A Smoker's Paradise

Is there anywhere in Pomona that you avoid like the plague? For me, it's the Shell Gas Station at Garey and the 10 freeway. You know the real spruced up one that went in about two years ago. They often have lines of flags hung up in an attempt to lure you in with a festival environment. They even have TV screens on the gas pumps that try to sell you stuff as you pump gas. Very invasive. As you drive down the offramp from the east 10 freeway at Garey, my eye always gravitates towards the stadium lighting at the place. I'm not complaining, since it used to be the Planned Parenthood building next door that greeted people as they arrived in Pomona from the 10 freeway.

So anyways, when I got gas at the Shell last week, a scruffy looking white dude was walking around the lot smoking a cigarette. I mean right next to the pumps. My first instinct was to say, "What are you doing, I've got a child in the car?" But then I realized that anyone stupid enough to smoke a cigarette at a gas station was probably unbalanced too and might just flick said cigarette my way. The idiot was talking to another guy, equally scruffy looking, by a scruffy looking car. So at first I thought that the idiot was a customer and would soon be driving off and thus restoring public safety. Then I noticed the idiot pick up a broom and start sweeping the ground. Oh great, he's a guy who helps out at the station in between drags on his ciggie. When I went inside, I told the clerk that some guy was smoking out there. And she also responded, "What an idiot." She asks me if I asked him to stop and I said that I was telling her so she would do it with authority. Well when I went back outside, dude was smoking again and clerk was no where in sight. Basically she didn't follow up on it. So, for my own safety, I won't be getting gas there again. And my only gas card is a Shell card too! I should have called the Fire Dept, but of course motherly concerns took my mind off of my outrage pretty quickly.

A couple days ago, I saw one of the local gardeners smoking a cigarette while operating gas powered equipment on a 106 degree day. That didn't seem too smart either. But then I thought about it. Was it any worse than the homeowner not giving the poor guy the day off? We don't have a gardener, but if we did, I'd definitely give him/her a paid vacation for the rest of the heat wave. Of course that might mean they'd get the whole summer off at the rate our climate is going.

Sorry to write about something hot and incindiery (dang I miss that spell check), but I've got heat on the brain right now, and I know you feel the same.
P.S. While at the Chevron across the street from the Shell, I saw the attendant come out into the pumping area and light up a smoke. So it's the paid help too!