(I guess it kind of looked like this. Image from here.)
It's true, I've worked at gas stations. In high school. & I believe the Seven-Eleven I worked at in Austin in 1989 had gas pumps. But in high school, in 11th & 12th grade, I worked at a Mobil in Garland, Texas, one at the corner of Jupiter Road & Buckingham Road, & one a couple of miles down the street at Jupiter Road & Forest Lane.
My brother Ralph got me the job I believe in the summer or spring before 12th grade. He was working at a place which had a Sikh man as manager - my first Sikh. He called himself Rob, & was thoroughly Americanized. Though he wore the turban, he had no accent, & he was quite a horn dog.
The summer before my senior year, I loved working there. At some point, my brother Ralph no longer worked there. I never figured out what happened. There might have been some accusations of petty larceny. Who knows? I doubt he remembers - he had many jobs around that time.
The Rob transferred to the station at Forest & Jupiter, & I went with him. & then, for some reason, he disappeared. No one told me anything in those days.
Two things of note happened at that Mobil. I listened to classic rock radio all the time - I remember I was working in the summer of 1985 when Live Aid was happening, & the American half was being broadcast on the radio (so I missed Elvis Costello, not knowing he just did one song). One time - I
seem to remember this being on a Sunday morning, around Christmas time, possibly the only day I worked, there was a quiz on the radio about the John Lennon/Yoko Ono song "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)." The question was about what Lennon & Ono said to each other at the beginning of the song - most everyone thinks they're saying happy Christmas to each other, but I knew they were saying it to their respective children. I made customers wait while I answered - the first customer was understandably irked - but then, when I got the question right, she turned to the person behind her & said, "He won!" I got a vinyl copy of the Shaved Fish best of collection, which I already had, but it was cool to win something on the radio. It's why I love to give stuff away on the radio.
Not very long after that, after Rob was gone, the new manager, who was something of an oily type who liked to quiz me about history - I guess he wanted me to know he was smarter than him for some reason - asked me to train someone new. & when I did, I thought I was doing the new guy a favor by showing him some shortcuts he'd inevitably use when he started working. The new guy reported me to the new boss - apparently he was upset I wasn't doing things by the book or something - & he called me & fired me. I knew I was being fired - he would never call me at home - & yet I hesitated quitting before he fired me. Afterwards, of course, I told everyone I quit.
Some time later, Rob the former manager contacted me. He had become a manager of an Exxon station down the street & offered me a job. This was in the last few weeks of high school & I wasn't all that into it. Plus, the shifts were like twelve hours long. The Exxon station was larger, there was more opportunities for shoplifters & people running from their bills (this was way before pay-at-the-pump), & I don't think I worked there more than three weeks before I either quit or Rob quit & asked me to quit out of loyalty. (Or the new manager didn't trust anyone Rob vouched for.)
Like I said, I'm sure the 7-11 I worked at a few years later had gas, but I can't remember it ever being a big deal or a problem. It's still there, here's the place earlier this year:
Can you imagine, not only has nearly thirty years passed since I worked there, but there was a time when I, during my 11pm to 7am shift, would have to go out & change the trash bag by the pumps &, in the middle of the night, I would trying to wash the grease off the parking lot! Also, I was robbed there three times, but that's a story for later.
The other two stations no longer exist. The Mobil at Forest & Jupiter is now a Texaco, but it does look like they tore down the original Mobil building to make their newer, Texaco-ier one:
The Mobil at Buckingham & Jupiter is gone, & has been gone a long time. It has suffered a worse fate than replacement: it's now a fucking bank!
All images from Google Maps.
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