The Gas Cap

Right before Christmas, my coworker got a gorgeous garnet 2009 Mazda 3.  He came into work last Friday frantic, the gas cap was broken, and he couldn’t remove it to get gas.  He wanted to take a screwdriver to it, this is how frantic he was, because he was headed out of town that night and only had 1/4 tank of gas and didn’t have time to stop to get the car looked at.  He said that he thinks the gas station attendant (he lives in NJ where they still pump your gas for you) broke the cap when he filled it last.  I suggested WD40, calling the dealership, anything to help this young man out of his dilemma, but he was pretty inconsolable.  His only solution was stopping by his parents and borrowing their truck to get him to his destination (defeating the whole purpose of showing off his new car).

When he came into work today, I asked him about his trip.  “Funny story,” he said. “After I left here to get my Dad’s truck, I stopped at a convenience store to try that WD-40 idea, but ended up talking to these big, burly truckers who all tried to remove the cap, but still no success.  Well, it was getting late and I had to get on the road, so I ended up not having time to try the WD-40 anyway.  Got to my parents to switch cars and my mom comes out of the house to give me the keys, goes over to my car and just pops the gas cap off!!!  My Dad, my cousin and I just looked at each other and hung our heads.  We had been trying for days!”

All that muscle and it still took a woman’s touch...