Jersey Girls don't pump gas

I just returned from a quick trip to New Jersey. The Jersey Shore, to be exact. Before I get into too much detail, I must mention that I was born in New Jersey, so I'm a Jersey Girl at heart.

Admittedly, though, there's not much Jersey left in the girl... if you're defining a Jersey Girl in the stereotypical way. I don't rat my hair, I don't have long, crazy fake nails, I don't have a fabulously Jersey accent and I don't have a boyfriend named Tito. However, the Jersey Girls I know and love--namely my grandmother, great-aunts, aunts and cousins, are nothing like that. Stereotypes be damned!

Suffice it to say, I am proud to be originally from New Jersey, just as I am proud to have been raised in Iowa. All stereotypes aside, both states have some amazing attributes. If I could figure out how to hook my new camera up to my computer, I'd show you some of the scenery I enjoyed while at the Jersey Shore and you'd oooh and aaah and "I wish I was there" for a while. Really, you would.

But it seems each time I visit, I have an encounter that seems particularly New Jersey-ish, and each one makes me smile. Here's the latest.

While at the shore this weekend, my aunt, cousins and I did a little shopping. We went to a store that doubles as a five and dime/souvenir shop as well as having some nice gifts. As we approached the store, I noticed these nice looking wooden signs in the window--nicely shaped and lettered with beachy sayings on them like "LBI" (Long Beach Island, where we were) or "Life's a beach" - that sort of thing. The kind of thing you can imagine many people buying to decorate their beach house with. (I wouldn't, but you can imagine it.)

In addition, they also had nice wooden, lettered signs that read, "Jersey Girls don't pump gas." Ummm... OK. Then I entered the store and realized they have everything with that phrase on it. Sweatshirts, T-shirts, magnets, postcards, mugs, you name it. It's like they've replaced "New Jersey--The Garden State" with "Us Jersey Girls... we don't pump gas!" A state motto? A point of pride? A bit of in-your-face bravado?

Now, in case you're not aware, it's a state law that no one pumps their own gas in New Jersey - every gas station is full service. You're simply not ALLOWED to pump gas. This strikes me as such a hassle, given that practically NOwhere in Iowa can you find someone to pump your gas for you. I can't remember the last time I saw the words "Full Service" next to a gas pump. It's even ridiculous to label certain pumps "self serve" since that's really all we have. But in New Jersey - someone else does it for you. I imagine in winter that's sometimes a luxury. Personally, though, I'm too impatient to wait for someone else to do something I'm perfectly capable of doing, especially since I'm almost always running late.

So, I guess I get that people think it's clever to say something like "Jersey Girls don't pump gas." HaHa. OK. And I can understand perhaps a funny T-shirt with that on the front (here is where I would insert a photo of said T-shirt if I could upload it.) But a nice wooden, lettered sign that you are ostensibly supposed to use to decorate your house? Who buys that? Who puts it up and says, "Yeah, that's classy." Or, "Of all the messages I want to share with my guests, it's that I abide by state laws at gas stations." But I get it... The folks who buy those signs aren't going for classy. And maybe they are irrepressibly proud of obeying the law. Like I said, I haven't lived there for a long time, so I really can't speak for them. But it just seems... odd. Weird. In a very New Jersey way.

But it did make me smile.

And in case you're wondering, I didn't have to fill my gas tank while I was there. *Sadness* So I didn't get a chance to be fully serviced by the state government of New Jersey and some gas station attendant named Tito. Perhaps I could have given him my number... what with all that time to kill while I sat there waiting...

So, no. Us Jersey Girls, we don't pump gas. Except that just tonight, back in Iowa, I did. Us Iowa girls, we're gloriously self-sufficient. Put THAT on a lovely wooden sign and try to sell it for $9.99. I dare you.