# Are you freaking KIDDING me, or are you that stupid? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 12, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159 "2011-02-12T20:57:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/81 "2011-02-14T18:13:19Z")
Just don’t screw around, or you could end up dead in a freak gasoline-fight accident. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/82 "2011-02-14T18:16:07Z")
I need to start buying newer cars - I’ve never owned anything that had an interior indicator of where the damn gas cap is, and each subsequent car I’ve had has switched sides from the previous. I get so confused the first months of the ‘new’ car. However I don’t think I’ve ever had an existential crisis over how to get the pump and the gas cap congruent if I picked the wrong side through inattention. Usually I just cuss wildly and move. This is a totally different potential stupidity, but could the OPs lady customer have perhaps thought that submitting the payment would release a torrent of gas down the hose and therefore they needed to be warned that she wasn’t ready for it? I am really having troubles seeing how anyone would have difficulties realizing they needed to simply move. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/83 "2011-02-14T20:09:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > WAG: it’s because manufacturers never put filler caps on the back of the vehicle anymore, so uber-long hoses aren’t really necessary. That, and gas stations are nearly all “standardized” now, with two (or more) rows of double sided pumps, meaning it’s fairly easy to pull up next to the pump on the right side. > > Back in the day, gas stations were smaller and more cramped, and there might only have been one way “in”. There are lots still like that in Britain, and imagine in the Northeast US, too. The one I go to has pumps exactly like this - one island of two double sided pumps. If the right ones are filled up (for the gas tank on the left) you need to make a Uey inside the small amount of room available and back up to the left side. Massive pain - but gas is like ten cents a gallon cheaper then the places nearby, and they don’t charge extra for credit cards. I suspect the people inside have stories like the OP’s or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/84 "2011-02-14T20:14:27Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > I did have a friend who didn’t realize that the indicator in the car that said “Fuel Door \>” was actually showing her where the gas cap was. She didn’t make the connection. I think “Fuel Door” sound kinds cooler… At work we had a fleet of rental cars which had the tank on the right and an indicator pointing right to the fuel door. What it didn’t say was that the button to unlock the door to the gas tank was buried in the glove compartment. Messed up almost everyone the first time they needed gas, unless they were driving with someone who had learned about it. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/85 "2011-02-14T20:29:29Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The gas tank has a pretty low priority when you’re designing a car - you stick it where you’ve got extra room. Depending on where you put the various car parts, that may end up on the left or right. > > I was working at a gas station once, and I had a woman who was probably about 30 come in and tell me she had no idea how to pump gas, she’d never done it before. She came from one fo those stats with the laws requiring employees pump gas, and she just couldn’t figure out the esoteric procedure. 30? That’s nothing. My mom, at 50, still hasn’t done it herself… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/86 "2011-02-14T20:36:54Z")
Yep, pit-worthy. Not for pulling in on the wrong side to begin with, but for not having the mental acuity to figure out the fix for herself. God knows I’ve pulled in on the wrong side many times, but I always figured it out for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/87 "2011-02-14T21:03:06Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > I too once drove away in shame from a gas station. But it was because I’d asked for $20 on a pump, and could only put in $18 and my tank was full. I was too embarrassed to go back in and get my change. (I have no idea what bothered me about it, it just did at the time) I don’t understand either, but I assure you that you aren’t the only one. Lots of people don’t seem to understand that they can come in for change. They fret at the counter over “what if I don’t need all that gas?”, or, if they come back for change, apologize profusely as if they’ve done something wrong. People, it’s pretty standard to want to fill up the tank. Just gimme a few twenties and fill it. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/88 "2011-02-14T21:10:07Z")
Man, this thread’s got _everything_. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/89 "2011-02-14T21:19:28Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Every car sold in the US since 2003 has an arrow on the fuel gauge indicating which side of the car the filler cap is on. > [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Yes. They should put a sticker on the dash pointing to the indicator on the instrument panel. Brilliant! :smack: Do I just drive, borrow, and rent the wrong cars? I’ve never seen one of these indicators. Cool idea, but I’m not sure how ubiquitous they really are ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/90 "2011-02-14T22:21:22Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Do I just drive, borrow, and rent the wrong cars? I’ve never seen one of these indicators. Cool idea, but I’m not sure how ubiquitous they really are Same here. We have a 2004 and 2006 vehicles from different manufactures/countries and neither has an indicator. Rental car last month, also no indicator:confused: ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/91 "2011-02-14T22:25:27Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Yes. They should put a sticker on the dash pointing to the indicator on the instrument panel. Brilliant! :smack: Then you’ll need an arrow on the visor pointing to the sticker on the dash which points to the indicator on the panel which shows you which side of the care the gas cap is on. Simplicity itself! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/92 "2011-02-14T23:26:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > I agree. Was the woman rude? Did she blame OP for her parking on the wrong side of the pumps? Did she cut in front of a whole bunch of customers? Demand the OP do something illegal? Threaten to send her “man” after you banned her son from the store? Vomit/urinate/defecate on the salesfloor or parking lot? If this is the kind of stuff that get’s a pit thread out of you then working in a convenience store is not for you. Yes, and sometimes, when there’s a huge line, it’s very very hard to “just move the car around”. Esp if the lines require one way traffic, which is not unusual. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/93 "2011-02-15T00:01:00Z")
Y’know, when she pulled up to the pump and went to prepay in cash, she could have \*looked \*to see if she was parked on the correct side to begin with \*before \*committing to that pump. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/94 "2011-02-15T00:07:01Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Just don’t screw around, or you could end up dead in a freak gasoline-fight accident. Well, I’m not a male model, so hopefully the chances of that happening are slim. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/95 "2011-02-15T00:43:35Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Or told her to just poor it straight on the engine, that works too. Aw. Poor engine. Nope, extending sympathies doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/96 "2011-02-15T01:21:04Z")
> [@Mooch](#): > > Man, this thread’s got _everything_. Including an Energon Interface Port. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Then you’ll need an arrow on the visor pointing to the sticker on the dash which points to the indicator on the panel which shows you which side of the care the gas cap is on. > > Simplicity itself! On many of the big green-and-white interregional buses that circulate around the Greater Toronto Area, there is a clearly-visible sticker in the driver’s compartment that says, MAX FUEL RANGE 1100 km. We need a similar sticker in cars as well. It will go nicely next to the arrow on the visor. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/97 "2011-02-15T01:56:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Ever stop to think that she was all discombobulated because, oh, I don’t know, she was headed to the hospital to pick up a friend who’d been hurt in an accident/ her daughter’s having her baby/ her brother is dying? > > I’m just saying, we are all capable of making silly mistakes and often it’s because some > other terribly emotional thing has us slightly off our game. > > But, then, maybe you’ve never made a silly mistake, made too much of something, because of other things going on in your life. I know I wouldn’t like to be defined by my silly mistakes. Hey, give joe a break – he’s a gas monkey, so that was a very significant event in his life. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/98 "2011-02-15T03:42:07Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Hey, give joe a break – he’s a gas monkey, so that was a very significant event in his life. Equating me with a monkey because I’m African-American is a **fantastic** idea… Joe ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/99 "2011-02-15T04:11:54Z")
NOW the thread has everything! ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159/100 "2011-02-15T05:43:43Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Do I just drive, borrow, and rent the wrong cars? I’ve never seen one of these indicators. Cool idea, but I’m not sure how ubiquitous they really are [Pretty common](http://www.driversedguru.com/wp-content/gallery/stef-images/fuel-gauge.jpg). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-freaking-kidding-me-or-are-you-that-stupid/571159.md?page=6)