$.50 for air??!!

Sometimes, living in the city is such a rip-off.

Looks like one of my tires has a small leak happening. Last Tuesday, as Dick and I were driving down to the South Bay, we noticed that my tire pressure warning came on. I checked my tire pressure at a gas station in Milpitas, and one of my tires was down about 10 (points?) from the others. I filled it up, and watched it throughout the day. By the end of the day, it still seemed fine.

This morning, when I was taking off last year's parking permit, I noticed that the air level seemed to be low again. I checked it with with my handy dandy tire pressure gauge, and discovered that it was down 20 (points, or whatever the measurement is. lbs.?)

So, I made my way to a gas station on my way out. I stopped by the Chevron station at 23rd x Valencia, right next to our old house. I pulled up to the air machine that had a sign that said, "Free air and water for our customers!". Cool. When I tried to pump the air, nothing happened. That's when I noticed another small machine that said .50 cents for air/water.

What?!

So I went in and asked the attendant: "which one is it? Free or 50 cents?"

she replied, "50 cents".

(roll of eyes here)

I suppose I could have shopped around for another station, but I was concerned about my tire pressure being so low.

Next I drove to Colma to get gas from Costco. I thought I'd check with the tire service department there. (I usually get my new tires installed at Costco) They said that they can't check tires, only install them.

Hmmmm....

So, I guess I have to find a tire shop in San Francisco that will evaluate and maybe rotate my tires (while I'm at it). I know of a place that I went to years ago on Geary around 10th Ave. Does anyone know of anywhere else that they'd recommend?