What the OP does NOT say, is that any attempt was ever made, at any time, to explain to the guy that what he’s asking for is a full register transaction and that’s why he needs to stand in line. You may think that’s implied in “he’s pulled this before,” but in fact it is not.
To me, it’s akin to a person standing off to the side trying to get the restroom key. All the cashier has to do is hand the person the key – takes two seconds, tops. Does that person need to stand in line too? Or a person in a resturant asking if he or she can have a napkin – does that require going to the back of the line as well?
IOW, there are certain extremely minor interactions that lots of people assume will take the cashier or waitperson no time at all and allow the person to be on their merry way. Under those assumptions, a lot of people will indulge in the sort of “from the side” approach the OP talks about.
When that is NOT okay, is when what is being requested is NOT in fact something that can be done nearly instantaneously or as the cashier continues to concentrate on the people in line. It is NOT okay, IOW, when it goes from being a super-minor request to, essentially, line-jumping. And I’m not at all defending the line-jumpers, I am merely pointing out that it’s not obvious from the OP that the old guy knew that was what he was doing.
Presumably, there are going to be a whole heck of a lot more people standing off to the side waiting to buy gas at a gas station than there will be people waiting on the restroom key. That’s when you run into a problem.
Delays in getting a restroom key is why people in line should use locking gas caps.
But the number of “side-sidlers” isn’t the issue, at least according to the OP. The issue is that this guy is asking for is a full register transaction, just like every other person standing in line, as opposed to just having the pump flipped on, which might be what he thought he was asking for. In some stations, that really is all there is to it, which is why in some stations that sort of “coming in from the side” is okay.
Maybe the guy didn’t know what he was doing was effectivley line-jumping, is all I’m saying. Indeed, the OP’er says other cashiers have let the guy do exactly this in the past. So how was he supposed to know when it’s okay, and when it isn’t?
And credit cards are the tools of the devil! He’ll pay at the pump, at the end of the month, and THEN IN HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!!
When she told him the first time. (See the OP.)
That’s when we switch to an alternate form of transport, called shank’s pony. 
You have to cut that guy some slack. Maybe he just got fired. Or killed someone and is in a hurry to escape. Or has to go pee. Every time he comes in. It happens.
1.) You can get a secured credit card 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.
This guy was referred to as being a regular customer who has pulled this before. If he has been to the gas station previously, he should have seen that it’s not just a matter of flipping a switch.
Not remotely comparable. A restroom key or an extra napkin is not a transaction. Buying gas at a gas station is (wait for it) a transaction.
You win the thread.
So the guy is supposed to know it’s not okay for this cashier, but is okay for others? Again, seems like a lot of grief would be spared if someone would just explain to the guy why what he’s asking is not reasonable, as opposed to just reiterating what he has to do. He said “I just want gas” (indicating he thought he was asking for less than a full transacton). He asked “why won’t you turn the pump on??” and all he got was “you need to get in line” with no explanation as to why.
IF the guy is wrongly under the impression all he’s asking is for the cashier to flip a switch, of course he’s going to be pissed to be directed to the back of the line. To him, that will just seem like meanspirited power-tripping on the clerk’s part. It just seems like better communication wouldn’t have hurt.
Sounds like you’ve never been a cashier before. Engaging with customers who aren’t in line is just inviting conflict. Sometimes, yeah, it works out. Too many times, however, as soon as the “just the bathroom key” guy gets your attention, he hoists a case of beer and a bag of chips onto the counter while you turn around to grab the bathroom key and when you turn back to face him, he says “oh, and ring this stuff up too.” Now the three people who waited in line are staring daggers at you, and bathroom guy is looking pretty pleased with himself. You blow him off, he’ll go ballistic. You ring him up, the lady who was at the head of the line before he cut will walk outta there and drop her full cup of coffee on the floor on the way out.
Nope… as a cashier, the best and most professional thing to do is serve whoever is at the front of the line, no exceptions. You need something, get in line.
Another thing you learn pretty quickly working retail (and, I assume, government jobs where you deal with the public) is that being polite to assholes encourages them to continue (or more frequently, escalate) their asshole behavior. Pointedly ignoring them is in fact the wisest long-term strategy.
It might have. It also might have turned it into an argument when the man wouldn’t accept any answer but doing what he wants, taking attention away from the very busy and very long line.
Huh. I go to the same two or three gas stations all the time. I’ve never paid enough attention to know what’s involved in turning the pumps on. And if the guy has been allowed by other cashiers to just leave his cash and go back out, at what point is he supposed to have “seen that it’s not just a matter of flipping a switch”?
“Wait for it” – I see what you did there. 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.
Kind of a moot point now that the OP has said that this has been explained to the line-jumper on several occasions.
However, since it is working with some cashiers and not with others, I can see where he’d keep trying. Again, like a five year old, he’s being taught that if he whines loud and long enough, he’ll sometimes get what he wants.
I recommend switching to batting him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper and saying “NO” in a firm voice.
Even the most charitable take on the OP’s scenario still has this guy making the unfounded assumption that the system must allow for the cashier to prioritize him over everyone else in line…as well as believing that the only element of the situation that matters is whether or not it’s easy for the cashier to do this.
Regardless of what the guy thought he understood, if he had business to conduct with the cashier, he should’ve waited for his turn to conduct that business along with everyone else who was waiting for the same thing. The best you might say is that he genuinely believed that it’d be relatively easy for alphaboi to give him preferential treatment for no particular reason, and IMO that belief wouldn’t mitigate the jerkishness of his behavior, let alone absolve him of it.
Jodi, if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is that the guy might have been more reasonable about it if given the reasoning behind the OP asking him to wait in line. While I can’t deny that it’s possible, see all throughout this thread (Fenris’ posts stand out in particular, and there are plenty of others) for myriad examples and explanations of how that sort of conversation usually goes in customer service scenarios.
By your number, I’m guessing the bank charges $27, and you had four overdrafts. That means that you made three additional purchases over your balance, which is a separate issue entirely.
But, see, the guy was not asking for the restroom key or a napkin. He was asking to buy gas at a gas station. It’s a business transaction including an exchange of funds, which is exactly what everybody else waiting in line was there to do as well.
What nobody has answered satisfactorily is why the fuck this guy should get to conduct his transaction before everybody who got there before he did.
No, you’re not the only one. I haven’t paid with cash for many, many years, though. My understanding is that the universal pre-pay requirement & credit card machines at the pump changed all that.
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.