Cherry Pie? . . . No Thanks

This one has been filed away for some time now and I just realized it was never posted. This one comes from a road trip I took to drive above the “Arctic Circle” and see the start of the Alaska Pipeline in Prudhoe Bay my first summer in Alaska. I guess I need to look in my ‘working posts’ folder more often.


Four hundred and fifty miles into Friday's 16-hour drive from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay, I jam my credit card into a Chevron pump just off “the haul road” in Fairbanks, Alaska. The pump spits it back at me and tells me to go inside and make arrangements at the counter.


I'm not in the mood. I shuffle up to the counter and tell the woman, "I don't know what's wrong out at Pump 8 but it won't take my credit card."


She doesn't bat an eye. "Must not like you," she deadpans. Then she grabs the card and says, "Go pump your gas."


By the time I get back to the car, I'm laughing. It's two o'clock in the afternoon. I'm guessing I'm the 20th jerk today who's come in with an attitude and she's still calm as the day is long. When I go back inside to retrieve my card, I compliment her style.


"Don't worry about it," she tells me. "You're not even close to my favorite customer of the week. I had a guy pump $60 worth of gas, then come in and pick up one of those Hostess cherry pies off the rack. He comes up to the register, puts the pie on the counter and says, 'Did you know you have Fox News on the radio out by the pumps?' I said I did. 'And do you know how long it takes to pump $60 worth of gas?' he says. I knew that, too. "Then he says 'I hate Fox News,' takes his fist and slams it down on the cherry pie, sending cherry goop and crust all over the counter. And walks out."


I'm thinking she didn't bat an eye that time, either. I wander off above the Arctic Circle on a bumpy dusty road at the top of the world.


What other adventures are in store on this trip . . .


Stay tuned . . .


Ice

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