Exxon

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. At the Exxon station in downtown Portland, a regular shouted one morning: ‘Hey, look sharp—this pump is talking back!’ The rest of us just shrugged and filled up as usual. A delivery driver looked puzzled: ‘What do you mean, “talking back”?’ Just then, the pump said loudly, ‘Full tank or top off?’ Everyone cracked up laughing. From that day on, whenever someone mentioned Exxon, our town would whisper, ‘Did you hear what that pump says?’

2. At dawn, when most stations are quiet, an Exxon attendant noticed something unusual. A delivery driver kept arriving with identical boxes every morning, but no one ever saw him unload anything. Curious, the attendant followed the truck one foggy night and found it parked in a deserted warehouse filled with empty boxes. Turns out, the mysterious driver was just a regular who loved puzzles—each day he delivered his own collection of riddles disguised as goods. The moral? Sometimes, what seems like a mystery is just someone’s hobby.

3. At night, when the streets of Chicago were quiet, a voice crackled over the Exxon gas station’s intercom: ‘Attention, ladies and gentlemen—we’ve run out of regular unleaded. Please use premium or diesel instead.’ One night, an irritated neighbor walked in and asked why they couldn’t just fill his car with anything. The attendant shrugged and replied, ‘Sir, it’s not our fault—they’re out of everything but premium and diesel.’ The neighbor shook his head and muttered, ‘Next time I’ll drive my old bike downtown…’

4. At midnight, when the streets of Houston were deserted, a young boy walked into the Exxon gas station. The clerk looked up from cleaning the counter and saw the boy staring at the ceiling. Curious, he asked what he was seeing. ‘It’s a star,’ replied the boy, pointing at a small glowing dot. The clerk squinted, then realized it was just a reflection of the neon sign above. Suddenly, another customer—a delivery driver—walked in and exclaimed, 'That ain't no star, that's our neon sign!' They both laughed, and the boy sheepishly admitted he'd been fooled. From then on, whenever anyone mentioned stars at that Exxon, everyone would smile and nod knowingly.