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Jan. 6, 2009 9:15 a.m. pinchvalve UltraDork

Is everyone familiar with proper gas station etiquitte? There is such a thing right? A guy in front of me pulls up and centers his land barge between the gas pumps, blocking them both, and then gets out to go inside and buy cigarettes. Now I can't get gas because he is inside slowly killing himself with tobacco. He never does get gas, and there are plenty of other places to park...and to buy cigarettes. This is a GAS STATION a-hole! Hey buddy, I have a suggestion. Why no kill yourself earlier in the day with something quicker and stay out of my way?

Anyway, I am going to write a book on driving etiquitte. Not what the teach you in Driver's Ed, but what you should learn to be a considerate driver. Like letting people out when you are stopped to make a left turn, and not flaking out when you are waiting to turn and not realizing that this nice guy is letting you out. Wake Up! Get off the cell phone!
Jan. 6, 2009 9:19 a.m. Wally UltraDork

Back when you paid after you pumped a friend of mine would start filling their tank while they were inside.
Jan. 6, 2009 9:31 a.m. aussiesmg HalfDork

Nice.....any sugar in that fill?
Jan. 6, 2009 9:38 a.m. EastCoastMojo HalfDork

And that's why I keep a valve core removal tool on hand at all times.
Jan. 6, 2009 9:39 a.m. ClemSparks UberDork

During peak hours when it's hard to find a pump, I would try to pump, park, then pay. That was before the days of pay-at-the-pump though, and it's not as much of an issue for me now.

I have a problem sometimes with folks breaching proper ettiquite by being too polite and not following the rules of the road out of presumed politeness or ignorance.

Example. A person stops at a stop sign first but is too timid to step on the gas when it's their turn because they're not sure if it was them or the next guy that stopped a millisecond earlier. Just go...keep it moving.

2. Folks who merge into the fast lane to let folks merge into the right lane from an entrance ramp. I JUST about punted a cadi into the median during the last snow in this very situation. Stupid. Problem is, he probably NEVER noticed I was right there...12" off his bumper. I wasn't there the whole time...but I was going to use all the room I had and even bump him before I spun into the median due to his bad move.

2a. Even worse is when folks SLOW DOWN to let another car merge in from an on-ramp. That just drives me nuts. Hold your line...speed up if you have to, but for crying out loud...don't SLOW DOWN! I get particularly annoyed if I'm the car merging from an on-ramp. Because, by that point, I'm normally easing up to let them by so I can properly (and politely) merge.

3. Ignorance. When you approach a main road from a side road and another car is opposite you (also stopped but going the opposite direction). The guy going right or straight has right of way over the guy turning left REGARDLESS of who was there first. It's a rule. Don't get mad when I go when there's a clearing because I'm going straight and you're turning left. Don't wave me through when you're going straight and I'm turning left. Follow the rules!

Sorry...just a few that were bugging me (apparently bottled up for a bit).

Clem
Jan. 6, 2009 9:44 a.m. AngryCorvair Dork

pinchvalve wrote:

Is everyone familiar with proper gas station etiquitte? There is such a thing right? A guy in front of me pulls up and centers his land barge between the gas pumps, blocking them both, and then gets out to go inside and buy cigarettes. Now I can't get gas because he is inside slowly killing himself with tobacco. He never does get gas, and there are plenty of other places to park...and to buy cigarettes. This is a GAS STATION a-hole! Hey buddy, I have a suggestion. Why no kill yourself earlier in the day with something quicker and stay out of my way?

typically, i'll pull around them and back up to their front bumper, then falsely struggle with making the hose reach my filler. unless it'll really reach, and then i just fill my tank and talk to myself about stupid inconsiderate E36 M3 for brains motherberkeleyers until they back up and leave. i'm also prepared at all times to hose someone down with gasoline if they decide to confront me. anytime someone tries to talk to me when i'm filling my tank (only three times in 26 years of driving), i take the nozzle out of the tank and i casually point it at them and tell them i'm really nervous since being robbed at a gas pump once. anyone who's ever filled up at the gas station on Piney Branch Road between Greenwood and Garland in Takoma Park MD on a friday or saturday night is probably with me on this approach.
Jan. 6, 2009 9:47 a.m. ClemSparks UberDork

AngryCorvair wrote:

anytime someone tries to talk to me when i'm filling my tank (only three times in 26 years of driving), i take the nozzle out of the tank and i casually point it at them and tell them i'm really nervous since being robbed at a gas pump once.

Yowza!

Dude...don't come to the midwest...you wouldn't last long with all our outwardly hostile civility

J/K
Jan. 6, 2009 11:27 a.m. Salanis SuperDork

AngryCorvair wrote:

... since being robbed at a gas pump once. ...

Only once? For the past year, I swear I got robbed every time I filled up!
Jan. 6, 2009 11:29 a.m. Appleseed Reader

Really. I 'm in the midwest and I'm hostile toward dip E36 m3s like that all the time. I will pull in front of people who do this, just to make it harder for them to leave. As a plus, people around here cannot revers to save there lives.

I hate when you're being polite while waiting for a pump at peak hours. You hang back to allow others to leave or park if they need the skigamerettes. And them some turd cuts in front of you. To important or ignorant to notice. Ungh!
Jan. 6, 2009 11:48 a.m. SVreX UberDork

AngryCorvair wrote:

anytime someone tries to talk to me when i'm filling my tank (only three times in 26 years of driving), i take the nozzle out of the tank and i casually point it at them and tell them i'm really nervous since being robbed at a gas pump once.

That's a bad memory- I once got dowsed in gas from head to toe by a woman who pulled the nozzle out of her car without turning it off, then pointed the thing toward me running full blast.
Jan. 6, 2009 12:07 p.m. CrackMonkey Reader

ClemSparks wrote: #2. Folks who merge into the fast lane to let folks merge into the right lane from an entrance ramp.

Really? This is how they do it in Britain and it works very well. It was nice not worrying about merging into fast traffic - the "slow" lane cars simply moved over, let me merge, then moved back when space allowed. Of course, it would require Americans to pull their heads out of their asses and pay attention to the road, so maybe it won't work after all.
Jan. 6, 2009 12:43 p.m. stuart in mn Dork

Owning a couple old BMWs that have the gas fill on the passenger side instead of the driver's side always makes it a little more fun for me....it's like swimming upstream to get a spot on the right side of the pump.
Jan. 6, 2009 12:54 p.m. confuZion3 Dork

stuart in mn wrote:

Owning a couple old BMWs that have the gas fill on the passenger side instead of the driver's side always makes it a little more fun for me....it's like swimming upstream to get a spot on the right side of the pump.

Why the hell do they do that?

I guess it's better than Ford. They never made up their mind. My old Mustang, unless I'm mistaken, had the filler nozzle inlet on the passenger side. My dad's F-150 (made a year later) has the filler nozzle inlets on the driver's side.
Jan. 6, 2009 2:24 p.m. Strizzo Dork

confuZion3 wrote:

stuart in mn wrote:

Owning a couple old BMWs that have the gas fill on the passenger side instead of the driver's side always makes it a little more fun for me....it's like swimming upstream to get a spot on the right side of the pump.

Why the hell do they do that?

I guess it's better than Ford. They never made up their mind. My old Mustang, unless I'm mistaken, had the filler nozzle inlet on the passenger side. My dad's F-150 (made a year later) has the filler nozzle inlets on the driver's side.

could be worse, my dad had an 84 gmc pickup that had two tanks, with one filler on each side of the truck. we took a road trip to florida in it, and several times i was left as collateral as my dad turned the truck around to fill the other tank.
Jan. 6, 2009 2:44 p.m. ClemSparks UberDork

CrackMonkey wrote:

ClemSparks wrote: #2. Folks who merge into the fast lane to let folks merge into the right lane from an entrance ramp.

Really? This is how they do it in Britain and it works very well. It was nice not worrying about merging into fast traffic - the "slow" lane cars simply moved over, let me merge, then moved back when space allowed. Of course, it would require Americans to pull their heads out of their asses and pay attention to the road, so maybe it won't work after all.

Well...it's fine...as long as there's nobody IN the lane they're merging into.

Being nice to one guy while almost causing an accident with the other is a problem.

Clem
Jan. 6, 2009 3:36 p.m. AngryCorvair Dork

SVreX wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote:

anytime someone tries to talk to me when i'm filling my tank (only three times in 26 years of driving), i take the nozzle out of the tank and i casually point it at them and tell them i'm really nervous since being robbed at a gas pump once.

That's a bad memory- I once got dowsed in gas from head to toe by a woman who pulled the nozzle out of her car without turning it off, then pointed the thing toward me running full blast.

yep. now imagine if some wild-eyed freak with a shaved head and a goatee had set you on fire afterwards. that's the image i want people to have when they approach me while i'm standing at a gas pump.

about 20 years ago, at the gas station i mentioned above, i was putting gas in my '72 Monte (filler behind license plate, kinda a vulnerable position for a person, yes?) when i saw two guys about a half a block away kinda approaching in the shadows. one was carrying a full-face motorcycle helmet by the chin guard. a few seconds later, the guy with the helmet is gone and the other guy is rapidly approaching me.

i withdrew the nozzle, put my back against the car, and gave the handle a test squeeze to see what kind of pattern i was working with. i kept the nozzle pointed at the guy i could see and kept rapidly looking around for helmet guy while telling the first guy that i would not hesitate to hose him down and light him on fire if he didn't get the berkeley away from me. he turned and beat feet, and helmet guy popped out of the shadows just outside the lighted area of the gas station and beat feet right along with him. i watched until i couldn't see them anymore, then made a hasty exit in the other direction. i was pretty freaked out by the whole thing, but apparently the threat of incineration is a pretty strong deterrent to some people.
Jan. 6, 2009 3:40 p.m. ClemSparks UberDork

Necessity and adrenaline...the key and catalyst of invention ;).

Good story...though I'm sure it was unbelievably frightening at the time.

You did, however, just pretty much define badass.

Clem
Jan. 6, 2009 4:05 p.m. Appleseed Reader

SVreX wrote: That's a bad memory- I once got dowsed in gas from head to toe by a woman who pulled the nozzle out of her car without turning it off, then pointed the thing toward me running full blast.

That's not funny at all, but I couldn't help but laugh thinking of the beginning of "Zoolander."
Jan. 6, 2009 4:56 p.m. DILYSI Dave PowerDork

Is it so hard to pull all the way to the furthest pump? If there are two pumps in a row, don't stop at the first one!
Jan. 6, 2009 4:58 p.m. patgizz Dork

on the way home from florida the gas station was busy, we pulled up behind a rav 4 from florida(in WV). wait, wait, wait. pulled to another pump. got gas, pulled up to the store, went in, turns out they got gas and then left the car at the pump to go inside and eat at the arby's attached to the station.
Jan. 6, 2009 4:59 p.m. GameboyRMH SuperDork

My Samurai has the filler on the right side, different to most cars here, so I can get gas immediately anywhere. Also the AE92 has a problem where the gas pump handle needs to be held down to have it filled, and also if I go to a gas station at night the police may take interest in my car. So I used to roll up in the Samurai, get gas in the tank, and fill up a gas canister for the AE92
Jan. 6, 2009 5:39 p.m. atlantamx3 Dork

Nice Story Angry!

LOL
Jan. 6, 2009 6:28 p.m. byron12 New Reader

stuart in mn wrote:

Owning a couple old BMWs that have the gas fill on the passenger side instead of the driver's side always makes it a little more fun for me....it's like swimming upstream to get a spot on the right side of the pump.

I had an angry mob trying to kill me during the recent fuel shortage for going against the flow of traffic for this very reason. I had to get agressive to even get the opportunity to pump gas.
Jan. 6, 2009 7:08 p.m. porksboy HalfDork

Back in the 80's i was at a busy gas station out of state and filled the tank. I pulled away from the pump so th next car in line could fill up. I went to the window to pay and after standing in line to get to the fron I found out what was taking so long, The clerk was on the phone. So being the shiny happy person I was at the time I told the clerk she could work faster with out the phone. Her response was she was calling in a drive off on a black Pinto. I asked is it the one in the parking space over there that I want to pay for the gas in? She looked like she was gonna E36 M3 and told the cops never mind. The lesson I leaned was to NOT leave the pump until I have a reciept.

Also when I pre pay cash for gas I make them give me a reciept for the money I give them then go get my change and a reciept for the gas. Hey if they wont trust me to pay after filling why the berkeley should i trust them with my cash?
Jan. 6, 2009 8:21 p.m. mel_horn HalfDork

confuZion3 wrote:

stuart in mn wrote:

Owning a couple old BMWs that have the gas fill on the passenger side instead of the driver's side always makes it a little more fun for me....it's like swimming upstream to get a spot on the right side of the pump.

Why the hell do they do that?

It's also the only good thing a 2002 and a Neon have in common...

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