Anger Management Gas Station

Photo: Bobak Bakhtiari

When it comes to gas prices, Tanforan Shell gas station (in San Bruno, California - I used to live near there!) owner Bobak Bakhtiari feels your pain. So he installed a dunk tank to let his customers vent their frustration on a man dressed as in Shell uniform!

Here's an interview with Bobak (who also happens to be an anger management counselor) by Weekend America's John Moe:

Moe: Gas prices are high everywhere -- what are you doing about it that's unique?
Bakhtiari: We've installed a dunk tank about 10 days ago and every Saturday, there's live music and dunking going on.
Who is in the dunk tank? Who do the customers have an opportunity to dunk?
A Shell employee -- someone dressed up either as a corporate Shell employee or a typical cashier.
And what are the rules to that? Do you get a free softball toss with every fill-up? Or can anybody just walk up to the gas station and do it?
Well it's been going well with anybody just walking up to the station and doing it. They each get three tosses. If that doesn't help, we also offer an express rant, where if they can creatively rant about gas prices they can receive a free express car wash. Cashiers are trained to really encourage all forms of expression during the rant. Well, except for throwing a chair through the window.

Link - via metafilter

Wow, I really, really like that. So often lately I've heard people point out that, hey, the local gas station owners are hurting just as much as we are from this whole oil/petrol crisis, but no matter how much I might be able to acknowledge this intellectually, emotionally it's still hard not to feel resentment every time I pull up to the pump and shell out a huge wad of cash. For a gas station owner to utilize a sense of -fun- to help us vent our frustrations is -such- a good idea; I probably would make a point of patronizing that station if it were anywhere near me. I hope those dunk tank employees are being paid well!

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Lowed prices would make me happier.

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I remember this happening when petrol prices first started going up in New Zealand from a few years ago. There were so many annoyed petrol station attendants because they were the first people the drivers complained to. Having friends who worked at petrol stations part time during high school at the time, they said that it really made the day unbearable. The attendants are just doing their job, they don't set the prices and hey when they fill up their car at the end of the day to drive home, they pay the same price as everyone else!