New law passed in Oregon

While I may live in Canada now, I am from Oregon originally and would like to express myself as the first Oregonian on this thread. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed about how the internet has turned to making fun of Oregonians because we don't even know how to pump our own gas. We haven't needed to, it's just part of the culture. We also don't use umbrellas, call hazelnuts filberts, and casually drive in the left lane. I'm not going to go so far as to claim that some of the loud responses from Oregonians are rational, but I would at least like you all to consider that the problem here isn't that Oregonians are lazy people who just don't want to go outside when it's cold. This law essentially represents a potential change in the culture and people fear change.

Fair enough, Rax.

Honestly, when I first saw the articles coming out with those few outrageous tweets my first thought was “protect the innocents!”

I honestly thought it was a joke at first. The pictures and general mocking tone of the articles didn't help.

My question is what happened to all the gas station attendants? Are there now hundreds of unemployed people in Oregon?

30 minutes from Oregon here. Not certain if it's true, but I was always told the law was put in place to provide jobs for folks in the timber industry during the winter months when they would otherwise be laid off. It's been that way my whole life, so certainly there will be some cultural adjustment necessary for many. But it's not that peeps don't want to, or don't know how to, pump their own gas, they just legally haven't been allowed to until now. So of course, being the internet, why not point and laugh instead of understanding? (Which doesn't explain why this is here in the Temple, but oh well.)

Goken wrote: I honestly thought it was a joke at first. The pictures and general mocking tone of the articles didn't help.

My question is what happened to all the gas station attendants? Are there now hundreds of unemployed people in Oregon?

From my understanding the law just lets you pump your own gas if you want. There is nothing stopping full-service stations from remaining open if they want.

Raxicorico wrote: While I may live in Canada now, I am from Oregon originally and would like to express myself as the first Oregonian on this thread. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed about how the internet has turned to making fun of Oregonians because we don't even know how to pump our own gas. We haven't needed to, it's just part of the culture. We also don't use umbrellas, call hazelnuts filberts, and casually drive in the left lane. I'm not going to go so far as to claim that some of the loud responses from Oregonians are rational, but I would at least like you all to consider that the problem here isn't that Oregonians are lazy people who just don't want to go outside when it's cold. This law essentially represents a potential change in the culture and people fear change.

Well said and I commend and support you. New Jersey also has laws against people pumping their own gas. It's not their fault and to make fun or light of such people because of their culture is insensitive to the extreme. I'm surprised this was even posted here at a place that touts itself as so inclsive.

I actually thought it was not real and I'm finding out it's real .

Kyrin Wyldstar wrote:

Raxicorico wrote: While I may live in Canada now, I am from Oregon originally and would like to express myself as the first Oregonian on this thread. Quite frankly, I'm disappointed about how the internet has turned to making fun of Oregonians because we don't even know how to pump our own gas. We haven't needed to, it's just part of the culture. We also don't use umbrellas, call hazelnuts filberts, and casually drive in the left lane. I'm not going to go so far as to claim that some of the loud responses from Oregonians are rational, but I would at least like you all to consider that the problem here isn't that Oregonians are lazy people who just don't want to go outside when it's cold. This law essentially represents a potential change in the culture and people fear change.

Well said and I commend and support you. New Jersey also has laws against people pumping their own gas. It's not their fault and to make fun or light of such people because of their culture is insensitive to the extreme. I'm surprised this was even posted here at a place that touts itself as so inclsive.

Hence I asked honestly am I reading this right ...

.....Wow....how little people understand the value of this law.....

One of the reasons this law was good, was because it forced gas stations to hire more hands to do the job. The more jobs you have, the lower your state's unemployment.

The law has been around for so long, it's not outside the realm of possibility that people would have no idea how to pump gas. If the stores were intelligent, they would keep the hands available to instruct their customers. The comments I would be the most concerned with are the ones that believe there will be an increase in "crime of opportunity".

Alethea Thompson wrote: .....Wow....how little people understand the value of this law.....

One of the reasons this law was good, was because it forced gas stations to hire more hands to do the job. The more jobs you have, the lower your state's unemployment.

The law has been around for so long, it's not outside the realm of possibility that people would have no idea how to pump gas. If the stores were intelligent, they would keep the hands available to instruct their customers. The comments I would be the most concerned with are the ones that believe there will be an increase in "crime of opportunity".

Of course it’s understandable that many people don’t know how to pump their own gas. But it’s not as if this is some extremely difficult task that requires serious training. In places where self-service is the norm they put decals on the pumps with simple instructions on how to pump gas...they could easily do that in areas where the stores are no longer going to provide service attendants.

I understand wanting to keep jobs for people, that much makes sense. But everywhere else in the country (other than New Jersey) gets along without this extra (and unnecessary) job. If getting rid of one simple, entry-level position in ONLY rural areas with low population is going to increase unemployment to a harmful level then the state of Oregon likely has a much larger problem with their job market than keeping those jobs will fix...

Also, as far as I can tell the law doesn’t stop any gas stations from offering the same service, it just makes it legal for everyone to pump their own gas in those counties with a population under 40,000. Gas stations COULD still keep their service attendants if they wanted to. Honestly, a state making it illegal for its citizens to pump their own gas is kind of insane in the first place, even if the reasoning behind it is an intention to keep jobs for people.