YTDI. How could you NOT see that the gas was overflowing immediately? You should be standing right there. What an idiot!

Really. You were too busy moderating FML and did not pay attention

Yeah! Way to show 'em! in all seriousness, i am inclined to agree. you deserve it. i give you the double vote, cuz your life is ****** if you're that absent-minded, and you deserved it because you are that absent-minded

I dont know about CO, but in most states you are legally required to stay at the pump. If you were unable to stay coherent enough to see gas spraying out of the tank then they should have given you a dui on your way home

By law in the US you're supposed to stay within plain sight of the gas pump when it's pumping gasoline. YDI, karma paid you back for breaking the law and being an idiot.

OOOOOOOOOOOOH He broke the law! Bad!

i know! and then the fire station comes and decide they've had a long day and one of them takes a smoke... yes i know that wouldn't happen and i don't think many smoke but still...

do they really have a law for this i doubt it

This is why i love living in new jersey!

Yes they do.

if you knew spartan law then you would know why wasting gas is so horrible to the environment... not that we spartans need gas =]

you're just an idiot

You also aren't supposed to leave because some idiot can come up behind you and if you haven't prepaid, fill up on your card. Anyways, unless you have a huge truck or suv then it shouldn't take that long to fill up your tank. Stop being lazy and just stand by the nozzle.

Did it occur to you that maybe when he pulled the pump out it was going?

Wow, no! How are all you people so uneducated about gas station safety? It's actually really common for the pump not to stop automatically. You are supposed to stand right next to it and keep an eye on it for that very reason. This FML is the definition of YDI.

That's why where I live they are removing the little kickstand on the handle so you have no choice but to stand there and hold it the entire time. It annoys the hell out of me but I see there are individuals, like OP, who have made it necessary.

Vonni, in the United States, they're regulated to stop. It works by a vacuum tube in the end of the nozzle and whenever that nozzle touches the gas (as in your tank is full) it automatically shuts off. There is no bypass for this. Either the OP wasn't in the United States, or she made this up.

I dont know where the heck you live, but around New England it is NOT common at all for the pumps to not shut themselves off

Haha, try New England? Gas pumps are gas pumps, my friend. Sometime the mechanism that makes it stop automatically malfunctions, usually because the little tab that holds it open doesn't come down when the handle tries to pop back out, keeping the gas flowing. This happens more often than morons like the OP think it does. That's why at some gas stations the nozzle doesn't have that little tab that holds it open, so that you have to monitor it manually. Either way, gas is extremely volatile, and there is no excuse for wandering off while you are filling your car with it. As far as I'm concerned, all this FML says is, "Today, I did something incredibly negligent and wasteful that could have gotten a lot of people hurt, and no one else was willing to take responsibility for it! FML." There is nothing about this that isn't YDI.

#50 - I saw this happen quite a few years ago, here in the US of A. Components malfunction, and the gas was spurting out of this guy's tank while he was sitting in his car, at least until I let him know.

@50, it's happened to me too, and i live in the USA. but thankfully i noticed right away and stopped it.

You guys do realize New England is in the United States, right? :facepalm:

Yeah, I think two people who live in New England probably also realize that they live in the US. Reading a little more carefully might have helped you figure out which comments were responses to each other and which weren't. #66 is a response to #36, and #71 is a response to #66. It doesn't take a genius. And then rest even helped you out by including the numbers. General message to all: "facepalm" is a really annoying expression. People only ever use it when they're trying to put someone else down, but so often they just make themselves look foolish. So stop.

overflows happen all the time confess you made up that vacuum thing

This does happen in the United States. I work at a gas station in WI and the auto shut-off fails to work on occassion. This week we had 2 gas spills for that very reason. People aren't attending their pumps and the auto shut-off doesn't work. Just because you haven't experienced something doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

you're not supposed to talk about fml fight club.... or your name will be robert paulson.

Volatile simply means that a substance quickly enters its gaseous form, not that it is likely to combust. Alcohol and water are also volatile liquids. Alcohol is highly flammable, but water does not catch fire.

I work in a gas station and we put the directions on the pumps because they don't always stop. The nozzles are sensitive and if you don't put it in there the right way or all the way it will over flow. If the wind is blowing the wrong way it will mess with the ball that detects the level of gas in the tank. You really don't know what you're talking about. It's the customers fault. They are not allowed to leave the nozzle alone, get back in their car, go inside the store, smoke, or talk on their cell phone while pumping gas. And yes we will charge you the full amount. It is your responsiblity to watch your gas. That's why we put the stupid little signs on the pumps that everyone ignores and takes advantage of. It happens all the time and we have never paid for any of the gas. Stupid people pay for their ignorance. :)

i get that u should stay by the nozzle, which i do mostly cause i dont want someone to steal my gas, but seriously i have never had a pump not stop by itself. so either san diego has like the best gas pumps around or colorado has the worst...

I live in New England, Vermont to be exact, and the pumps around here seem to work just fine. Maybe someone should be keeping up with the maintenance of the previously mentioned pumps considering they aren't doing what they're supposed to be. Sounds like you people live in the slums.

Pavement, dear.

Actually, yes, most pumps ARE made to stop when the tank's full. Good job being ignorant or living in a third world country.

actually, they are... http://www.howstuffworks.com/question25.htm

I think he was referring to the OP's complaint about having to pay for what was spilt more than anything else.