Inconsiderate Idiots at the gas station

[3930dave]

Life is too short to fixate on the occasional "idiot" at the gas pump. If that's all there is to complain about then life must be pretty good.

Also, I have a pet peeve about individuals who subscribe to the group mentality that somehow Prius owners are, just because of the model car they drive, inconsiderate or tree-huggers with better-than-thou attitudes or any other ridiculous stereotype perpetuated by people who for some reason take pleasure in slamming their fellow human beings. Good God, are you people in the third grade?

And "foreign" cars? News flash: Almost everything you own is foreign made. Geez... I thought the Internet would help make the world a smarter place. No sign of that in this thread.

Way back, I think Marshall McLuhan started out with high hopes for TV...... look where that's ended up.

Technology evolves, people, sometimes I wonder. There is a decline in civility that has become commonplace, driving some of the incidents described in this thread.

Without somebody directing behaviour, some people are lost. This thread has me reflecting on what I see done well at Costco gas stations here

- there is a single defined entrance, from there you fan into dedicated lines for a pump.
- pump hoses are long enough that they will reach the other side of the vehicle, at least for cars, and some trucks
- the lot layout makes it very difficult for somebody to parachute in to a queue
- they pay an employee to walk the lot at all times, dealing with any snags as they come up
- very stripped down islands - no squeegee, no towels, no groceries to buy
- a single defined exit. Only one way in, and one way out, unidirectional traffic

I go there enough that I hadn't really thought about all these details recently. Costco does get busy, but their operation is very well tuned to do one thing only - sell gas in high volume. Unfortunately for us TBN'ers, they have chosen to not sell diesel.

I miss the squeegee, but that's a trade-off I'll live with .

Rgds, D.

 

[300UGUY]

Life is too short to fixate on the occasional "idiot" at the gas pump. If that's all there is to complain about then life must be pretty good.

Also, I have a pet peeve about individuals who subscribe to the group mentality that somehow Prius owners are, just because of the model car they drive, inconsiderate or tree-huggers with better-than-thou attitudes or any other ridiculous stereotype perpetuated by people who for some reason take pleasure in slamming their fellow human beings. Good God, are you people in the third grade?

And "foreign" cars? News flash: Almost everything you own is foreign made. Geez... I thought the Internet would help make the world a smarter place. No sign of that in this thread.

Good post. I talked to one of my neighbor's recently, I mentioned that one of my relatives does evironmental work. My neighbor got real agitated, saying my relative has a "Al gore" job, and is a parasite. Next time the old bxxxx has a problem, she can call somebody else. My bota will never darken her snowy drive again. I'm getting to the point that I want to stay away from negative folks.

After the Fukashima incident, the whole auto industry worldwide almost ground to a halt, due to 2 plants in Japan going offline. We are pretty well interconnected these days.

 

[SPYDERLK]

an idiom that seldom helps.

if i didn't need to 'do that' then i wouldn't be at the dr complaining of the hurt when i do 'it'.

neat cathphrases are good for folded oriental cookies.

ps.. i'mnot cynical.. i'm a realist

:thumbsup:

 

[Midniteoyl]

I pulled up to a gas station the other day and every pump was being used except 1 of the outside pumps that happens to be a diesel/gas combo pump, I started filling up my pick-up with gas and about half way through a fellow in a 1 ton dually diesel pulled up behind me and it only took a minute to figure out that he didn't like the fact that I was using that pump, he asked me why I wasn't using 1 of the other pumps and I told him that they were all full when I pulled in a few minutes ago, he then proceeded to tell me that I should have waited in 1 of the other lines and left that pump open, I had listened to all I wanted to hear and told him that since he thought it wasn't un-reasonable to wait that the best thing he could do was get back in his truck and sulk, he did and there wasn't another word spoke between us. I can see in a deal like that where someone would perceive that I was being rude with several pumps open, but they weren't when I pulled up, his perception was not reality.

And thats the other side of this coin isnt it? People dont want you at 'their special pump' 'cause they have to wait, but dont mind at all telling you to wait.

Its called being a hypocrite....

 

[Midniteoyl]

Life is too short to fixate on the occasional "idiot" at the gas pump. If that's all there is to complain about then life must be pretty good.


And "foreign" cars? News flash: Almost everything you own is foreign made. Geez... I thought the Internet would help make the world a smarter place. No sign of that in this thread.

Ya.. I had to laff at that too.. Its only foreign car owners, or 'women in hats'

 

[Jstpssng]

When I got out of high school I pumped gas for a year or so. Back in the days when the gas pumps weren't covered. Folks would come in to get gas in a monsoon with 50 MPH winds. They would roll their window down 1/4" and talk through the crack in the window. They didn't want to get wet. And some wanted their tires checked while the water was pouring down my back. We are dealing with their children.

I remember those days... it's why I went back to school. We used to wash windows, check oil,air in the tires, and put the gas and supplies on their charge account. One guy came in several times a week with his company car... I kept tryimg to sell him a replacement for his badly damaged windshield wiper and he kept saying no. The first day of fall rain though, you guessed it; he came in and had me replace his blades... standing in the pouring rain.

 

[Bird]

I worked in my Dad's service station from the time I was 16; long hours, dirty work, hot in the summer, cold in the winter, but at least we had a roof overhead on one side of the pump island.:laughing:

 

[farmgirl19]

Make a couple of trips a day to those pumps, with a 20 minute delay, each time, and it can make the difference in getting home in time to pick the garden with daylight. Is that just an inconvenience, yes, but those that see it as NBD, really are not milage intensive regularly.

Let me guess, the person offended by my "foreign car" statement, drives a Toyota.

 

[BigE_]

but that town has Reserved For Fuel Efficient Vehicles signs over the next 3 closest parking stalls. No laws enforce it,

Are you sure? In Oregon there is a law that enforces it. Actually, it's for electric vehicles, and the spots reserved are for charging stations. But, they are protected by law and you can get a ticket or be towed. Most states have laws that let you reserve spaces for anyone for any reason....

I agree it's stupid to put those close to the store entrance. You're just enticing lazy law breakers to break the law... I park my vehicle and will walk a block or two to avoid having to start it and drive for a minute or less.

 

[dirt ditch]

Haven't gone to city hall to check but never heard of anyone getting a ticket for it.