Impatient people at the petrol station

[asblindasabat]

went To the petrol station this morning to fill up my car on my way to work.

I paid at the pump, put the fuel in my car and got back into my car again to drive off.

There was a woman in her car using the pumps behind me and she had finished filling her car and so was waiting for me to leave the forecourt to facilitate her exit as there was no room for her to get through until left as there were pumps on the other side which were being used.

I had got into my car, used some hand sanitiser and then switched on my engine to get ready to go.

As soon as I got into the car, she had driven her car from her pump right up to the tail end of my car as if to say hurry up in a really passive aggressive way - for context, I drove off within a minute of getting back into my car.

AIBU to think these people should just chill out and have some patience? It’s not like I was sitting there dithering for 5 minutes!

She probably saw you get in and though you were going to move off. So started creeping forward to do the same. Then stopped when she realised you weren't moving.

Lots of drivers anticipate what others are going to do. Sometimes they are wrong.

As a very inexperienced driver I once did that at a junction while looking for traffic gaps (thought the guy in front of me would go as there was a gap), but reacted to him not moving too slow and hit him (very gently) I was 18 and wanted the ground to swallow me.

But it's not a silly comment.

I understand you want to feel nice and calm, but you're saying you'd have an accident if you didn't have a sip of water or use a satnav - that's daft.

Sorry but I also find it annoying when people faff about on garage forecourts. She might have already been waiting a while and then you get in the car and that extra 60 seconds can feel quite long.

The thing that infuriates me are those people who pay in the garage but seem to take an eternity before returning to their car. Are they doing their weekly shop in there or have they stepped into another dimension? 🤔😬

Woman In front of me decided to put her bloody make up on at the pump last week. I did drive right up her arse to encourage her departure though.
On the flip side though until not that very long ago I had to do a (finger prick) blood test before driving and had my share of impatient people almost ramming me out of the way in car parks.
God help them if the result meant I wasn't fit to drive for 45 mins😂
So if I can see them doing their mascara /chatting on the phone or eating a sarnie..... I'm gonna ask them to move. But if there's doubt.... say nowt.

I’m not saying specifically those things, but it can be distracting if you’ve been pressured to pull off quickly, there’s then nowhere to stop but the satnav isn’t on, so you don’t know your way, then you want a drink of water but you haven’t got it by you. So that’s a distraction too.

Just nice to be in the right space before driving off.

That's fine, just move away from the twatting pump and faff to your hearts content in a safe spot

You probably had a look about you. You can tell a faffer when you see one.

I got stuck behind one the other week; came out of the shop with sweets and Capri Suns. Got in the car, starts unwrapping sweets and handing them out to the crotch trophies... Then onto putting straws into the Capri Suns, meanwhile there's a queue building up behind, and about 10 car park bays sat empty waiting for the faffers to discover them.

According to studies during Covid, I think hand sanitiser doesn’t even work so YABU to take a minute setting off.

I get it and off I’m off within 5 seconds.

A few years ago a really miserable shit of a man beeped at me to move out of the way while I was in front of him in the queue for the single pump. I could see him gesticulating at me in my rear view mirror so DH got out to fill up and all of a sudden he had nothing more to say.

Literally every petrol station has a parking area that you can use to do this.
you don’t have to hog the pumps to faff

I can't stand people faffing about at petrol stations, or anywhere else. I try not to make it obvious to people, just on the off chance they have an actual issue (like the PP's mother? who has MS), but as far as I'm concerned there's a special place in hell for those who are just inefficient and fannying about.

It’s not hogging the pumps or faffing to do one or two little things before setting off. It’s ridiculously impatient to take issue with this.

That’s your opinion. Many of us disagree and think it’s rude and entitled to deliberately hold up traffic behind you so you can ensure you’ve done all of your preferential tasks at the pump rather than in the parking spaces provided.

Move off and park up to do your 'little things '. It's selfish to sit at the pump to do it when people are waiting.

So much entitlement FFS. Just no.

Why isn’t your Sat nav on?

A bit of a draw there IMHO. You were faffing, albeit for a short time and she was impatient.
Are you sure that she was being PA ? I have often pulled my car forward in this type of situation to allow a car behind me to access pump or get off the road and onto the forecourt.

Why would you ever think it’s ok to faff around at the pump? You get your fuel, pay for it if you need to go into the shop, get back into your car, put your self belt on and drive off! Anything else like opening drinks etc can be done in a parking space.
Yes to you it’s only 60 seconds but those seconds soon add up and cause queues. Getting fuel should be as quick as possible

This is one of those things where most people think they are very fast but they aren't & hate waiting for "slower" people. Bit like those in the toilet queue who think everyone is taking ages in the toilet & then it's their turn & surprise surprise they take just as long.

You’re the annoying one. People have got places to go and don’t want to sit there whilst you leisurely sanitise your hands. You should have just pulled forward to let her through. You sound very entitled OP.

Also who is faffing more the person who goes straight in and pays & then readjusts their mirror or the person who jumps straight into the car & drives off but took 5 mins deciding what chocolate bar they wanted?

People have got places to go and don’t want to sit there whilst you leisurely sanitise your hands. You should have just pulled forward to let her through. You sound very entitled OP.

I genuinely don't understand this logic. How can the OP be anymore entitled than the person behind getting annoyed? Their time is equally important to themselves, how can one be more deserving?

I'm going against the grain here and say I wouldn't get impatient over 1 minute.

But then at the garage near me, people tend to leave their car at the pump while they spend twenty minutes doing their weekly food shop before paying for their petrol.