S.C.A.Q.M.D Who are these folks you may ask. Well, they are a bunch of thieves. They come up with all kinds of rules that they say are in place to help the air quality in So. Cal. I can see why some rules are needed and some of them are even pretty good. But mostly, they are set up to make business owners pay outrageous fees and even crazier fines if you don't comply. Hum, sounds like the local mob business program. You know the kind, pay us for protection and you will go unharmed. Don't pay us and we close you down!

These assholes like to rough up gas stations all the time. Surprise, pop inspection. Oddly enough they always find something wrong. That sticker is an inch to high or to low, that hose is to close to the ground, there is a gram of dirt in a spill bucket etc etc. Up till two weeks ago I was allowed to change my own hoses, nozzles and breakaways. I had to go to an all day class to get S.C.A.Q.M.D certified. This class cost our company quite a bit seeing as how all of the So. Cal Costcos had to send two gas station employees. I was in a room with over 30 of us. Better yet, the guy teaching us didn't even know what the hell he was doing.

I came into work one day a few weeks ago and opened my Email. First one I checked stated that we are no longer allowed to change hoses, breakaways, and nozzles per, you guessed it, the S.C.A.Q.M.D. They feel that we need another certification to do these things. This Cert cost a crap load of money per person with several hours of class work and one shot to pass the test. It has a 75% fail rate. The techs that come to service our station sometimes fail it even. They are saying that there is to much fuel present that can harm the atmosphere when the parts in mention are changed. For some reason having this cert must make the fuel less dangerous. Funny thing is we can still change our own filters in the dispensers and perform weekly nozzle test. Each of these let more raw fuel into the air than changing a hose, nozzle or breakaway. I hate these self governing punks! They only answer to them selves and do what ever they want. EXTORTION!!!!

So i'm allowed to spill gas into one of these buckets if the nozzle fails, but it's cool cause the SCAQMD says it's ok. I also get to fill each of these bags with fuel vapor and then release it into the atmosphere. But don't let me touch a broken nozzle oh nooo. I have to call a service tech and wait a few days till one shows up costing my station $5,000.00 a day in sales.