# "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:** 14
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/261 "2009-09-17T05:57:02Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > I just want to address this. Gasoline sales are in no way the most profitable. Profit margin is highest on the in-store items, profit margin on gas is extremely low. When pay at the pump first became available, the profitability of gas stations tanked because nobody was coming inside to buy overpriced shit. This is what makes me so angry about gas stations here, they offer a discount ranging from 5% to 15% that you can only redeem inside, infact they don’t accept payment at the pump at all. And gas is around $2.00 per litre, so for even a small amount (say half tank) you are paying around $60, so you want to make sure you get the discount ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/262 "2009-09-17T12:10:19Z")
> [@chela](#): > > IMO I doubt taking care of a prepaid gas only transaction is going to noticeably hold up the line. I bet the next customer wouldn’t have even noticed if the OP took the guys $20 and turned on his pump while finishing up her transaction. Instead the OP was inflexible and stuck to his script. Why? > > yeah line cutters suck, but it sounds to me like the OP relished the teensy satisfaction of being Ms. Manners with an attitude? And maybe the store had already set a precedent with allowing some gas only cash customers to get in and out quickly and that is why he was waiting off to the side? > > If I have to use your locked restroom do I have to wait in line to ask for the key? if I need to know where your air/water hose is will you shut me up until i reach your counter, because you are too busy waiting on customers in line? You know, it doesn’t take any time to ring through my Frappachino either. You scan in, run through my card, I don’t even sign, and I’m out the door. Can I go to the front of the line too? ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/263 "2009-09-17T12:56:56Z")
I don’t know what you can do, can you? Naw, just asking puts you to the back of the line, don’t you know anything about line jumping? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/264 "2009-09-17T13:29:09Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > One of the many reasons why I hated post-pay sales was because every so often a post-pay customer would demand to cut in line and threaten to leave without paying if I didn’t serve him. That’s not what you did, but you’re still a thief. Let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s say someone fills up their tank…goes in to pay and the cashier looks at their watch and says “OH! Lunch time!” and disappears. If the person who filled up their tank then left…is he/she a thief? ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/265 "2009-09-17T13:35:34Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Let’s do a thought experiment. > > Let’s say someone fills up their tank…goes in to pay and the cashier looks at their watch and says “OH! Lunch time!” and disappears. > > If the person who filled up their tank then left…is he/she a thief? Yes. Of course, your “thought experiment” is nonsense because the cashier would not be permitted to take a lunch break unless there was someone else available to handle the register. And it’s not at all relevant to what you did, since there was a cashier available to take your money. You just chose to take offense at something and use it as an excuse to steal something. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/266 "2009-09-17T14:39:51Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > [My best shot at this would probably have been, “I would if I could, sir, but it has to be rung like everything else. Sorry. Please get it line.” And then the rest of it is up to him. If he wants to be a problem, I’ve done my bit and I don’t have to take any more time with him. Sometimes you just can’t make it okay, and sometimes they just don’t want you to, they just want to gripe. Dude, don’t bother. We’ve already conclusively established that there’s no way this could possibly be handed any better and that adding a short explanation like the one you suggest would be a complete waste of time. The old guy’s a stone asshole and no other possibility exists. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/267 "2009-09-17T15:17:35Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Yes. Then we disagree. ---
**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 17, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/268 "2009-09-17T15:43:46Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > We’ve covered this upthread. Maybe you should open another browser window and read multiple pages of this thread at the same time, hustling through it, and bringing your comprehension up to the next level. Does this thread have a winner yet? If not, I nominate this post. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/269 "2009-09-17T15:55:45Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Then we disagree. Only because you apparently use a different definition of “thief” than the rest of the world. How is someone who takes something that does not belong to him not a “thief”? Your supposed justification for doing so is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/270 "2009-09-17T16:00:42Z")
WHo is that addressing? Me? Yes I am guilty of cutting line in the BBQ pit, skimming posts and getting right to my point. I was too busy writing a reply to the OP and not paying attention to the other posters in line in front of me. You have a problem with that Sir? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/271 "2009-09-17T16:13:17Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Dude, don’t bother. We’ve already conclusively established that there’s no way this could possibly be handed any better and that adding a short explanation like the one you suggest would be a complete waste of time. The old guy’s a stone asshole and no other possibility exists. Okay, what the hell? Is this honestly what you’ve gotten out of the responses of those who’ve disagreed with you thus far? ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/272 "2009-09-17T16:14:03Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Only because you apparently use a different definition of “thief” than the rest of the world. How is someone who takes something that does not belong to him not a “thief”? Your supposed justification for doing so is bullshit. Your logic is bullshit. There…that was productive. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/273 "2009-09-17T16:16:54Z")
If you say so. You’re still a thief, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/274 "2009-09-17T16:17:54Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > Okay, what the hell? Is this honestly what you’ve gotten out of the responses of those who’ve disagreed with you thus far? Yes, absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/275 "2009-09-17T16:23:19Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > If you say so. > > You’re still a thief, though. Like I said…we disagree. Believe it or not…you are not always right. I know…this goes against your beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/276 "2009-09-17T16:23:52Z")
> [@chela](#): > > I don’t know, I think if it was me, I would’ve taken his money and then asked if anyone else was getting just gas and had them form a separate line. I’ve seen this done with my own eyes, and there was no subsequent violent uprising by the customers struggling with their trembling armloads of 120-oz. Slurpees, cartons of Zingers and Ho Hos, herbal energy pills, lighter fluid, and fresh copies of _Juggs_, _Black Tail_, and _The Wall Street Journal_. But that was another millennium and a simpler time, when I was yet innocent of anonymous message boards and their sneering roster of petty tyrants. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/277 "2009-09-17T16:30:18Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Yes, absolutely. …okay then. I’m really at a loss as to what to say to that. Speaking only for myself, my posts attempted to explain the reasons why I felt that the OP’s handling of the situation was optimal from a customer service standpoint. I considered this an open invitation to debate my reasoning, not a cut-and-dry statement that there was no other possible way to handle the situation. At no time did I assume that the customer was necessarily an asshole; in fact, I wrote quite specifically that the guy was probably not a bad person, but that the customer service interaction tends to turn adversarial far too easily for both parties to determine this and act accordingly. It’s clear you’re frustrated with the attitudes of the posters who disagree with you, but I think your post above is a singularly poor summary of their positions. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/278 "2009-09-17T17:01:03Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Like I said…we disagree. > > Believe it or not…you are not always right. I know…this goes against your beliefs. Just because you don’t consider yourself a thief doesn’t make it true. You may wish to take note of the fact that nobody else has stated that you were justified in walking out without paying, or agreed with your twisted logic that because the clerk let someone cut into the line it somehow meant that your money “wasn’t as important” or that the clerk didn’t care if you walked out without paying. The fact that you got away with it doesn’t make you less of a thief. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/279 "2009-09-17T17:02:00Z")
> [@Roland\_Orzabal](#): > > Speaking only for myself, my posts attempted to explain the reasons why I felt that the OP’s handling of the situation was optimal from a customer service standpoint. I considered this an open invitation to debate my reasoning, not a cut-and-dry statement that there was no other possible way to handle the situation. You didn’t “debate” my reasoning, you just disagreed with it because it doesn’t jibe with your personal experience. All I ever said – _ever_ – was (A) that there might have been a miscommunication based on the customer and clerk not being on the same page as to what the customer was asking for: Customer believes he’s asking only that the pump be flipped on, clerk knowing he has to run gas as a complete transaction and believing that’s what the customer is asking him to do, which would of course be accommodating linejumping. If we admit the possibility of such a miscommunication, then (B) might it not have been helpful to make a brief attempt to clear up the misunderstanding by very briefly explaining to the guy that, no, you can’t just flip the pump on, it’s a full register transaction and that’s why you have to wait in line? The resounding response to both (A) and (B) was NO. No, it could not have possibly been a misunderstanding, the guy’s an asshole, but even if (A) is true (B) is still pointless, because you couldn’t possibly have a short explanation, no, you’d have to have a huge debate, the guy still wouldn’t understand, customers suck, and he’s still an asshole. And I’ve never been in customer service. And I must think I’m psychic. Granting that you took no stand on whether the guy is a bad guy (but then you’re not the only one in the thread) all you added to it, AFAICT, is your assertion that (B) would in fact be fruitless based on your own and others’ customer service experiences, although you were good enough to acknowledge that anecdote != data. Why you consider having a guy storm out declaring he’ll never come back to be optimal from a customer service stand-point, I don’t know. So what’s to debate, exactly? If you agree with me that a short attempt to explain the problem would not have gone amiss – fine. If you disagree with that, as you do, apparently feeling more comfortable predicting that any attempt at interaction would just lead to a fight – fine. None of my posts were directed at you specifically, unless so noted. But I absolutely stand by my my summary of the vast majority of postions expressed in this thread, few or which have been as reasonable, or reasoned, as yours. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/280 "2009-09-17T17:02:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Just because you don’t consider yourself a thief doesn’t make it true. You may wish to take note of the fact that nobody else has stated that you were justified in walking out without paying, or agreed with your twisted logic that because the clerk let someone cut into the line it somehow meant that your money “wasn’t as important” or that the clerk didn’t care if you walked out without paying. > > The fact that you got away with it doesn’t make you less of a thief. And the fact that you very much think you are right…doesn’t make you right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=15)