I’ve had this happen twice this past week. I arrive at a multi pump gas station, and pull to an open pump, only to have some (----) backing up to the pump. In the first case the A$$ sat in fron of me until I got my gas pumped. Me being an old stuborn fart I just sat there looking at him. He had plenty of time to move to another pump and be leaving with gas. I then got out and went to the window and bought some lotto scratch offs and got back in my car and scratched them off. This A$$ is still sitting there. Well another car pulled up behind me and I hollered at him to move so the car behind me could get gas. He did, and I left.
Just today the same thing happened at the same station. This time is was a woman, and she kept inching back like I was suposed to get the heck out of her way. I was only getting gas in my 5 gal can so I just shut the old truck down and got the can out of the back and filled it. She swung her car around to the other side of the pump and went up to the window and complained about the $4.05 a gallon price. She then came back to the car and put a little gas in and left before I had my 5 gallon can filled. She was mumbling something but I paid her no mind. I’ve found that if I dont reply to a smart A$$ then they usually shut up quicker.
Anyone have this happen to them ? Who has the right of way in a case like that. I would think it the person that is going forward since most people dont back into a gas pump. Help me out here and give me some feedback.
I very seldom have the problem (maybe because I use diesel). However if you left you car at the pump to get lotto tickets, you deserver whatever you got. Even if you are ticked off and maybe ticked off justly, don’t make matters worse. Just remember, you get to drive away and you don’t need to see him again, but he sees himself in the mirror every morning.
Getting gas is not efficient. If someone backs up in front of you after the first car leaves, it isn’t wrong or rude. It’s what you should expect. They have no idea how long it will take for you to pump your gas. Just stay calm, and back out before someone blocks your path. If you are blocked, ask them to back up so that you can get out.
I don’t have a problem if someone backs in while I’m getting gas. But these folks were backing in while I was pulling in, ie: at the same time. I guess they were in another line and changed their mind and decided to back into another pump. That I do have a problem with.
This specifically hasn’t happened to me, but I understand your frustration. As long as there’s no standard side for filling, people are going to have incidents like this.
The fill is on the right of my car, which is probably less common. I had a run-in with a very confrontational man (I’m a 23-year-old girl) last winter because I pulled in facing him. We were at a small gas station and it was the only pump available, but there wasn’t anyone waiting in lines. After he finished filling his tank, he came towards me, screaming at me for “driving like an idiot” and “blocking him in.” There was no one behind his car, so he had plenty of room to back up, and I hadn’t done anything wrong. I stopped pumping gas, got in my car with the doors locked, and called my boyfriend on my cell phone, and all the while he was screaming at me. I was a few seconds away from calling the cops when he finally backed out and left.
Picking a standard side for filling would probably make stuff like this happen a lot less often. Otherwise, though, I think you just have to use common sense and courtesy.
Using common sense and courtesy are very important. Also, it is important to remember that some people have difficulty in managing their anger.
And, some people carry weapons in their car. If those weapons are carried by a person who has problems with anger management, the innocent person who insists on being the next one to access the gas pump, or who decides to block a pump while buying lottery tickets, could wind up in a very dangerous situation. This might be something to ponder the next time one is inclined to block a gas pump or to demand to be the next one to access the gas pump.
Some years back I filled up my tank at a filling station and there were a couple of cars waiting for the pump. I pulled up out of the way and went up to the cashier. She read me the riot act for not paying up before I moved the car. I guess one isn’t supposed to speed up the gasoline dispensing process. The cashier has to reset the pump before the next person can dispense gasoline, so I’m still not sure why she was so upset.
Wow , a touchy subject for sure in these times of shortages and lines back east. Once upon a time I waited accross the street so as not to block traffic flow. The dude looks right at me and sees me wave and flash my lights but do you think he allowed me next in line ? ARGH !! But in the interest of diffusing the obvious potential confrontation I just bit my tongue and…blocked traffic to get my turn. It still doesn’t really answer the root question however. Some would think it’s similar to the line at the bank ; there may be six tellars but the next person in line will go to any one of them who is open next. Others would say, each pump - one line for each. A common courtesy type issue answerable only one situation at a time. Because of the logistics of a gas station ,unless there is some way to tell who arrived on the lot next, my personal vote would be for “each pump , one line for each”.
At Costco, they have the Pump Police that tell people that they can’t do behaviors other than “straight in.” They tell them they can’t do it and get service.
Yay! Costco!
Slightly OT, but the first time I realized I was “over the hill” was about twenty years ago when I was filling up at a self serve station and a young girl filling her car on the other side of the pump I was at had a lit cigarette in her free hand which was about a foot away from the nozzle.
I asked her to please move away from the pump while she finished her smoke. Her response was, “Whatsamadder you old fart, do you want to live forever?”
I think this is in-topic when you see it’s that virus attitude degradation that plays into the “who’s next” ethics.
The principle is really not that hard. You should pull ahead to the last available pump when open and position the vehicle so that another vehicle can fit in behind. If the car ahead leaves, it is perfectly fine to back in to the front pump to make use of it. You should put gas in, pay and move so that the pumps stay open as much as possible. It takes me about 4 minutes for a fill and I’m on my way.
If you can do it either way, what are the moral implications for those with cars with the filler behind the license plate?
Common sense and courtesy are hard to find these days. And you’re right about the weapons thing . . . you never know what nut is behind the wheel anymore. Rocketman
I love how some stations very clearly have signs stating the flow of traffic, and yet there are morons that can’t read and try to jump the gun. Such inconsideration!
I end up pissing people off when I get gas, I have two 18 gallon tanks on my truck, and it takes forever, I think it’s kinda funny, because I can wait quite patiently for my gas, but lo and behold I fill up TWO gas tanks and 3 FIVE GALLON CANS. The looks on their faces is classic when I move over to the second tank, their expression becomes HILARIOUS when I pull the cans out of the back of the truck; to top it all off, I have no credit or debit cards, I pay with a check, by the time I get back outside with my receipt, they have been all over their vehicles like a pinball in a pinball machine they are so mad. But I have done nothing wrong or extreme, just filled up my tanks with gas, I never say anything to them, I never acknowledge them, unless they do first.