Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

WIBU to have abandoned this guy at a petrol station?

222 replies

HeadFairy · 03/04/2017 01:05

So I'm coming home from a late shift, it's half past midnight and I pull in to an unmanned Asda petrol station round the back of a 24hour store to get some petrol. I notice a young guy in a hoodie standing a few feet away from the pumps, he appears to be on his phone. I fill up and as I finish he comes up to me and asks if I'm able to call him a taxi as his phone has run out of charge and could I call him a taxi. I'm not local so finding a taxi number would have involved me standing there for a few minutes having a look on google, and I wasn't keen. No real reason, he was really apologetic and polite, but I just wasn't keen. There are a few shops around there, so I thought maybe he could walk and see if there was a taxi shop somewhere locally. But now I'm feeling a bit bad that I left him there. So WIBU?

OP posts:
Mollyboom · 03/04/2017 05:13

Most definitely Not Being unreasonable. Why the fuck was he hanging around petrol stations asking single women? If it was s town then presumably there would have been taxis or something else open ( takeaway shops). I've seen this trick with junkies before by the way. They ask you to call someone on your phone but then insist on speaking to the person and then leg it with your phone. If it feels dodgy it probably is. This was a grown man not a child so you did nothing wrong.

ittakes2 · 03/04/2017 05:31

You've listened to your gut instinct - no reason to feel guilty

MongerTruffle · 03/04/2017 05:59

Why was he at a petrol station without a car?

Mollyboom · 03/04/2017 06:07

Monger- exactly. Dodgy as fuck

Penhacked · 03/04/2017 06:15

I asked a lady to change two 50p for a pound coin for a trolley. She looked nervous and I realised even though I'm a 30 something mum with baby, she may have worried I'd mug her when her purse was out. It is hard to be rational when you feel vulnerable, which you were there. I certainly didn't even blame her, so I'm sure the lad understood.

RitaMills · 03/04/2017 06:32

Up here in Scotland 24 hours means just that, even Sunday-Monday so I'd feel a bit suspect if there was an opened Asda beside us, if not I'd probably have sat in my car with the doors locked and called him a taxi.

KeepingitReal2 · 03/04/2017 06:45

Not unreasonable at all afterall some petrol stations that are 24 hours don't allow you to go inside the shop to pay even if someone is there because of security reasons. Why should you take that risk?

HotelEuphoria · 03/04/2017 06:47

I wouldn't have, sorry but if one of my sons was stuck with a flat battery and no way home they would have started walking in the direction of home. One has done this with a five mile walk ahead. No way would he have loitered in an empty petrol station.

This man could have been waiting for you to get your phone out and snatch it, who knows. Did he have his hood up? There is often cctv in petrol stations and this may have been to avoid identification.

NCISgeek · 03/04/2017 06:48

I would have helped, almost certainly from inside the car but then my job involves going into strange peoples flats in dodgy areas on my own with my only protection being my instinct and common sense.You develop a finely tuned sense of when things are a bit odd which is why I would have helped but from the inside of a car with doors locked and the engine running then I would be at less risk than when I was filling up with fuel Logically speaking that would have been the best time to attck the OP if the young chap was going to.

HotelEuphoria · 03/04/2017 07:14

i never have my handbag outside the car at the petrol station, I keep it in the car and just take out my debit card for the pay at pump. I also lock my car door. If someone wanted to mug me whilst filling up it would be obvious I didn't have my phone in my hand.

If I had been asked to call a taxi, my phone would have been there, at the right level ready for the picking and quick exchange for the next fix.

I maintain you were right. Why exactly was he at an unmanned asda needing a taxi? He had been somewhere, why didn't he call his taxi from his starting point before he left?

Chloe84 · 03/04/2017 07:14

Is that because you work with the NCIS? Grin

HashiAsLarry · 03/04/2017 07:18

If your instinct told you it was dodgy, then don't feel bad about following it.

CheckpointCharlie2 · 03/04/2017 07:28

MrsTerryPratchett that's an awesome link.

HelenaWay · 03/04/2017 07:41

I'm with OP. I wouldn't have done it either.

DalaHorse · 03/04/2017 07:46

It depends how old he was. A "young guy" of 13 (i.e. A minor) is different to a young guy of 17. He could have been part of a group/gang you couldn't see. Whilst you were distracted anything could have happened.

TheStoic · 03/04/2017 07:49

You're not an asshole, OP. FFS, what a stupid thing to say.

IHeartDodo · 03/04/2017 07:50

I would have sat in the locked car and done it.
When I'd just passed my driving test at 17 I went out (driving) and got horribly lost, and approached a man in a car park and asked to borrow his phone to call my mum, he said no and I remember thinking how incredibly mean it was.
Granted I looked pretty un-threatening, mid afternoon wearing jeans and the shirt, and you should keep yourself safe, but there was a way you could have helped and stayed safe.

JustSpeakSense · 03/04/2017 07:52

Yes, not very nice of you at all OP. I'm also shocked at so many people on here saying they would do the same thing. How sad

HardcoreLadyType · 03/04/2017 07:56

How did you pay for your fuel? Often at a 24 hour petrol station, the shop is shut at night, but there is a person in the kiosk, who serves the customers. The lad could have approached them.

I think I would have done the same as you, FWIW, although the suggestion of googling and calling from the car probably would have occurred to me after the event.

ShatnersBassoon · 03/04/2017 08:02

I'd have probably left him to come up with a better solution to getting a taxi than approaching lone women on a petrol forecourt.

He should have had the nouse to get himself to a shop with a phone or to go to the main road and wait for a taxi to pass.

KoalaDownUnder · 03/04/2017 08:04

I'm also shocked at so many people on here saying they would do the same thing. How sad

Why?

lampshady · 03/04/2017 08:04

I wouldn't have wanted to help and would probably have been very anxious about it, but sadly my female conditioning would have kicked in and I'd do it, leaving me open to a phone snatch if that was his intention. I'm a horrific people pleaser and I wish I wasn't because it's left me vulnerable on many an occasion.

starsorwater · 03/04/2017 08:10

He could have found a payphone, they still exist.

Inertia · 03/04/2017 08:13

Well, you didn't really abandon him, he must have got there somehow in the first place. Where was he prior to the petrol station? Had he been out with friends? It seems like an odd place to end up stranded.

When he appeared to be on his phone, was he actually speaking in a conversation or trying to get the phone to switch on?

It all sounds quite strange and I'd be nervous too.

How old was he? Young man could cover any are from 12 to 20.

Spadequeen · 03/04/2017 08:18

You could have called from your locked car but I understand why you were reluctant if you felt ineasy

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.