Eric Ravenscraft
You’re just trying to pump your gas, not get blasted with ads, but the pump has other plans. Fortunately, while they’re rarely labeled, there’s a mute button right next to the video screen.
If you’ve ever seen these video ads on gas station pumps, you know how annoying they can be. They blast at loud volumes (because how else are you going to hear it over all the cars nearby?) and they startle you when you were expecting silence from a tool that’s usually been silent your whole life.
Whether your pump advertises it or not, however, there’s a handy way to shut the dang thing up. There’s an array of buttons along the side of the screen. One of these buttons (usually) mutes the ads. Which one is anyone’s guess, as different companies choose a different mute button. To figure out which one, just start at the top and start pressing each button until you find the one that gives you the blissful silence you’re looking for.
Of course, some gas station pumps have a button specifically labeled “mute,” which is so helpful (kudos to those merciful gas stations), but most of them don’t. If your pump has a video screen, chances are that it’s about to blast you with an ad, so you may as well get ready to mute that video before it scares the crap out of you.
