Gas station courtesy? (Yes, this will be a rant.)

[Old TexMex]

I've noticed over the years that the handle on a shopping cart is on the back side and should be steered from behind. I've also noticed that the isles are getting narrower.

Here's the newest rudeness,,,, Walking beside the cart and talking on the cell. Again, oblivious to those around them.

Manners are like common sense. Gone.

Oh yeah, and airport escalators. Big sign says "STAND TO RIGHT, WALK TO LEFT" there's two chatty catheys, side by side with their "little" carry on bag on wheels, jammin' up the escalator.

Meanwhile I'm hearing last call for boarding on my connecting flight (and the one I just got off was a half hour late landing).

I say "Pardon me ladies" one of 'em said "OMG how rude."

 

[ameridaddy]

...
Here's the newest rudeness,,,, Walking beside the cart and talking on the cell. Again, oblivious to those around them.

When I'm King For A Month, there will be a law for all states that
1. makes talking or texting on a hand-held cell phone while driving a moving vehicle on a public road or parking lot a felony.
2. limits talking on a cell phone in public to a "designated cell phone zone", which will all be in recycled, old time phone booths.

I'm sick and tired of rude airheads who put me and mine at risk while they're driving distracted, and burden me with listening to the trivia of their self-important lives as they yap away in the grocery store and other public places.

It seems to me common courtesy has gone way downhill and "me-first, nuts to you" has become ascendant since the arrival of the ubiquitous cell phone. Six months or so ago, I was standing in a long line at a MacDonald's cash register while it was being held up by a young woman clutching a smart phone in her right hand while she dug around for her money and change in a huge satchel of a purse with her left hand. It simply would not occur to her to put the phone down or in the bag so she could dig with two hands, oh no!
After a while, as next in line behind her, I addressed her and asked her "If you put the phone down for a moment so you could use two hands to get your money, would you lose your balance and tip over?"
Dirty look from her, laughter from the eight or nine folks behind her in line. The phone never left her right hand.

 

[DoubleAdobe]

I am constantly amazed that more inconsiderate people aren't punched or shot especially when they are politely warned to move with a tap on the horn which receives a one finger salute in reply. A far as COSTCO goes the rudeness exhibited by people with carts inside the stores far exceeds anything I've ever witnessed at the pumps.
Jim

This is why I do not honk my horn at people unless they are people I know and it is done in a Hey, How Are You, manner.
I have seen and heard of people having total emotional meltdowns just by being honked at, especially like that.
A horn is something on a vehicle that should be rarely used, in my thinking.
It can incite a reaction in some high strung people that ends in violence and altercation.
Use that daggum horn wisely.

 

[dave201]

Speedy checkout with item limit seems to draw the "Special" entitled, demented gophers
I always ask if they graduated and which school or whether they ran out of digits on their body
Then I proceed to tell them why I understand their silly actions

 

[keith44spl]

Blocking the gas pump thing doesn't bother me too bad. But driving at or below the speed limit in the left lane of a four lane road/highway is inconsiderate and I truly believe half the people who do it because "I'm a 'Merican and it's my God given right" to do so. The other half who do it are just clueless.

In my neck of the woods we have a lit'l verse in the statutes that
addresses that very issue. "Improper Lane Usage" and we use it!!!

.

I wish we could site those blocking gas pumps with loitering.

.

 

[brucev]

Read though most of this thread. What to do? What to do? Next time I'm in the line waiting for the gas pump, etc., I'll just pick up my Bible and read a bit. The folks ahead of me will at some point move on. Then I'll gas up and get going. Just cannot see any point at all to blowing a gasket just because someone fails to be as efficient at gassing up and getting going as I might want them to be. Life at best is short. I try not to shorten it by being so unwise as to complain to a unknown stranger about little stuff like gassing a vehicle. So, I just sit still and read and keep my temper under control. It keeps me from biting off more than I want to chew in a argument with someone who I don't know and who I don't want to know ... who I may consider thoughtless, inconsiderate, etc. and who may be carrying a knife, gun, baseball bat, whatever. Waiting 2-3 minutes more to gas up just isn't that big a deal. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

 

[hoosierone]

Does anyone else believe that when you are in a hurry the amount of bad drivers on the road increases with your urgency to get somewhere?

Maybe it just seems that way. I've posted before: I can't get more than a couple miles from home without encountering a bad driver.

 

[GKC]

Speedy checkout with item limit seems to draw the "Special" entitled, demented gophers

This is one of my pet peeves...stores which have an item limit on certain lanes need to enforce that, but they very rarely do. I can't count the times I've seen shoppers with an overflowing basket check out at the 20 items or less lane. The cashier doesn't say anything to them, probably on store orders to avoid offending a customer. If that's the case, why bother with item limits? If you are going to have them, enforce them.

The other thing that gets me (and it seems to invariably happen when I'm in a hurry) is one of the following:

1) the customer ahead of me doesn't have enough money to pay for all their purchases, so they start putting back items one by one until they reach the amount they do have. Can't they keep a mental total of their items before reaching the register?

2) even worse, the customer will argue over 10 cents, asking to speak to a manager. I have actually offered to pay the price difference in question, if they would just move on.

3) the customer will try to use a coupon that is expired, or not the exact item, and demand to speak to a manager if the cashier doesn't accept it. Don't people have any shame? I personally hate to use coupons anyway, but on the rare occasion that I do, I make sure it's valid and for the item I am buying.

I don't know what it is about some people, but they seem to think they are the only ones in the world, and don't mind at all holding up people in line behind them.

 

[WR Moore]

I don't recall the store chain, but there was, one once upon a time, one that had a little cartoon at all the express lanes. It showed someone with an overloaded cart at the express checkout. The caption: Are you an English major who can't count or a Math major who can't read?

I can sympathize with those who might get caught unexpectedly short, but I don't understand the number of folks who have to search their purse/murse for multiple minutes to find change. Seems to be the sort of thing you do either before you go shopping or periodically.

 

[Kurusu]

Read though most of this thread. What to do? What to do? Next time I'm in the line waiting for the gas pump, etc., I'll just pick up my Bible and read a bit. The folks ahead of me will at some point move on. Then I'll gas up and get going. Just cannot see any point at all to blowing a gasket just because someone fails to be as efficient at gassing up and getting going as I might want them to be. Life at best is short. I try not to shorten it by being so unwise as to complain to a unknown stranger about little stuff like gassing a vehicle. So, I just sit still and read and keep my temper under control. It keeps me from biting off more than I want to chew in a argument with someone who I don't know and who I don't want to know ... who I may consider thoughtless, inconsiderate, etc. and who may be carrying a knife, gun, baseball bat, whatever. Waiting 2-3 minutes more to gas up just isn't that big a deal. JMHO. Sincerely. bruce.

You're a better man than I am Charlie Brown.

 

[Kurusu]

Does anyone else believe that when you are in a hurry the amount of bad drivers on the road increases with your urgency to get somewhere?

Maybe it just seems that way. I've posted before: I can't get more than a couple miles from home without encountering a bad driver.

No, you are not the only one.

But, there's a law for that. And it's Murphy's.

 

[Kurusu]

I don't recall the store chain, but there was, one once upon a time, one that had a little cartoon at all the express lanes. It showed someone with an overloaded cart at the express checkout. The caption: Are you an English major who can't count or a Math major who can't read?

You just killed me with that one.

Even if you don't do anything more today, you've just earned your salt.

 

[GKC]

I can sympathize with those who might get caught unexpectedly short

I'm not so heartless as not to feel sorry for those who struggle financially, and perhaps were surprised by the prices at the register...maybe something they put in their basket rang up more than marked on the shelf...but I have seen some end up putting back half of a full basket before they got the bill down enough. That's just ridiculous, IMO. What's even worse is that in some cases, they don't even seem to be bothered by it. I would be mortified, but they just act like it's no big deal.

 

[NYlakesider]

A coupe years back wife and I were taking a nice summer ride. Pulled into this convince store to get gas and also pick up a sub for lunch to eat there. Wife went in and I fulled the car and as there were other cars I jumped in to move it next to the store to free up a pump spot then go in and pay

My wife told me the next part. One of the clerks yelled HEY he is taking off in that Vette call the Sheriffs. My wife calmly told the man reaching for the phone that that is my husband and I doubt that he is going to leave me here. He then hung up the phone before I made it in to the store.

 

[Kurusu]

I'm not so heartless as not to feel sorry for those who struggle financially, and perhaps were surprised by the prices at the register...maybe something they put in their basket rang up more than marked on the shelf...but I have seen some end up putting back half of a full basket before they got the bill down enough. That's just ridiculous, IMO. What's even worse is that in some cases, they don't even seem to be bothered by it. I would be mortified, but they just act like it's no big deal.

Don't you know? Irresponsible is the new cool.

 

[nachogrande]

NEVER PAID FOR ANYTHING BEFORE?

Sorry ladies, this one is on you. FINALLY complete the checkout, then the search begins for the $ or debit card. My wife likes to stash a little here & a little there, this may take a while. You DIDN'T KNOW you would have to pay for anything at the CASHIER??? Ever meet a guy that did not know exactly where his $ was? ATM's, don't get me started & it's a unisex issue. An awful lot of first timers it seems. Glad I rarely have to be anywhere in a hurry anymore. Always leave early & allow some extra time for the newbies and walking dead.

 

[Watchdog]

When you go to the gas station, get your gas and leave. This is not a difficult concept. If it isn't obvious, I get bugged when people fill up their vehicles and then don't leave.

I just can't get upset about stuff like this.

I think there are ten or fifteen gas stations within a mile radius of my house...and all of them selling gas within one or two pennies of each other.

If I pull into one and the lanes are all full, or if someone won't move or something, I'll just leave and drive a block or two to another one. It's all the same gas coming out of the pipeline, just sold under different names or from different distributors. My little ol' Subaru runs just fine on any of 'em.

Life's just too short to get bent out of shape over something like this. You know?

 

[bricker]

What was it George Carlin said? "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

 

[Muley Gil]

My little town in the Blue Ridge mountains has one little store and one island of 3 gas pumps. Each pump was two hoses. The next closest stations are either 10 miles north or 10 miles south. Most folks pull up, gas up and then move to the front of the store and go inside to pay. Sometimes we get city folks from North Carolina who don't understand this concept.

 

[Eagle 477]

Wife and I were shopping at one of the local grocery stores, This one woman kept pushing up behind us leave her cart and wonder up and down the isle looking lost on 2 occasions clipped me in the back of my ankle the first time she said sorry I wasn't looking where I was going the second time she just smiled and shrugged her shoulder and mouthed "sorry" .the next time she left her cart and wondered down the Isle out of sight of her cart I told my wife keep moving, I grabbed the woman's cart purse and all and quickly moved it to the other side of the store. Hurried back Meeting my wife in the next isle like nothing happened. This frantic woman asked if I saw her cart, I told her not since you ran into me the second time. she eventually found it I just smiled at her.

Rob