The Gas Pump

Fuel dispensation was often an inconvenience and dangerous to amateur motorists. Gasoline would be transferred from the large storage tanks at the edge of town – then transferred to smaller glass or metal containers by hand.  

The Gas Jockey

The filling station attendant, or gas jockey, not only provides customers with fuel, but offers other car services as well – ranging from cleaning windshields, patching tires, to changing car batteries. Prior to 1920 and the invention of the starter motor, these attendants would start car engines manually, using a hand crank.

Today, it is rare to come across the full-service stations featured in Steinbeck’s novel. Although in New Jersey and Oregon, customers are prohibited to pump their own gas due to fire hazards associated with dispensing fuels.    

A filling station attendant is usually found wearing the institution’s uniform:

Tom “saw for the first time the fat man’s cheap washed pants and his cheap polo shirt and his paper hat” (112).

“The service-station boy, in his white uniform…” (196).