered the smoker's lungs, and now all of that is leeching into the soil. Yum.
Another defense I've heard, especially from driving smokers, is that using the ashtray smells up the car. My response to that is incredulity - so, to spare the precious car, you toss the butt into the environment, despoiling whatever nature happens to be there. In places like California, the result is not just the ugliness of little white and yellow bits of paper and fiber swirling about - every season, I hear about wildfires started by improper cigarette disposal.
Even crazier is when I go into a convenience store, most of which around here have a Smoker's Oasis unit, and there is a pile of butts on the ground surrounding the Oasis. What's up with that?
Of course, it is illegal to toss butts out the window or to toss them aside as you walk (and, I suppose, it makes more sense for a walker to litter butts, as there's no ashtray as in a car, but there are inexpensive solutions to even that problem.
One website notes that 2 billion butts are tossed a day. Billion! All the excuses in the world don't make it right. My presumption is that smokers in this family are responsible. If you're not, you just never gave it a thought, hopefully you will give it a thought now, and find an ashtray. And smoker or not, hopefully you can help make this practice socially unacceptable by looking with disparagement on those who persist.
The second pet peeve is relatively new, and resulted from a presentation I gave to my Cub Scout Den a few months ago. This one has the possibility of affecting me more than the degradation of the environment or carcinogens in the soil that butts cause. The issue is filling your gas tank with your engine running. I was taught in Driver's Education class, all those decades ago, to always turn off your engine when filling up, that it was a hazard not to. I have always dutifully done so. I also recall that my mother and father always shut off the car, so it seemed perfectly natural to do so.
It also seemed common sense, for a lot of reasons. If your engine is running, the door is also, presumably, unlocked, and that could make the car a prime target for a carjacker. Just look for a parked car with no one in it and exhaust coming from the tailpipe (especially easy to see in Vermont in the winter), and there's a target for you. Bye bye car. Also, though it is rare, unattended cars have been known to move on their own, shift into gear by themselves. I did not want to be cleaning off my windshield and have the car advance on me. Obviously, if there are passengers in the car, these last two reasons are even more important.
But what I learned in preparing this presentation is that fires do happen, and with a substance like gasoline pouring into the tank, the results can be devastating. One small spark can ignite the fumes - one video I saw, convenience store surveillance tape, showed a woman and her entire car getting engulfed in flames. This can affect me because if I'm pumping next to someone whose car is running or is otherwise being unsafe, I could be caught in the explosion.
At one station early this winter, the driver and his wife left their Hummer running while they filled up - they went into the store. Two kids were in the car. One kid was a teenager, no more than 16, and he got out of the car and lit up a cigarette while he watched the pump. I stood back and watched all this and my jaw dropped further and further. How many cardinal rules broken? 1) don't leave the car running while pumping 2) don't leave the car unattended while pumping 3) don't leave kids alone in a car 4) don't leave kids alone in a running car 5) don't leave kids alone in a running car while pumping gas 6) don't smoke while pumping 7) don't let 16 year olds smoke. I went up to the kid and told him to move away from the car with a lit cigarette.
Another time, an older gentleman who should have known better was pumping gas with his car running. I was at the next pump over. I told him that what he was doing was dangerous, and he said "even in 10 degree weather?" Duh. Of course - any one in Vermont will tell you that static electricity build-up is worse in dry, cold weather, so of course in 10 degree weather.
The gas industry does not want you to run your engine, or do any of several other things, when pumping. It is bad for business, so they've created videos showing gas station fires, trying to, hopefully, scare people into doing the right thing at the gas pump.
So, drivers, turn off your engine. Don't get back in the car, and if you do, touch metal after stepping back onto the ground to discharge static. For goodness sake, don't smoke while pumping. If you have kids who can understand, show them what you're doing and tell them why - they'll remember. In Vermont at least, gas station attendants who see unsafe acts are required to shut off pumps (though my guess is that no one ever has done that), so if you work in a gas station, keep that in mind.
There, I feel better. Thanks.
The first has to do with cigarettes - I know there are smokers in the family, and my peeve is not about smoking itself. Fortunately, I live in a state where restaurants are all smoke-free, so smoking does not impinge on my life very often. One time it does, however, is when I'm driving, cycling, walking, or even just mowing a lawn. The object of this peeve: butts. Not "she's got back" kind of butts, the cigarette kind. Some smokers seem to think that they have a right to toss their butts out the window of their cars or into a storm water runoff grate and think nothing of it. I've been to countless beaches where the sand was littered with butts. People who would never think to toss a Styrofoam cup out the window have no problem with butts. I think the practice is indefensible, but one argument for littering butts is that they are biodegradable, and so it is like tossing an apple core out the window.
I think the piles of butts that gather in gutters and in beach sand belie this notion. I've seen butts survive immersion in water for months. Every winter, butts emerge from within snow piles as they melt and leave behind the detritus. They are not biodegradable. Worse, they have done the job of filtering carcinogens and toxins from the smoke before it entered the smoker's lungs, and now all of that is leeching into the soil. Yum.
Another defense I've heard, especially from driving smokers, is that using the ashtray smells up the car. My response to that is incredulity - so, to spare the precious car, you toss the butt into the environment, despoiling whatever nature happens to be there. In places like California, the result is not just the ugliness of little white and yellow bits of paper and fiber swirling about - every season, I hear about wildfires started by improper cigarette disposal.
Even crazier is when I go into a convenience store, most of which around here have a Smoker's Oasis unit, and there is a pile of butts on the ground surrounding the Oasis. What's up with that?
Of course, it is illegal to toss butts out the window or to toss them aside as you walk (and, I suppose, it makes more sense for a walker to litter butts, as there's no ashtray as in a car, but there are inexpensive solutions to even that problem.
One website notes that 2 billion butts are tossed a day. Billion! All the excuses in the world don't make it right. My presumption is that smokers in this family are responsible. If you're not, you just never gave it a thought, hopefully you will give it a thought now, and find an ashtray. And smoker or not, hopefully you can help make this practice socially unacceptable by looking with disparagement on those who persist.
The second pet peeve is relatively new, and resulted from a presentation I gave to my Cub Scout Den a few months ago. This one has the possibility of affecting me more than the degradation of the environment or carcinogens in the soil that butts cause. The issue is filling your gas tank with your engine running. I was taught in Driver's Education class, all those decades ago, to always turn off your engine when filling up, that it was a hazard not to. I have always dutifully done so. I also recall that my mother and father always shut off the car, so it seemed perfectly natural to do so.
It also seemed common sense, for a lot of reasons. If your engine is running, the door is also, presumably, unlocked, and that could make the car a prime target for a carjacker. Just look for a parked car with no one in it and exhaust coming from the tailpipe (especially easy to see in Vermont in the winter), and there's a target for you. Bye bye car. Also, though it is rare, unattended cars have been known to move on their own, shift into gear by themselves. I did not want to be cleaning off my windshield and have the car advance on me. Obviously, if there are passengers in the car, these last two reasons are even more important.
But what I learned in preparing this presentation is that fires do happen, and with a substance like gasoline pouring into the tank, the results can be devastating. One small spark can ignite the fumes - one video I saw, convenience store surveillance tape, showed a woman and her entire car getting engulfed in flames. This can affect me because if I'm pumping next to someone whose car is running or is otherwise being unsafe, I could be caught in the explosion.
At one station early this winter, the driver and his wife left their Hummer running while they filled up - they went into the store. Two kids were in the car. One kid was a teenager, no more than 16, and he got out of the car and lit up a cigarette while he watched the pump. I stood back and watched all this and my jaw dropped further and further. How many cardinal rules broken? 1) don't leave the car running while pumping 2) don't leave the car unattended while pumping 3) don't leave kids alone in a car 4) don't leave kids alone in a running car 5) don't leave kids alone in a running car while pumping gas 6) don't smoke while pumping 7) don't let 16 year olds smoke. I went up to the kid and told him to move away from the car with a lit cigarette.
Another time, an older gentleman who should have known better was pumping gas with his car running. I was at the next pump over. I told him that what he was doing was dangerous, and he said "even in 10 degree weather?" Duh. Of course - any one in Vermont will tell you that static electricity build-up is worse in dry, cold weather, so of course in 10 degree weather.
The gas industry does not want you to run your engine, or do any of several other things, when pumping. It is bad for business, so they've created videos showing gas station fires, trying to, hopefully, scare people into doing the right thing at the gas pump.
So, drivers, turn off your engine. Don't get back in the car, and if you do, touch metal after stepping back onto the ground to discharge static. For goodness sake, don't smoke while pumping. If you have kids who can understand, show them what you're doing and tell them why - they'll remember. In Vermont at least, gas station attendants who see unsafe acts are required to shut off pumps (though my guess is that no one ever has done that), so if you work in a gas station, keep that in mind.
There, I feel better. Thanks.
posted by Steve Mount at
6:02 AM
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