I was standing next to a car pumping gas today. Suddenly, the gas started spilling out all over the place. In decades of using gas pumps, this was the first time I ran into a pump whose auto-cut off didn't work. A very dangerous and messy situation.

I went into the station to pay and told the proprietor that the auto-shut off was broken on the pump.

He said, "I turned that thing off."

"You disabled the auto-shut off? Why?"

"People need to be more responsible. Pay attention to what they are doing. I give them complete control. I turn on the pump, it is up to them to turn it off. People comment on this, they need to pay more attention, not be thinking some machine is going to coddle them. Every day, people come here and start the pump and go to the bathroom. They come out and there is 100, 200 gallons or more spilled on the ground. I tell them they need to be more careful, pay attention. Of course they have to pay for all the gas, so it's an expensive lesson, but next time they'll pay more attention to what they are doing. See, I am helping them out."

"But the auto-shut off is there for a reason, to prevent accidents. It's only a matter of time before an explosion."

"And whose fault is that then? The fool who could not be bothered to mind his gas, that's who! Not mine!"

Anyway I stunk like gas for the rest of the day and decided we should avoid that station in the future. For context, you should know that almost every patron of this station pumps while smoking, and then comes into the station smoking. The shop is always filled with cigarette smoke and when people are done they just toss their butts wherever they like.