Fueling Fiasco

Yesterday I delivered lunch and C asked if I could go to Richland and fill the service truck with fuel.  He said it was backed in by the fuel tank already.  Sure, no problem.  I climbed up the side of the truck to reach the fuel tank, trying to hang on with one hand so I didn't fall off and drag the fuel hose up with the other.  Scratched my arm on the headache rack but managed to get the nozzle into the tank and start the pump.  I sat in the truck and finished my book knowing I had plenty of time because the tank holds 400+ gallons so takes awhile to fill.  I went to put my book back in my pickup and then climbed up the truck to check the progress of the filling and no fuel was coming out.  Great!  I think the tank is empty so I call M and ask what to do.  He's surprised that the tank would be empty but really wasn't sure so told me how to hook up the pump for the other tank to the truck battery.

First, I had to get the cover off the battery compartment on the side of the truck.  No problem there.  Then I had to move the truck far enough back so that the battery cable would reach. I backed up until I ran into junk.  I moved some pieces of metal and backed up a bit further.  Still not far enough.  I thought if I straightened the truck out a bit I would maybe gain that extra inch that I needed.  I pulled ahead until I ran into something to try to straighten it out and then backed up as far as I could and the cable would just reach the battery.  I took the cable from the pump and attached the red clamp to the red terminal on the battery.  So far so good.  The black clamp was loose so I had to hold it onto the battery terminal and move it around to make the pump start.  I soon discovered that the red one had to be in just the right position, too.  The pump finally started, but then I had to let go so I could crawl up the truck and put the hose in the tank.  Back down, jiggle the red clamp, attach the black clamp, get a spark, pump starts, whew!  But, I can't tell if there is actually fuel pumping because I'm on the ground holding the clamp and if I let go to check if there is fuel coming out of the hose, the pump will quit.  I do happen to look at the pump and see fuel dripping so I'm pretty sure it's pumping.  Then I'm wondering how long it is going to take to fill the tank while I'm standing there holding the stupid clamp.  I think about moving the truck again and trying to pull it in with it's nose to the tank wondering if the cable will reach that way.  I decide I'd better not do that because if it doesn't work, I'd never be able to get it back in the position it was currently in.  A fly lands on my hand, but I can't shake it off or the pump will quit.  Finally, I let go and go back to the first tank and pound on it and it doesn't sound like it's empty so I turn on that pump and fuel flows again.  So, I take off the battery cable, take out the hose and move the truck forward again, climb the truck to put the other hose in, scratch my arm again while trying not to fall off the truck and proceed to fill the tank.  Nothing to it.

Later I tell M that the first tank wasn't empty, that it just quit pumping for some reason and he said, "oh yeah, C said it did that to him one time, too."  Grrr, he couldn't have thought of that and mentioned it earlier!?!?