# "Because I'm busy waiting on the customers who are in line, Sir" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 13, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969 "2009-09-13T23:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/181 "2009-09-14T22:50:38Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > …_I can’t get all these people out the door fast enough and that’ll cut into my 30 minute break dammit_!.. 30 minutes? A whole half hour in the middle of my workday to just sit and each lunch and relaxe? Have you worked in a c-store recently? In the 8.5 hours I worked Sunday I spent less than 10 minutes eating lunch. This was about 2 hours before. About and hour after this I got to lounge around in the backroom scrubbing out the coffee pots. Granted I was paid for every moment of my work day including time spent eating or in the bathroom. A solo shift sucks even more since you don’t a break at all (unless you count waiting until the store is empty, locking the door, and taking a quick potty break). I’m trying to get all these people out the door as fast I can _because they want to get out the door as fast as they can_. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/182 "2009-09-14T22:54:18Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > As I opined before, the ability to just assume the guy’s a d\*ck and blowing him off is petty luxury afforded to the wage slave. If you actually owned the business, I’m guessing you’d go out of your way to offer great service even if 9 times out of 10 it doesn’t seem to pay off, 'cause it means real money to you. You can roll your eyes at that all you want, but IME that’s precisely the difference between people who find themselves stuck in peon jobs and those who don’t. And the profit the business owner gets is the luxury he gets. Also, as someone who once was involved in the market of selling low-cost products to a high volume of customers _from the ownership side_, I can tell you that treating every customer as a delicate snowflake isn’t really a good policy from a business perspective. Most likely if you’re in this sort of business you are going to be employing “wage slaves” which means people who are working at a level where they can **always** find more work. (I don’t care how bad the recession–I never once saw the “Now Hiring” signs taken down at the local McDonald’s or Burger King’s.) Be polite and reasonable but just because someone might deign to spend a few bucks at your business doesn’t mean you are beholden to treat them like royalty. This is also how Gordon Bethune ran Continental Air (and he took it from being one of the worst airlines to one of the best in a relatively short time span), and he wasn’t exactly selling sub sandwiches. The truth of the matter is the bad morale it creates in your employees when you train them to act as though they are peasants and the customer is royalty results in far worse customer service across the board. If an employee knows you have their back when it comes to the unreasonable ass hats there is a much greater chance they are going to have _yours_ and go that extra mile to deliver quality service to the 99% of customers who aren’t unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/183 "2009-09-14T22:56:39Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > Will you please STOP pretending like you know how this shit works? It’s been explained to you repeatedly that your perception of how this works is totally off-base. You HAVE to input the money before the pump turns on and allows a certain dollar amount on, and that MUST BE DONE ON THE REGISTER. Or, you turn the pump on so that people can steal your gas. End of story. Except for the fact that it doesn’t work this way at all stations. As I wrote before it’s still common for people to lay cash on the counter and go right back out and start pumping. It is at most a few seconds delay for the other people waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/184 "2009-09-14T22:57:20Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Nah, you’ll still be a wage slave – just one who works through her breaks. Agreed, and I’m one of the last people on these forums to be a “working man’s advocate”, but don’t ever think that screwing yourself out of what you’re entitled to (like legally mandated breaks) is going to get you ahead in life when you’re working at a local convenience store. Most businesses of that nature are either a small business in which there is no room for significant upward mobility or a major corporation that is probably _not_ going to be promoting anyone without a college degree in this day and age (and this market) to a significantly higher position. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/185 "2009-09-14T22:57:24Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > The truth of the matter is the bad morale it creates in your employees when you train them to act as though they are peasants and the customer is royalty results in far worse customer service across the board. If an employee knows you have their back when it comes to the unreasonable ass hats there is a much greater chance they are going to have _yours_ and go that extra mile to deliver quality service to the 99% of customers who aren’t unreasonable. Freaking _word_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/186 "2009-09-14T23:01:29Z")
Incidentally, this is why I love QuikTrip. When I worked at a locally-owned Chevron, I was usually the only person on duty. Occasionally, say on weekends, we might have two or even three people in the store. QT never has less than four people on staff that I’ve seen; when it’s not busy, they’re cleaning and restocking the store, and when it is busy they’re on register. Their registers can apparently handle two transactions at a time and every cashier I’ve seen there is adept at juggling customers. Lines move incredibly fast, the place is always clean, and the morale of the employees is very high. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/187 "2009-09-14T23:06:21Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > Except for the fact that it doesn’t work this way at all stations. As I wrote before it’s still common for people to lay cash on the counter and go right back out and start > pumping. It is at most a few seconds delay for the other people waiting. It very well may be common practice for people to do that. Unfortunately, nobody is arguing over what is common practice for some people to do _when that common practice does not inconvenience other people_. It is still the principle of people thinking their small transaction ought to be finished ahead of people who have waited for their transactions to be finished. It’s rude. It obviously wouldn’t be a big deal if you had a bunch of cashiers in here saying, “Yeah, people do it all the time, it’s cool,” or a bunch of customers saying, “Sure, people do that while I am waiting in line all the time, it’s not rude at all,” but that’s not what’s happening. You have cashiers thinking the guy is a rude asshole, and customers and former cashiers saying it’s a rude practice and the guy in question is a rude asshole. You have a small minority that thinks it’s a small misunderstanding when the guy says “I’m not waiting in line” which actually means “I don’t understand why I have to wait in line, please explain it to me with drawings and graphs.” Sure people do it. But the way Jodi is describing the transaction is simply not correct. It is not a switch that has to be flipped. It is not a separate machine from the register. Her perception of the misunderstanding is one that comes from ignorance of how the machinery works, and that’s leading her to see it as not a big deal. As she’s been told, it would require someone to stop another person’s transaction and technically as well as theoretically “put them ahead of the line” which in many people’s eyes isn’t right. Anybody can be an asshole in public, the idea that people are objecting to is that that public asshole is getting served before me, and I’ve been quietly and patiently waiting in line. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/188 "2009-09-14T23:24:30Z")
Hey **Jodi** – how do you know it HASN’T been explained to this guy? ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/189 "2009-09-14T23:30:51Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > …So maybe they could post a sign? PLEASE GET IN LINE TO PRE-PAY FOR GAS. Then they could just point to the sign. I could also make signs that say; [ol] [li]Enter the store[/li][li]Walk to the shelve[/li][li]Select the item you wish to purchase[/li][li]Pick up the item[/li][li]Bring the item to the clerk[/li][li]The clerk will scan your item[/li][li]Scanning the items tells the clerk how much to charge and makes it show up on your receipt[/li][li]When the clerk is done scanning your items he will tell what your total is[/li][li]The total is the amount of money you need to give to the clerk[/li][li]Take the monery, credit card, debit card, or Foodstamp card out of your wallet and/or purse[/li][li]The clerk will count your money or swipe your credit/debit/Foodstamp card[/li][li]If paying with debit or Foodstamps you must type your PIN on keypad[/li][li]Your PIN is the secret number that let’s you use the card (the clerk does not know your PIN), the keypad is the thing on the counter with numbered buttons [/li][li]If you payed with cash the clerk will open the metal drawer and get your change out[/li][li]The clerk will then count your change back to you[/li][li]The clerk will hand you your receipt, the receipt is the piece of paper with the list of items you purchased and the amount you payed for them[/li][li]If you payed with a credit card you may be asked to sign the receipt, signing the receipt means you write your name on it in cursive, or if you prefer you may print your name or make an unidentifiable mark[/li][li]The clerk will place your items in a plastic bag[/li][li]Pick the bag up off the counter[/li][li]Stand aside so that others behind you purchase things[/li][li]Walk to the door, place your hand upon the handle and push[/li][li]Exit the store[/li][/ol] Most people would either think such a list displayed in public was either a joke, or highly insulting. I’ve at some point had to explain each step to someone, although never all at once. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/190 "2009-09-14T23:58:43Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Most people would either think such a list displayed in public was either a joke, or highly insulting. I’ve at some point had to explain each step to someone, although never all at once. Could you also please make a sign that says “No grabbing of microphones allowed”? Or “No cursing out of line judges tolerated”? Or “No shouting ignorant rhetoric during presidential addresses”? Because the Entitled of this country are out of freaking hand and are in dire need of smack downs of damn near biblical proportions. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/191 "2009-09-15T00:00:39Z")
Cause then when they did those things, you could just point to the sign, and they’d feel stupid because they obviously hadn’t read it. You could both share a tension-relieving laugh as you shake your heads at the humor of it all and go on with your lives. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/192 "2009-09-15T00:30:31Z")
The old man clearly knew that he was at a gas station. If you’re at a gas station, purchasing gasoline is a transaction and you should know to get in line behind other transactionites (transactioneers?) who are also making gasoline transactions. If it becomes acceptable to walk past the line and toss a twenty at the cashier to get your transaction started, then we don’t need to have lines at all. We’ll have people all crowding around the cashier throwing twenties at him and walking away. ---
**Author:** ![PotLuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@PotLuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PotLuck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/193 "2009-09-15T00:38:36Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > It is by no means clear or universal that this requires you to stand in the same line as the people buying Cheetos and Pall Malls. Because _you’re not trying to buy something at the register; you’re just trying to get the pump turned on_. Seriously, have you people NEVER heard of this, such that the guy could not POSSIBLY have been under a misunderstanding, he MUST have been being an asshole? [QUOTE=alphaboi867] Out of the corner of my I see an old guy in a suit standing on the side of the candy-partition this (it only goes up to neck level). He doesn’t realize I see him so I keep waiting on the customers who are actually line. Finally \*\*he says “I want gas”. \*\* Me: “ **The line’s over here sir** (points directly ahead to line of people).” Old Guy: **“I just want gas”** Me: “Hello, just the coffee? (to next person in line)”. OG: **“I’m not waiting in line”** Me: "Have a nice day (to coffee person). **Sir, the line’s over here".** OG:\*\*“PUT twenty on three! (drops double-sawbuck over counter)”. \*\* [snip] OG: “My pump’s not working” Me: \*\*“I didn’t turn it on yet sir, you need to wait in line”. \*\* OG: \*\*“Just turn the DAMN pump on” \*\* [snip] \*\*He’s a regular and pulled this before (_most of my coworkers just cave_). \*\* [/QUOTE] The customer was an asshole. Thanks to successfully bullying previous cashiers into letting him cut the line, he attempted to do so once again and threw a hissy when thwarted. Good on **alphaboi867** for not rewarding his spoiled, entitled behaviour. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/194 "2009-09-15T01:31:01Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Please point out where the OP said this has been explained to the line-jumper on several occasions. Not “you need to go to the back of the line,” which can look like the cashier just being a jerk if the customer believes this is a two-second thing he’s asking, but “this is a transaction, and so you have to go to the back of the line.” Post #77 > [@](#): > > Keep in mind he didn’t just cut to front of the line, he stood off to the side and reached over a partition (I wish we had the ones that went up higher that shoulder height) and stood there expecting to be noticed and served. **He’s done this before, he knows damn well (or at least he’s been told over and over again) he needs to wait in line.** Although I guess you could argue that he’s just been _told_, and there’s no proof anyone ever sat him down and _explained_ it to him with diagrams and a nice powerpoint presentation. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/195 "2009-09-15T01:34:27Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > Although I guess you could argue that he’s just been _told_, and there’s no proof anyone ever sat him down and _explained_ it to him with diagrams and a nice powerpoint presentation. Maybe we could post the powerpoint presentations in a sign, so if it happens again, you could just point to the powerpoint presentation/sign. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/196 "2009-09-15T03:30:51Z")
**Jodi** , I remember those days, too, and I understand what you’ve been saying in this thread. I know you’re not one who’s likely to start doubting her own sanity just because everyone seems to disagree with you, but just in case… Incidentally, while it is entirely possible that the customer in question is an entitled ass, it is also possible that the reason he doesn’t know that things have changed in the last 15 years is because he has had credit for all that time, but now is in straitened circumstances and has started using cash and only putting $20 worth in his car at a time. If I was stuck in a very limited-money situation tomorrow, I might assume the same thing he did - that I can just drop my money and go back and pump my gas, the way I could when I was a broke college student. I didn’t know until this thread that technology has moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/197 "2009-09-15T14:35:04Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Too late to edit my last post, but thank you, **Shot From Guns**. I appreciate your apology. You’re welcome–I know how frustrating it is when someone attributes to you something that was said by another poster in the same thread. > [@Jodi](#): > > But you never told him that the reason he had to wait in line was because you had to process the gas as a transaction like every other transaction, and he couldn’t pump gas until you did. [snip] Now, obviously he was _wrong_ about that, but how could he know that? You didn’t tell him (apparently). Other cashiers have let him do the same exact thing before. Some cashiers have let me steal things from the store. Now \*\*this \*\*cashier is telling me that I have to \*\*pay \*\*for my candy bar! This is an outrage! And the cashier isn’t even giving me an explantion–I’m keeping this Mounds firmly ensconced in my pocket until you can tell me \*\*why \*\*I need to put it back or pay for it. > [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > Aren’t you the one lecturing others about making assumptions regarding this man’s motive? Jodi’s invisible title is The Psychic Who Knows Why Everyone Does Everything, and You Don’t, So Don’t Dare Disagree, Because You’ll Always Be Wrong. > [@Bosstone](#): > > Maybe by that one guy, but most certainly not by the people who are getting screwed for attending to etiquette and rules. Actually, there is no rule of etiquette that says that you’re required to give an explanation in a situation like this. Customer doesn’t need to know why–customer just needs to be politely told the policy (and then presumably politely comply). Repeating the policy (instead of explaining, arguing, etc.) is a perfectly polite (and effective) tactic. > [@curlcoat](#): > > Wow, I’m amazed at the number of specshul snowflakes out there, but even more amazed that **Jodi** is still trying to defend a grade A asshole! There is simply no way that this man couldn’t have known that he needed to stand in line. Mark your calendars: this is quite possibly the one and only time in the history of the world that \*\*curlcoat \*\*and I agree on something. There may have been some kind of small matter-antimatter explosion. > [@Koxinga](#): > > No, he should have smiled and explained politely instead barking at the customer to stand in line and then pointedly ignoring him. Where in the thread does it say that this is what was done? It seems to me that \*\*alphaboi \*\*repeatedly made the polite request for the customer to wait in line, which the customer repeatedly ignored. > [@Jodi](#): > > Well, not every gas station has the same equipment. I think we can assume that for **alphaboi** it’s tied into the register as well, since that’s what he’s said. But it isn’t that way at every station and even at this station other cashiers have allowed the very behavior this cashier will not. So maybe they could post a sign? PLEASE GET IN LINE TO PRE-PAY FOR GAS. Then they could just point to the sign. Bwaha. Two issues here: 1.) You expect alphaboi to know what kind of equipment some gas stations have, that he should even know that pre-pay not through the register is available (when it seems clear to me that places like that are in the minority), but the customer doesn’t have to know that this gas station (and perhaps most) have to do prepay as a register transaction? 2.) Jabbing your finger at a sign instead of politely telling the customer that they have to wait in line is **better customer service**? > [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > I’d bet there is a sign – probably one that says “CASH CUSTOMERS PRE-PAY INSIDE” or something like that? You know, pay? As in, pay us money to complete this transaction? Almost indubitably. But I’m sure that if it doesn’t include a multistep diagram of going inside, standing in line, paying cash, then coming back outside, and potentially going back in to grab your change, \*\*Jodi \*\*would argue that Old Entitled Asshole still had no way of knowing that he couldn’t just skip everybody else. > [@Jodi](#): > > If he too thinks things still work like they did 15 years ago, at what point is it reasonable for someone to explain why now he needs to wait in line, even though he didn’t have to before, and even though he _still_ doesn’t have to for some cashiers? Never? Correct. Never. Customers are never due an explanation for policy. When you are told the policy, your options at that moment are to comply or to take your business elsewhere. If you do not like the policy, you may request contact information for the person responsible for the policy, which the employee will probably give you, but I doubt they’re required to give. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/198 "2009-09-15T14:38:29Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > **Jodi** , I remember those days, too, and I understand what you’ve been saying in this thread. I know you’re not one who’s likely to start doubting her own sanity just because everyone seems to disagree with you, but just in case… Well, I don’t doubt my sanity. I just try to be self-aware of the point at which explaining a position shifts over to banging my head against a wall – also known as the “Give It Up Line.” But thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/199 "2009-09-15T15:26:12Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Actually, there is no rule of etiquette that says that you’re required to give an explanation in a situation like this. Customer doesn’t need to know why–customer just needs to be politely told the policy (and then presumably politely comply). Repeating the policy (instead of explaining, arguing, etc.) is a perfectly polite (and effective) tactic. When I mentioned etiquette and rules, I was talking about folks who patiently stand in line waiting their turn. If you as the employee help someone who jumped the line in the misguided pursuit of providing 100% customer satisfaction, you just pissed off the whole line to _maybe_ make one person happy. And even that’s not guaranteed, since people with entitlement complexes are rarely happy when dealing with wage slaves. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/200 "2009-09-15T15:41:31Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > If it becomes acceptable to walk past the line and toss a twenty at the cashier to get your transaction started, then we don’t need to have lines at all. That actually sounds pretty nice. I use credit cards myself; I’ve long given up caring whether Big Brother catalogs my every whim and purchase―but if I were a cash customer, I’d be pretty annoyed by the modern cash-transaction gas purchase paradigm. First, pissed off at the legions of drive-off dipshits who’ve forced most places to adopt the “pay first” requirement in the first place, and second by the unhappy fact that the humble “gas station” is largely extinct, usurped by the ubiquitous big-chain glorified convenience store, where what once upon a time would’ve been a 15-second transfer of bill[s] from one sweaty palm to another is now a Herculean trial of patience, as you languish behind twitchy teens angling to buy 12-packs of Milwaukee’s Best Light with crude fake IDs; tiger-clawed moms in desperately strained tube tops stocking up on a week’s worth of nutritious “brain food” consisting of fried pies, Funyuns, Bacon, Egg & Cheese Combos, and Hawaiian Punch; and a sad horde of orthodontist’s nightmares blowing the entirety of their most recent payday loan on a fistful of scratch-off lottery tickets. While I understand the law & order principle of “everyone waits his turn,” I can’t help but feel a little additional sympathy for Mr. Asshole $20-tosser. Sorry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=11)