I went food shopping late last night and decided to get fuel on my way back at an Asda express petrol station. I pulled in and I admit there were a couple of cones out at the front of the forecourt but not blocking the entire entrance (my usual petrol station normally closes everything off) and the pumps on the right hand side had out of order signs on them but the ones on the left didn't. There were also two cars parked up so I just assumed that side was open. I tried to put fuel in but after a few seconds realised it wasn't working, no harm done but before I'd even had the chance to put it back and get in my car, a man walked over, looked at me (no hi/hello) and said "there's a reason why the cones are out" in a really stern voice and pointed to the cones. You would have thought I’d murdered his entire family the way he looked at me and then walked off.
I think he expected me to just drive off so it took him by surprise when I turned around and shouted over the pump “there’s no need to be so rude”. He turned around and started arguing with me saying he wasn’t being rude, he was just telling me that they weren’t working. I told him he was rude by making a sarcastic comment when all he had to say was “it’s out of order”. Also looked at me like a piece of shit basically. We were arguing back and forth at this point and he shouted “whatever” at me and then walked back into the shop. I really don’t think he would have spoken to me like that had I been a man or with a man.
Honestly, was there any need for his reaction? I understand it was an inconvenience for him to get up and tell me, but clearly it was a genuine mistake. I wasn’t doing it for the fun of it or to piss him off. I just wanted to get bloody fuel. Also don’t buy the “but he’s probably on minimum wage” excuses. I don’t earn much more than minimum wage myself, also facing redundancy at the minute and generally just have a lot of shit going in my life but I don’t think that’s a reason to speak to people like shit, especially paying customers.
AIBU?