Every day, thousands of cars, trucks, and buses drive down the roads, and they all need fuel. If you become a service station attendant, you will help these vehicles to keep on driving, besides helping people in many other ways.

When drivers pull into a service station with their vehicles, they might do much of the work of filling the fuel tank and cleaning the windows themselves. In this case, the service station attendant might be there just to take the payments and possibly sell a few chocolate bars, motor oil, or other products available in the store. Still, the service station attendant needs to make sure that the areas around the fuel pumps are tidy and free of litter, and they need to be alert and make sure that all customers pay for the fuel that they take.

At other times, the service station attendant might help with every aspect of the work. In this case, the attendant has to go outside to fill each new customer’s vehicle with fuel and also clean the windows if necessary. In addition, they often check the level of oil in the vehicle and add more if necessary. In winter, they might need to add antifreeze to the windshield washer fluid.

Sometimes, service station attendants might perform more complicated tasks like changing tires or replacing lights or windshield wiper blades. Usually, mechanics take care of larger repairs, but smaller maintenance tasks can be part of a service station attendant’s work.

Other tasks might depend on the size of the service station and the number of employees. A service station attendant might need to stock shelves with snack food and other products for customers to buy. For items like cigarettes, they need to make sure that the customer is old enough to buy the product. Service station attendant need to take payments from customers, clean the bathrooms and other areas of the building, and make sure that the fuel pumps have enough gasoline or diesel for the customers.

Working as a service station attendant can be a solitary job. Although people in this career work regularly with customers, they might not have many coworkers on the same shifts. Often, they work alone, when they need to be especially watchful.

Becoming a service station attendant normally requires only a basic high school education, but it helps to have extra knowledge about basic repairs and how vehicles work. Mathematics and at least some understanding of mechanics can help people in this career. Many people learn on the job, but a few courses at a trade school could also be helpful.

Wages can vary from one region to another, but generally, service station attendants start at about $11.80 per hour and can get to $13.30 or more later in their careers. Although older people can continue in this job as long as they are physically capable, the outdoor work and sometimes hard physical labour mean that people generally move on to other jobs long before retirement.

Working as a service station attendant can be an interesting job for people who are able to work alone or with others, who can work both outdoors and inside, and who enjoy working with vehicles. If that describes you, the job might be ideal for you.

Bibliography:

Career Planner. “Service Station Attendants.” https://job-descriptions.careerplanner.com/Service-Station-Attendants.cfm.

Indeed.com. “Service Station Attendant.” https://ca.indeed.com/cmp/Corpell’s-Water/jobs/Service-Station-Attendant-4db608f51395cd91?q=Service+Station+Attendant&vjs=3.

Payscale.com. “Gas Station Attendant Hourly Rate.” https://www.payscale.com/research/CA/Job=Gas_Station_Attendant/Hourly_Rate/fb3718f2/Mid-Career.

Work BC. “Service Station Attendants (NOC 6621).” https://www.workbc.ca/careers/6621.