Tanking up

More than once I have used the example of Spanish filling stations as one of the sure signs that Spanish business is badly organised. There are plenty of self service places, like the one in the photo, but usually as you pull up on the forecourt someone comes to serve you. I wonder why, with self service pumps, they pay someone to do a job that they could get me, the customer, to do for nothing? When I ask Spaniards about the reason I often get something about keeping people employed. Given that we seem happy enough to live in a capitalist system that answer just adds to my grave doubts about how Spaniards approach business.

A couple of times, usually at night, we have pulled up at service stations where the lone employee is firmly locked inside the petrol station and a prepayment system is in operation. You have to hand over your money before they allow you to pump fuel into your vehicle.

I went to a local petrol station today, late morning. Nobody came to serve me and the pumps had big notices on about paying beforehand. I went in to the cash desk and asked the single bloke on duty what the process was for filling the tank. He suggested leaving the credit card with him. A voice from Barclaycard whispered in my ear about not letting the card out of my sight. OK then I said give me 60€ worth of 95 octane.

As I pumped the petrol into the car, wondering whether it would fit into the tank alright I pondered. When I lived in the UK the system was generally that you pulled up, tanked up and paid. Strange I thought. The Spanish approach to a one person operated petrol station is quite different. It's based on a slight mistrust of the customer, maybe on the idea of cash payment and certainly on an idea of the order of things - you know your vehicle so you know how much fuel you're going to need.

Little differences.