Basic HTML Version
what
yo
ucan
do...
TIMELY
Tips and
Helpful
Suggestions for YOU and YOUR
FAMILY
e
Service Station Swindlers
The American public is fleeced of roughly
$100
million
annually by unethical service station practices. Guilty attend–
ants employ a wide variety of no-holds-barred techniques to
get under your auto hood and into your pocketbook.
What can you do to protect yourself from the service
station swindler?
first, take a few minutes each week to lift the hood of
your automobile and check the oil and look over hoses, belts
and wires. You don't have to be an expert to spot frayed
belts, bare wires or leaky hoses. This practice will keep you
aware of the general condition of your car.
lt
is also a wise practice to trade with one service station
whenever possible. As a steady customer you are more apt to
get better, more dependable service. If you are going on a
trip, have your auto serviced and thoroughly checked before
you leave. Then
if
a station attendant tells you there is a
problem, be suspicious.
W hen you pull in for service, don't leave your car and
disappear to the washroom or goodie machine. Get out and
watch the attendant service your automobile.
It
might make
him a little nervous but it will also make him a lot more
honest.
The fairer sex is a prime target for the dishonest service
station attendant. Ladies, if you have a suspicion that some–
thing is amiss, a dime telephone call to your husband or
trusted friend is an excellent investment.
If
you suspect you've been "taken" at a service station,
notify the oil company office and register a complaint. They
will appreciate being alerted to a possible dishonest operation
under their name.
e
Flammable Fabrics
An estimated
2,000
people die every year in the United
States from dothing fires . Most of the victims are children.
How can you protect your family from this danger? Be
alerted for potentially dangerous kinds of clothing. The most
flammable items are sheer fabrics for curtains and blouses.
There are set staodards of flammability for clothing fab–
rics. However no stanclards have been set for textile fabrics
such as curtains and rugs. Sometimes these fabrics are
unwisely used for dothing.
Officially, if a five-inch strip of fabric is held so that íts
surface barely touches the side of a srnall flame for one secood,
and the strip burns completely within 3.5 seconds, the fabric
cannot legally be used for dothing. Clothing fabrics must
pass this test before they can be sold.
Waroings have also been issued about certain chenille
bathrobes. Although manufacturers have recalled the robes
from sellers, many have already been sold to customers. Other
warnings have been made conceming !10ve1ty aprons and
imported Japanese scarves.
It behooves each consumer, therefore, to be alert to the
dauger of flammable fabrics whenever making or purchasing
dothing, drapes, curtains, rugs or similar items. And, it bears
repeating: Teach your children not to play with matches and
to be careful of open flarnes.
e
Cleaner Caution
The
National Safety Couocil reportee! a peculiar accident
involving two separate housewives. Both were using an
ordinary toilet bowl cleaner. Not satisfied with the way ít
was rernoving stain, each one added sorne household bleach
and stirred with a brush. One died quickly and the other
spent a long time in the hospital.
A poisonous gas was liberated when the users decided to
try a mixture of two or more commoo household cleaning
agents.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because certain
household products are good and useful, that the combination
of two or more of them wíll do a better job than one. Use
chemical cleaners as the manufacturers direct on the labcls.
The National Safety Council warns: Oon't mix chlorine
bleach with toilet bowl cleaners, ammonia, lye, rust remover,
vi negar or oven cleaner- and keep in mind that sorne scour–
ing powders now contain chlorine bleach. In short, don't
mix chlorine with any other cleaning agent!
e
Change-of-Pace Entertainment
Like to see a movie but don't quite feel up to the get–
the-kids-ready, traffic snarls, no-parking, long-line, bad-seat
routine? Call your local library, they just might be able to
help.
More and more Jibraries are beginning a visual services
department. About every two weeks this department
will