What to Do If Your Gas Pump Nozzle Won't Shut Off, According To TikTok

Sometimes a spray of gasoline is a recipe for a viral conversation.

After one TikToker posted a video of her friend dealing with an actively spewing gasoline pump, another TikToker, username "Therealnuriko," whose bio says he is an overnight gas station attendant, popped up to give tips, Newsweek reported.

He also posts about working at a gas station generally.

If your nozzle goes bananas and the flow won't quit, here's what to do, he explained in a video.

@therealnuriko #stitch with @14slothlover11 I know it's scary, but keep calm & shut the pumps off. #gasstation #gasstationlife #gasstationstorytime #gaspump #shutoff #gaspumpfail #gaspumpfails #keepcalm #dontpanic ♬ original sound - TheRealNuriko

"I know this seems like something really scary, but there's two quick things to do," he said in the video.

The is to find the emergency fuel pump shutoff button, which he said is usually outside and farther away from the pumps themselves.

"Every single station that has pumps will have some sort of emergency shutoff switch," therealnuriko said.

The second, he said, is to find the lever on the gasoline pump, where you hang the nozzle, and push it in.

The video has over 50 thousand likes. "They need to teach this in school," one user wrote.

The button outside that shuts off the gas pumps is required in New Jersey, at least, where Steve Riggins president of Riggins, a gas station chain in the state, told Entrepreneur.

"I certainly think that everyone would require it but I don't know for sure," he added. The buttons are also required in Pennsylvania, for example, per a 2012 law.

Therealnuriko jumped in to stitch the original video with 14slothlover11. She posted a video of a girl whose name on TikTok is Nicole Defran, standing near a gas station pump, while the nozzle pours out gasoline.

@14slothlover11 #pov your best friend is from new jersey #gas #newjersey take notes and teach your youth life skills …. @nicoledefran #ShowOffLandOFrost #safety #ignition ♬ original sound -

It has 2.6 million likes. In the video, Defran asks "What do I do?" and appears to have gasoline on the front of her shirt. And, a few feet away from her, the pump is lying on the ground spewing.

"The money that's flowing away is what's giving me anxiety," one user commented.

14slothlover11 joked in the caption about her confused friend: "pov your best friend is from new jersey."

New Jersey and Oregon are the two remaining states where you're not allowed to pump your own gas, and the stations are staffed by attendants who do it for you, most of the time.

As Newsweek noted, the American Petroleum Institute recommends people do things like not over-fill tanks or smoke while filling up to stay safe while you are filling up.