I've lived in Portland for a grand total of 2 weeks now. Overall, it's indistinguishable from the rest of the country. I found a Target, a Barnes & Noble, a proliferation of McDonaldii. But here's a weird thing, it's Oregon law that I can't pump my own gas. What I can't figure out is, am I supposed to tip the attendants? It's not like I asked them to help me, or even really want them to. But I still feel somehow as if I should.
Okay, riddle me this, do the attendants, who are presumably trained to pump gas the "right way", get to pump their own gas? Can they flash their badge, "It's okay, I'm a professional". Or are they also subjected to the indignity of sitting there uselessly while someone else pumps their gas, on the theory that their judgment might be clouded when it's their own car?
Re:Y'don't tip
Allison on 2002-05-08T04:48:50
Thank you.
Don't get too worked up about it as it provides jobs for people and probably cuts down on the liability insurance. Here in MA, I can pump my own gas but in the town of Arlington, due to the huge elderly population, I can't and have to sit in my car.
Enjoy Portland and go find the Mission Pub and Movie house over on Couch and...15th as I recall. Buy a good raincoat and be prepared for the smell of vanilla mold during the rose festival as they spray the waterfront with vanilla to mask the smell of the molding mud
Portlanded and loving it
Allison on 2002-05-08T05:05:32
Vanilla mold, eh? Sounds like an expensive perfume.:) You know what I like most about Portland? The rain. No, I'm serious. I missed the rain when I moved away from Seattle. It's part of why I moved here. Oh, and Powell's Books. Wow!
Yeah, having someone pump my gas is a small price to pay. I'll just pretend I'm rich and paying for the privilege.
:) Re:Portlanded and loving it
hfb on 2002-05-08T14:58:05
The Rose Festival is fun if you can stand the smell
:) There is a bazaar under the Burnside bridge on Saturdays during the summer too. Powell's is dangerous though as I spent a lot of weekends there and the rare book guy is top notch if you are looking for something particular and reasonably scarce.The Rhodo garden next to Reed is lovely and a park near there has a little known ancient dead volcano cone that makes for a nice hike. I can't say that I miss the rain but when I lived there I really missed having a decent midwestern thunderstorm. I had a fright one day when I was in the main Multnomah Co. Library and there was one big boom of thunder
:) *sigh* Portland is a very pleasant place to live. Enjoy :) Re:Portlanded and loving it
vek on 2002-05-08T15:45:24
You know what I like most about Portland? The rain.
I never thought I would say the same thing but when I moved to Phoenix I too found myself missing rain. Living the first 20 something years of my life in England followed by a few years in Northern Italy meant that I've seen my fair share of rain. So then I move to the bloody desert and obviously there's precious little rain. It's weird the things you find yourself missing isn't it??
