# "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:** 6
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/101 "2009-09-14T18:09:52Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > I assume since my bank account is usually emptied by the end of the month, and since using debt is so casual, you’ll personally pay the huge fees if I miscalculate and over draw. > > Penny over and the bank charges $45. > > I just find these posts shoving debt and credit cards down people’s throats as simple options, with no regard for their life situation, to be incredibly ignorant, and small minded. How dare people not be like you!:rolleyes: Sorry, I actually keep track of my account whether I use a check or a debit card, and I allot the amount of money that I need for gas and food, it is called budgeting. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/102 "2009-09-14T18:11:18Z")
On the restroom key - from experience it sucks when you have a four year old who has to pee, stand in line for the restroom key - because there is a line - and have someone line cut for the restroom key. Stand in the line for the goddamn restroom key, too. Someone else may be waiting for the key. And we are back to Northern Pipers “We ALL just have a few questions.” ---
**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, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/103 "2009-09-14T18:17:20Z")
Makes me glad I live in a state that has people who will pump your gas for you, complete your transaction at the pump, and charge you less per gallon to do it. _cue phony Spitzer ‘Gah gah gah gah!’ laugh for the Hacks at SNL_ ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/104 "2009-09-14T18:18:51Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > you’re wrong about how this works. If you turn the pump on, you can pump infinite amounts of gas. If you want the pump to shut off at $20, you have to put it in as a transaction. Otherwise that guy who handed you a $20 can be pumping $50 worth of gas, and will not pay for it or come screaming about how he only wanted $20 worth. It’s burned me before, I used to work in a gas station back in the day. Perhaps you have a skewed idea of the whole flip switching concept. There are many gas stations that will allow you to pump gas & turn the pump off at the appropriate dollar amount. They used to be more common, but there are still stations that aren’t as concerned about drive-offs. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/105 "2009-09-14T18:23:55Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > Kind of a moot point now that the OP has said that this has been explained to the line-jumper on several occasions. 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.” > [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > you’re wrong about how this works. I might be, but by the same token so might the customer be. You’re kind of making my point, which is if _no one explains to the customer why his request is not reasonable_, from his POV it’s not going to be at all clear that the asshole in the scene is him and not the cashier. Again, what he was attempting to do is not (or at least was not) uncommon – I’ve seen it done dozens of times myself. And I doubt that in every case what I was seeing was a complete transaction, rung up on the register. To the contrary, what I have seen is the money set aside and the pump turned on, and the transaction rung up (money in the register, change back out) when the customer comes back in and _stands in line_ for his change. So thanks, **wheelz** and others, for explaining that buying gas is a _business transaction_, but you’re not really addressing the pointthat some of us – including, apparently, this guy – have had the experience where you go in and put your money down and the pump is turned on, and only _after_ you’ve shut the pump back off is the _transaction_ rung up and the money put away. So the question isn’t really “why the fuck this guy should get to conduct his transaction before everyone else” but whether it isn’t at least _possible_ that the guy did not realize that was in fact what he was asking to do. The second question, of course is whether explaining that (“Sorry, I have to ring your gas up before I can turn the pump on, and I have to ring people up in the order they wait in line”) might not have saved both cashier and customer a little heartburn. Maybe the answer is just “customers are assholes and trying to reason with them is futile,” but I don’t see why we have to start with that assumption. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/106 "2009-09-14T18:58:52Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > Let Auntie Jodi explain to you how pumps used to work, and some still do: They have switch at the register that controls whether they can be used or not, and turning the pump “off” or “on” involves – wait for it – flipping that switch. Literally, that’s all. So what is required is that you hand over your moolah to get the pump switched on (“flip”) and then after you pump you come back in, _stand in line_, and get your change when you reach the register, which is the point at which the sale is rung up, and is in fact (wait for it) the transaction. > > Am I the only person who remembers when what the guy was trying to do, was in fact a very standard procedure? It’s not like I’m talking the dark ages, either; this used to be very commonly done and is in fact _still_ commonly done at some stations, especially (IME) in the South. In northern Ontairo, the norm is for the station attendant to flip the on switch, then you fill, then you go in and pay. There are a few places where they pump the gas for you. There are only a very few places where you have to pay first – the first time I encountered one of these, I simply put the nozzle back in the holster and drove down the road to a place where I would not have to make two trips to the attendant (fiddling through my wallet at -40 is not my idea of a good time, so I prefer to pay inside in the winter). I gues it comes down to a station owner finding the tipping point between losing sales to people such as myself, or losing gas to people who fill up and take off without paying. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/107 "2009-09-14T19:05:29Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > In northern Ontairo, the norm is for the station attendant to flip the on switch, then you fill, then you go in and pay. There are a few places where they pump the gas for you. There are only a very few places where you have to pay first – the first time I encountered one of these, I simply put the nozzle back in the holster and drove down the road to a place where I would not have to make two trips to the attendant (fiddling through my wallet at -40 is not my idea of a good time, so I prefer to pay inside in the winter). I gues it comes down to a station owner finding the tipping point between losing sales to people such as myself, or losing gas to people who fill up and take off without paying. Unfortunately in the US, they’re almost all pay-before-pump. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/108 "2009-09-14T19:06:03Z")
WHoa! This amazes me. IN Britain (and the IOM) the pumps just pump. You drive up. Pump in the petrol. Go inside. Queue. Pay. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/109 "2009-09-14T19:06:38Z")
Come to think of it, the last time I visited a full service gas station was about a month ago. I went inside while the attendant filled my vehicle’s tank. While inside, I tried to sell a little girl to the station owner, but he wouldn’t bite. Fortunately an old couple who were also getting their tank filled made an acceptable offer for the kid. The girl’s dad was outside in his vehicle, which was also being filled by the attendant, but he took the news well. Sometimes there are advantages to going inside the station rather than making the transaction at the pump. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/110 "2009-09-14T19:09:24Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Come to think of it, the last time I visited a full service gas station was about a month ago. I went inside while the attendant filled my vehicle’s tank. While inside, I tried to sell a little girl to the station owner, but he wouldn’t bite. Fortunately an old couple who were also getting their tank filled made an acceptable offer for the kid. The girl’s dad was outside in his vehicle, which was also being filled by the attendant, but he took the news well. Sometimes there are advantages to going inside the station rather than making the transaction at the pump. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/111 "2009-09-14T19:34:50Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 1.) You can get a [secured credit card](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secured_credit_card#Secured_credit_cards) and use that to build or rebuild credit. > 2.) If you know you have exactly $20 left in your account, don’t get $20 worth of gas if you think there’s even the slightest chance you failed at math recently. Get $15 worth to give yourself a buffer. > 3.) Most banks will refund part or all of overdraft fees if (a) the overdraft was a small amount and especially if (b) you haven’t had an overdraft in the past ~6 months 1. Right now I have a VISA debit card tied to my checking account. It costs me nothing to deposit money and the bank charges no interest. If I want a secured credit card, I have to pay a deposit equvalent to the amount of credit I want and pay fees and interest to do essentially the same thing as my debit card allows me to do. Fuck that with a rusty screwdriver. 2. I don’t get $20 worth of gas if I only have that much. I do have common sense. 3. I am careful with my checking account. I haven’t had an overdraft in a fair number of years. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/112 "2009-09-14T19:38:27Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > WHoa! This amazes me. IN Britain (and the IOM) the pumps just pump. > > You drive up. Pump in the petrol. Go inside. Queue. Pay. Either Americans are less honest or more forgetful. People drive off without paying. So now, in most places, you either pay at the pump with a credit card (and insert your credit card before paying), or you pay before pumping and they set the pump to stop at the amount you paid (if you stop earlier, you can go get change). Not always, though. I still know plenty of pumps here in the Minnesota that are “pay inside” after the transaction is over. And they are even configurable. One gas station I use only makes you prepay when its dark - if you are there during the day, you can pump then pay. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/113 "2009-09-14T19:45:19Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Come to think of it, the last time I visited a full service gas station was about a month ago. I went inside while the attendant filled my vehicle’s tank. While inside, I tried to sell a little girl to the station owner, but he wouldn’t bite. Fortunately an old couple who were also getting their tank filled made an acceptable offer for the kid. The girl’s dad was outside in his vehicle, which was also being filled by the attendant, but he took the news well. Sometimes there are advantages to going inside the station rather than making the transaction at the pump. So how much did you get for the kid? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/114 "2009-09-14T19:47:55Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > :dubious: He totally had me fooled, but thanks to your dubious smiley, I wised up. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/115 "2009-09-14T19:50:54Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > He totally had me fooled, but thanks to your dubious smiley, I wised up. Thanks. I knew he was being funny. I just, you know, had to raise an eyebrow. ---
**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, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/116 "2009-09-14T19:55:48Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > …Let Auntie Jodi explain to you how pumps used to work, and some still do: They have switch at the register that controls whether they can be used or not, and turning the pump “off” or “on” involves – wait for it – flipping that switch. Literally, that’s all. So what is required is that you hand over your moolah to get the pump switched on (“flip”) and then after you pump you come back in, _stand in line_, and get your change when you reach the register, which is the point at which the sale is rung up, and is in fact (wait for it) the transaction… Our pumps do not work that way. We control them through the POS display; we cannot turn a pump on without entering a dollar amount and ringing the sale through. Now there is a switch _inside the locked panel at the gas pump_ that when flipped allows gas to be pumped without prepayment, but that option has been disabled for about a year under orders from coporate. The only time it is enabled is when Maintance (or Weights & Measures) comes out to test the pumps. We don’t even have keys to the panel anymore. ---
**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 14, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/117 "2009-09-14T19:58:21Z")
> [@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.” [snip] You’re kind of making my point, which is if _no one explains to the customer why his request is not reasonable_, from his POV it’s not going to be at all clear that the asshole in the scene is him and not the cashier. All the cashier should need to do is point to the line. Once the customer has been told that no, they are in fact not a special, beautiful, unique snowflake, and they need to wait in line like everyone else, the customer needs to move their self-centered ass to the end of the queue. It is not up for discussion, unless you want to piss off every other customer. The cashier should not be required to tell a customer who wishes to exchange money for goods and services that, like every other customer who wishes to exchange money for goods and services, they will be served on a FIFO basis. That way lies madness. > [@cochrane](#): > > If I want a secured credit card, I have to pay a deposit equvalent to the amount of credit I want and pay fees and interest to do essentially the same thing as my debit card allows me to do. Well, you’re the one who can’t manage simple math. (And I say this as someone who has, myself, made the same kind of fuck-up.) I simply suggested a way to give yourself more of a buffer. That’s actually how I work it–I have a credit card that I charge almost everything to, which I pay off usually no less than once a week. That way, I always know exactly how much money is in my checking account, because I’m not waiting for purchases made with my check card to post. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/118 "2009-09-14T19:58:22Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > 1. Right now I have a VISA debit card tied to my checking account. It costs me nothing to deposit money and the bank charges no interest. If I want a secured credit card, I have to pay a deposit equvalent to the amount of credit I want and pay fees and interest to do essentially the same thing as my debit card allows me to do. Fuck that with a rusty screwdriver. > > 2. I don’t get $20 worth of gas if I only have that much. I do have common sense. > > 3. I am careful with my checking account. I haven’t had an overdraft in a fair number of years. **Shot From Guns** is not always the most tactful of Dopers, but in this case I don’t think a personal slight was intended: even if you individually are not at any fault, don’t forget that this thread is read by dozens or hundreds of people, some of whom may want that information owing to their own circumstances. It’s quite possible for something apparently directed at oneself to be general-information couched in a response to you. ---
**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 14, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/119 "2009-09-14T20:01:57Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > **Shot From Guns** is not always the most tactful of Dopers I’m pretty sure that puts you up as a contender for some kind of SDMB Understatement of the Year award. I am currently desperately hoping that none of my coworkers walks by before I can stop laughing and wipe the tears out of the corners of my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969/120 "2009-09-14T20:03:46Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Either Americans are less honest or more forgetful. People drive off without paying. So now, in most places, you either pay at the pump with a credit card (and insert your credit card before paying), or you pay before pumping and they set the pump to stop at the amount you paid (if you stop earlier, you can go get change). > > Not always, though. I still know plenty of pumps here in the Minnesota that are “pay inside” after the transaction is over. > > And they are even configurable. One gas station I use only makes you prepay when its dark - if you are there during the day, you can pump then pay. Or a third option. Oil companies are less trusting in the US. In Britain people will still drive off without paying (usually they do it delibararely - stealing petrol) Some have even been known to drive off with the fuel pump still in the car. I was just expressing my surprise. Queueing twice does indeed seem ridiculous. (But not as ridiculous as queue-jumping is obnoxious. It’s one of the few things I’ll actually consider worth confronting another human-being about) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/because-im-busy-waiting-on-the-customers-who-are-in-line-sir/509969.md?page=7)