More impatient customer shenanigans on Tuesday! I was 7th in line at the Gas Station Chicken Store. I was NOT the impatient customer. It was the third guy in line. He said he was paying for $40 of gas, and handed the cashier two twenties.
"Do you want your red tickets for the gas drawing?"
"No. I'll get them when I come back in."
I wondered why he would be coming back in. Just pump your gas and go! He wasn't out there long. Here came ThirdGuy in the door. He stood to the side of the counter.
"What's the difference between regular and mid-grade?"
The cashier was very nice. I almost chuckled at her response.
"Well, the grade of gas. And the price."
"Oh." Back out went ThirdGuy. But not for long. Back in. Stood at the side. Interrupted. "I'm not putting mid-grade in my car. I'm getting regular."
"Sir, you'll have to wait a minute..."
Back out went ThirdGuy. I don't know what his problem was. At the Gas Station Chicken Store, the pumps are old. They don't take cards. They don't have to be set before you can pump. Just pick up the pump handle, and flip up the little lever. The gas will come out when you squeeze the nozzle thingy. Then you go inside to pay when you're done.
It was finally my turn. In the midst of trying to tear off the scratcher tickets I'd asked for, Cashier had to deal with the ever-returning ThirdGuy.
"I don't want somebody else to pull up and pump the gas I paid for."
"Sir. It will be a minute."
Back out. Seriously. If he just stayed out there, waiting until the other customers came out, nobody was going to be able to pump his gas. What he didn't realize was that anyone can pull up and pump gas at any pump, without going in to pay first. A beepy thing goes off inside when someone finishes pumping, and the cashier looks out and turns off the beepy thing. She would know if somebody else pumped gas on that pump, and she still would have honored ThirdGuy's money. It's not like she would forget what he looked like!
BACKKKKK came ThirdGuy. "I just want my $40 back."
"It's going to be a minute. I have these other people ahead of you to wait on. Step over here, and I'll get to you when I'm done with them."
Such a demanding demander! I suppose Cashier was going to explain the pumping process, and tell him to just go pump the regular gas he wanted. Or hand his money back.
My neck was sore from the ThirdGuy show. I needed one of those fake-injury neck braces! I'd have received less damage at a tennis match!
4 comments:
Didn't you know? That guy is the ONLY person in the world. He's the only one that matters...
Sioux,
I know now! Obviously, he was not from around here. Not that it makes any difference. Even the customers who know the routine are still entitled and demanding. You'd have thought he was old enough to understand the concept of "taking turns." He was at least 40. I don't think the "everyone's a winner" movement had started yet when he was a kid.
Perhaps it is his very first time pumping his own gas? or he has to do something a thousand times before he learns the routine?
River,
I doubt it was his first time pumping his own gas. It's not like he was an elderly widow left to his own devices. People have been pumping their own gas around Hillmomba for a very long time.
He might have been unfamiliar with those old-style pumps that have been there since the days of full service, when you'd drive up and an attendant would come out to pump your gas and take your money. He might have been a traveler, just off the highway, and never seen pumps like this before.
But he still could have been polite and waited his turn again.
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