Got gas? Put a cap on it.

So what kind of person are you? If you were filling up your vehicle with gas next to another vehicle, and that person got finished filling up his/her vehicle, and was starting to drive away with the gas cap still open, flopping around attached only by its keeper cord, would you expend effort to notify the person of said gas cap?

Not surprisingly, this very situation happened to me a couple days ago. What did I do? I stood right where I was (since I had a line of sight to the driver at that point), pointed at the vehicle's gas cap, and said aloud, "your gas cap." Not loudly enough for the driver to hear, but enough to make the lip motion, so he'd know I was trying to tell him something. Then, I went back to looking at my own vehicle filling up, while he got out and fixed his gas cap.

Back to the original question, would I expend effort to notify a person of an open gas cap? I can, based on the above experience, answer a resounding "maybe". You may be a little confused by the answer, but let me elaborate. For me, I think it all depends. I mean, if the driver was a gorgeous woman, I'd have obviously tried to make her aware of an open gas cap. I mean, I already unscrew the gas caps on vehicles driven by beautiful women just so I can draw their attention to it, so it stands to reason that I would also draw their attention to it if it was their own fault. Actually, I don't, but it gives me a new idea for meeting women, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

But really, in the situation I was in, I had the perfect situation to "help" this person. The driver was a black male (I am a white male), driving a vehicle which was more expensive than mine, yet similar, made by the same manufacturer, and he was dressed nicer than I was. I also did not have to go out of my way to help. All I needed to do was point and motion with my mouth, at which point, I could merely turn back around. I also knew, because of the similarity of our vehicles, that his vehicle would at some point (between 1/4 and 3/4 of a tank of gas) notify him via a monitoring system on the suction pressure of the gas tank that there was something wrong. Also, it was obvious to me that the gas cap was open, and would be to him the next time he exited his vehicle. On the other hand, it could be somewhat dangerous to have an open gas cap. From the driver's appearance, I didn't feel threatened, and I didn't think he'd feel threatened by me or my actions.

It was really a win-win situation for both myself and the other driver. In another scenario, I might not have gone out of my way to help. Had the black male driver (or a white male driver, for that matter) been driving a piece-of-shit-car, and been dressed like they were heading to the ghetto to sell or buy some crack, I may have just ignored the situation. Likewise, if I had to, say, walk to the next island to catch the driver's attention, I may not have bothered.

Now, In general, I'm a helpful, pleasant, nice person. It's not even my own opinion. I have people tell me that all the time. (Side note: with these qualities, I'm not so sure why I am always single -- women must like aggressive assholes for some reason.) Yet, looking back on the situation, I can only think, "I might not do the same thing next time."

Stay dry, Seattle.