Gas station question--was it justified?

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I'd have laughed in her face for making a fuss about this. This is preschool level stuff.

no

yeah, wow, what an encounter.


i love the diagram. i just couldnt visualize this until that post.


this is the problem, there really is no best practice other than being willing to let other people be in your way and go first all the time. i HATE lines and navigating crowds or any form of traffic in general. just can't stand it.

i can't imagine having to do a line for a gas pump. i simply skip that station if i come to one where every pump is occupied.

classic bully, i think, though. person does something dumb, then tries to get their way by intimidation of what seems like the easiest target...

I work in a major city, so unless I go at weird hours, there's likely to be a line. No avoiding it...

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Official diagnosis: ADHD, synesthesia. Aspie quiz result (unofficial test): Like Frodo--I'm a halfling? 110/200 NT, 109/200 Aspie.

imho, if you can't tell if someone is in line, they arent doing a good job of being in line. and therefore do not deserve a spot.

i hate when i stand in line at a subway or something, dont see any kind of formed line, go to the front, and it turns out some guy who was leaning on the bathroom door from across the room, or is sitting in a chair in the corner has the nerve to say he/she is "in line".

if you want something, get the f*** in line for it like everyone else. very simple concept.

i think you were completely in the right here, and applaud you for not raising a temper with that lady.

Honestly? I was scared. Yeah, it was an older lady, but still, I just hate being accused of things and I just wither at that. The other thing was the racial aspect...I thought I was going to wind up being accused of a whole lot of other horrible things that are not true. (And the last time someone did THAT to me, which was a customer at my old job who said that after I screwed something up, I ended up having to go into the back office and cry, it upset me so bad.)

_________________
Official diagnosis: ADHD, synesthesia. Aspie quiz result (unofficial test): Like Frodo--I'm a halfling? 110/200 NT, 109/200 Aspie.

ATs get confused about things like this too. Sounds chaotic when people were pulling into the gas pumps all different ways.

i think your response to the situation was just right.. as you were already there by then and filling up. You werent to know and the mistake already done.. so at that point just best proceding ahead (rather than causing more chaos at busy gas station by trying to move cars again due to mistakes).

Where i live.. confusion may sometimes happen as sometimes people either wait by individual pumps for a certain pump.. or they may wait back further for the first available one of all the pumps (so may end up taking one in any place or row) that becomes free, (maybe that is what that women was doing.. when people are doing this second way of lining up, they wait back further from the pumps. These ones are easy to miss when waiting).

My strategy is to avoid getting gas at the places/times when the pumps are usually all in use. Once on a trip I even went out of my way, and spent more on gas, to go to another station with no wait, rather than waiting at the QuikTrip. I don't think it saved me time, but it saved me from hassle.

I tend to think, whoever pulls into the pump gets it. No real etiquette about it.

I'm guessing the lady was trying to wait somewhere where she could pull into whatever pump opened up, rather than waiting at a specific pump. And I don't think her choice (if my guess is right) means you should have let her go first -- especially since she wasn't waiting somewhere such that it was clearly visible that she was there and waiting for a pump.

I had a similar situation but in a supermarket queue where a lady thought I was cutting in first, having come to the queue from a different direction from me. I know I was there first but she made a big almighty fracas about it. The girl at the checkout clearly thought she was the one in the wrong, and was giving her (as opposed to me) prolonged, hard, angry looks and scowls. But I came out of that feeling very shaken, as I probably would in this type of situation.

Anything on the road/involving vehicles is first in, first out. You were there well before that other person, therefore you were in the right. Granted, directional stuff is awkward to begin with, and chances are that person thought she could get ahead just because of direction alone. Then again, most people are of the, "It's all about me," mindset most of the time anyway, so if it wasn't you, it would have been someone else. Don't get upset about other people . . . if they do something stupid, that's the only time you need be upset (ie, if she had pulled up and dented your car out of anger).