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AIBU?

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Original poster

Petrol forecourt etiquette?

129 replies

LittleMissRayofHope · 10/03/2015 10:36

Is there any?

This morning I dropped dd off at nursery and was in no rush to get home. Needed some fuel so into petrol station and waited for an available pump on the right side for my car.
There were pumps free but they weren't on the side I wanted.
Man drives in behind me and beeps. I didn't move. He beeped again, and I didn't pay notice to it.
He beeps a loooonnnnggg beep and when I didn't move he actually got out, came to my window, tapped and motioned me to wind down my window. I didn't.
He shouted through the window that my car is smaller then his so I should use the other pumps as it will reach round my car. I said I didn't want to risk damaging my car and I was happy to wait.
He said I was out of order as I would be making him late now and I was a 'selfish school run mum' I didn't say anything back although I did call him a wanker when he finally walked off

Now nasty comments aside, there is no forecourt etiquette is there? I was perfectly within my rights and reasonableness to refuse this?? Or should I have rocked damaging my vehicle or looking like a prat if the hose didn't reach as my car was smaller then his??

OP posts:
AuntieDee · 10/03/2015 20:54

Wow someone skipped a few classes at charm school...

I think people get far to worked up about things that really don't matter

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 10/03/2015 20:54

I've also got a Feeelander and I prefer to fill up on the wrong side. My tank is on the drivers side. I can pull up as close to the pump as I can, on the passenger side, forward enough for the hose to comfortably reach around the back of my car, and then have lots of room to get out of the drivers door.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 10/03/2015 20:55

Oh ffs I meant to correct the bloody spelling but pressed post. Bloody useless autocorrect.

richthegreatcornholio · 10/03/2015 20:56

it never occurred to me people worried about scratching their cars

Some of us take great pride in the standard of our paintwork and spend 100s of hours to get it that way and maintain it. I'm afraid I will not compromise.

ChickyEgg · 10/03/2015 20:56

I never pull the hose over my car purely because I tried it once and it was flipping heavy to drag.

AuntieDee · 10/03/2015 20:56

Oh and my great knowledge of detailing comes from two classic cars I have restored - I'm quite well up on it actually.

Seems as well as skipping charm school you also seem to have developed this huge case of 'assumption' which along with the excessive use of the word 'fuck', just makes you look rather foolish...

FyreFly · 10/03/2015 20:59

It's not the hose per se that scratches the paintwork as much as the dirt that it accumulates.

I'm personally not bothered about scratches on my car - I have a good one from those bloody industrial elastic air hoses. For me it's the fact that you never know if the hose is going to stretch.

When I moved back up here I spent a good five minutes trying to get the hose round the car in my local town. I moved it forward, moved it back... In the end the assistant came out and told me in a peculiarly gloomy voice that "It won't go, you know". Gee, you think? You couldn't have told me this earlier?!

ARoomWithoutAView · 10/03/2015 21:05

We all make choices.

Big car. Small car. What time we get up. What time we get to the petrol station. Whether we get there at 9.10am or we get there at 9.11am. Whether we want to be happy. Whether we want to be moody.
OP chose the size of car, the time to get up, the daily routine, the petrol station, the line of pumps, the mood Smile . All sounds fine and dandy by me.

We live by our choices.

This man chose to be a dick.

Vivacia · 10/03/2015 21:05

This would have motivated me to take as long as I possibly could over the job. And then I'd have taken the time to go back to him in the queue and apologise for being so slow today.

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 10/03/2015 21:09

Some of us take great pride in the standard of our paintwork and spend 100s of hours to get it that way and maintain it.

Ahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa. Grin

Please come and clean mine for me. It's still got mud all over the floors from the last shoot we went on at the end of January. Blush

arethereanyleftatall · 10/03/2015 21:13

Midnite - it does effect others if you wait for a pump for your side, as ultimately the queue gets longer.
Eg if 10 pumps are available and each takes a minute to fill up (for easy maths!) and there's ten cars, then in a minute all ten cars have moved on from the garage, 10 more cars turn up etc.
but, if two of those first ten cars wait for their own side pump, then a queue is started which effects everyone coming behind.

ThreeQuartersEmpty · 10/03/2015 21:16

Well, I have a little car. I don't usually have to choose the wrong side pump, but one time when I did, I got shouted at over the tannoy that I couldn't fill up on the wrong side.
Apparently stretching the hose over is only for the bigger stations with hoses higher up. Who knew! I was mortified.
I'm back to waiting now. I think I met an over zealous health and safety petrol attendant, but as an aside, I have noticed some stations tell you to use both sides, some don't, so maybe it is actually a thing.

Anyhoo OP, you were right not to move. Rude man.

richthegreatcornholio · 10/03/2015 21:29

Oh and my great knowledge of detailing comes from two classic cars I have restored - I'm quite well up on it actually

Clearly not, based on your earlier incorrect statement. I have also restored cars and I'm afraid that doesn't make you any kind of expert on detailing and paintwork correction. What does make an expert however, are 1000s of hours of paintwork correction carried out on £100k+ cars and the ability to charge £5k for detailing a car. Once your at my level come back to me.

elfycat · 10/03/2015 21:29

He could have chosen to get up 10 mins earlier and have a more relaxed start to the day.

I usually fill up on the correct side, but I don't mind reaching the hose over if I choose to do so. But once I've picked my spot I'll be damned before someone gets me to move by throwing a strop me.

I guess he'd expect to go first in a supermarket queue because anyone he perceived to be a SAHM can wait as long as needed for mysogynistic, entitled pigs working men to get on with their important days.

Mind you I probably have a chip on my shoulder from working at my parents petrol station/garage - where we put the fuel in. Wankers some men would dangle the key out of the window at me and then want me to run back and forth so they could pay by credit card without moving. It never worked. I fondly remember the man who, with great condescension pity asked my mother how much she made. She sneered at his car and said 'More than you it seems'.

Men and petrol stations... it's been going on a while. A whiff of petrol fumes and they go all daft 'are they on glue?' finally answered

SisterMoonshine · 10/03/2015 21:34

I think I do it all wrong.
I wait for the next available pump. Either side will do me.
Yet while I'm doing my post-offfice style waiting, people will drive around me and pull up and wait directly at a pump.
If that pump then happens to be the next one available I feel it should have been mine.

AuntieDee · 10/03/2015 21:38

richthegreatcornholio

Wow you are a charmer! Does behaving like that make you feel better about yourself? You know what they say about people who brag about their cars - they a lacking in 'other' areas of their lives ;)

You are vitriolic in every post with no apparent reason - you must have some serious issues. Do you want to talk about them?

You catch far more flies with honey than vinegar you know??

chickenfuckingpox · 10/03/2015 21:41

YANBU but could he get around you to get to the pumps himself?

MissDuke · 10/03/2015 21:58

YANBU! He is, and very rude. I do sometimes park at the 'wrong' side, but always dread that it mightn't reach and I would make a dick of myself. I really don't think it would scratch the paintwork, but its totally your choice, you are under no obligation to use the other pump just to free up another for him! You did very well op, and were very restrained - well done!

CalleighDoodle · 10/03/2015 22:06

I rarely use other side pump for paintwork reasons. However I did recently andbhad to ask the man in car behind too help as I wasnt strong enough to pull it across!

MaidOfStars · 10/03/2015 22:12

I wait for the next available pump. Either side will do me. Yet while I'm doing my post-offfice style waiting, people will drive around me and pull up and wait directly at a pump
So this is what I think the OP was doing but she hasn't returned to answer my earlier question. This method of queueing is stupidly inefficient in maximising space at a petrol station, and when you're the idiot blocking the road because someone at the front of the queue is hedging their bets, it is really annoying. Obviously, it's often alright and I do it at quiet times in quiet places, but as soon as cars build up behind me, I make a decision.

If that pump then happens to be the next one available I feel it should have been mine
And it could have been, had you actually queued there Wink

Sparklingbrook · 10/03/2015 22:16

I go at 7am or 10pm, you don't get this sort of bother then.

MoanCraft · 10/03/2015 22:26

Gosh I hope you got Costa coffee while you were paying as well just to string out that pump block

Original poster
LittleMissRayofHope · 11/03/2015 09:01

Wow, sparked some debate here!

To all who ask if I had picked a queue - very definitely. It's a 4 pump station (double sided) and I was waiting behind a car. NOT keeping my options open.

It was a full size quite new Range Rover.

A few years ago I went to a pump and tried to pull the hose round. It didn't reach but I had never encountered this before and tugged quite hard and fell on my arse so I am hesitant to do it again as I looked like a right plum.
And after having worked in the motor industry for 7 years, filling cars on almost a daily basis I can say with absolute certainty that the hose does cause paint damage.

OP posts:
Original poster
LittleMissRayofHope · 11/03/2015 09:04

Meant to add that I watched the other set of 'correct side' pumps free up and then get used again while I waited in my chosen queue as the guy in front of me was incredibly slow. But I wasn't that fussed as I wasn't in a rush.

OP posts:
AnitaManeater · 11/03/2015 09:13

I can stretch the hose round the back of my old CRV and it lies on top of the spare wheel. Just got to be careful not to damage the rear wiper. It does sometimes mean I can't see how much fuel I'm putting in which is a pain if I'm only aiming for £30

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