I am jotting down how much gas i bought and the mileage. If i notice people waiting, I’ll often pull out of the way to do that. But some of the gas stations i use don’t have a good “out of the way”, and I’m not going to add 5 minutes to my trip to drive around the station or something just to save you the 45 seconds it takes me to update my car log.
When i get into the car, i turn on the car, buckle my seat belt, pull up the location in going to on my phone’s GPS, pop my phone into the mount, and then plug in my phone. Then I’m ready to go as soon as I know all my passengers have buckled up.
(It drives my husband nuts that i start car before buckling up, because the car complains. But it’s easier for me to fish the keys out of my pocket before there’s a seat belt over it. And i am comfortable ignoring the complaints of objects.)
When i get home, i sometimes leave the car right away, but sometimes i stay in the car and listen to the radio for a bit. Sometimes, when I’m especially tired, i just sit in the car for a bit. It’s something i started doing several years ago when i was going through something very stressful, and i liked the solitude of sitting in the empty car. That source of stress has mostly been resolved, but the habit has stuck.
Just curious - why do you feel the need to keep such an accurate log? For me, it is sufficient to just think, “OK, I got 13.25 gallons (rounding) and the odd says 427. Doing a quick calculation in my head… Sounds about right.”
You use GPS and plug in your phone EVERY time you get in the car, or just for long trips/trips to unfamiliar locations?
Almost every time. I guess i didn’t bother this morning, going 2 miles to the corner store. But there’s enough traffic these days that i like to see which route Google recommends even for short trips to places i go all the time.
Mrs. H unfailingly steps out and then futzes with her pants (trousers for you King’s English-speaking Dopers), futzes with her hair, checks her pockets, and does whatever the fuck else for a solid five minutes while I stand there looking stupid.
It especially bothers me is that my wife does this when I’m dropping her off somewhere. She starts doing things that she could have been doing while the car was in motion. It makes me feel like I’m an employee or something.
Fair enough. Hope you don’t mind if I give you a little bump to get you going. 
mmm
Always interesting to hear how/why different people do things differently.
For me, same reason I use mileage as an opportunity to do some mental math, I like the process of intentionally navigating, rather than mindlessly following instructions.
My phone automatically hooks up with the car. But no one ever calls me anyway. 
And yeah, traffic sucks. But if I’m going a distance, I may check traffic on my computer ahead of time. In my mind, the occasional instance in which google might save me a few minutes by rerouting, that savings is outweighed by the many more numerous times that I’ve spend just a few seconds hooking up my phone/navigation.
And I’m usually not in so much of a hurry that it makes a big difference if a 5 minute trip takes 7, or a 25 minute trip 35.
I have a company car and gas card and I am required to record the mileage on an app when the gallons and price from the fill-up appears. It can take 10-20 seconds for the transaction to load, though usually it is there when I get back into the driver’s seat.
If I don’t do this at the pump I will either forget to do it and get a talking to from fleet management. Or I need to find a parking space and some gas stations either do not have a safe place to park. Compared to the time it takes me to actually fill gas, the 10-30 seconds it takes is not material. It’s not a toll booth with potentially dozens or hundreds of cars behind me.
It’s more that i look at the options and pick the one that i think will be most pleasant, based on current traffic. I often pick something other than the fastest. But i really don’t enjoy being stuck in traffic.
Oh and no, i don’t need to. But i like the moment of mindfulness (how much am i driving?) and my husband likes to have accurate records.
And as @Mighty_Mouse points out, the time it takes is quite small compared to the time i spend filling the tank, and usually there’s no one waiting behind me.
Any time savings on the road for short trips are probably negated by futzing with the phone before you start.
I don’t need directions assist most of the time but when I do, I get in my car, start it and start driving. When I get in my car, I put the phone on the console so as I’m driving, I ask Siri for directions. She gives me the best route from wherever I’m at. If I deviate from her directions because of scenery reasons (for example), she corrects again.
10 seconds isn’t a big deal but I suspect it takes you longer than you think. I, too, have a company car that requires me to log mileage/gallons.
When getting gas, I snap a pic of the pump read out on my phone. When back in the car I do the same with the odo then start driving. Then I ask Siri to set alarm for a time that I know I’ll be back at the office so I can record all the data in a calm, unhurried manner.
I just find driving more pleasant with GPS. Even if i can’t avoid the traffic, it bothers me less if i know about it in advance.
And that turns my cheap moment of reflection into a chore.
It’s unusual for there to be traffic behind me at the gas station anyway. Yes, sometimes there is. Sorry. But the time you are losing is tiny, it’s just annoying because it’s unexpected.
Get in and go, generally within 30 seconds.
Same, but five seconds.
Not always, I’ve ignored Waze’s recommendations before and got caught up in 20 minute jam due to an accident. I always use it now as it gets realtime updates as I’m driving and can get me around traffic conditions that come up. Well worth the 15 seconds it takes (only if a new designation) to enter the info.
Sorry, Tepper isn’t going out.
On occasion in store or mall parking lots, I’ll come back to the car before Mrs. J. and sit and wait for her. Too bad if another driver thinks they’re entitled to the spot right now. They tend to be of the same breed that closely follows pedestrians in the lot in a slow-moving vehicle because they think that way they’ll be led to the spot of their dreams. If I’m being stalked like that, a favorite, mildly entertaining maneuver is to veer at an angle between rows of cars in order to shake them.
If I get into my car intending to leave and get honked at if I’m not out of there in ten seconds, that’s an excellent way to be assured you won’t get the spot.
That said, I have difficulty understanding people who get into their car in the lot, start the engine and then squat there interminably. They’re not adjusting mirrors or doing anything in particular. Maybe the parking place is so desirable that they can’t bear to give it up.
This seems unnecessarily complicated for the 2-3X a year there might actually be someone waiting for me to clear the gas pump. I sure haven’t needed to wait for a pump more than 20-30 times in my life. And probably more than half those times have been before blizzards/hurricanes.
I don’t know why you think it takes more than ten seconds. My wife is not the most patient person, if I was taking 30 seconds to do this, she’d be on me pretty fierce.
Maybe you live/work in a place where gas stations are a lot busier than they are where I am.