# How about I break your tiny little fingers, gas station boy?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 17, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914 "2006-02-17T04:44:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/41 "2006-02-17T20:44:04Z")
This is the sort of thing I used to post, and it got me a really bad name as someone who flies off the handles at the smallest little thing… I feel your rage, man, but I wouldnt have come straight to the dope to post about how you would like to break his fingers.
I find it better to just break his fingers and have done.
---
### Author:  [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/42 "2006-02-17T20:45:27Z")
> [@levdrakon](#):
>
> So I run down to the local gas station for a couple things. It’s a gas station. Sure there are a few people out there getting gas. I’m the only one in the store portion. I grab a couple things. The total is $13 something. Yes, I do have a couple $20 in my wallet. I also have a $5 and a bunch of $1’s. So I take out the $5 and start taking out the $1’s.
>
> You did not just put your hand on the counter and start drumming your fingers in impatience. Fuck. You. Gas station boy. You don’t like taking 1$ bills from me as payment? How about you go fuck yourself, _and_ the girlfriend you’ve got on the cellphone fuckwad. What? Suddenly you’re special because you work at the gas station that happens to stay open a bit later then the rest? Listen kiddo, you need to re-think what it is you’re doing for a living. Get off the fucking cell phone and do your fucking job! I don’t care if you’re only making $8/hour you privileged little fuck. Get a degree and make more, shit-for-brains. Until then, do your fucking job and tell girlfriend to keep her little problems until you get home. What? You fucked up the register which is designed for monkeys to run it and now I’m passively aggressively drumming my fingers on the counter and you’re giving me a dirty look? Too fucking bad, ass-wipe.
Kind of a long post. I was drumming my fingers impatiently while I was reading it. 😃
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/43 "2006-02-17T20:48:19Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> My being wrong has no bearing.
Why does that not surprise me?
> [@Lute](#):
>
> Didn’t look like one.
I’m guessing that yellow smiley mustof threw you off, huh?
> [@Lute](#):
>
> If it was just a joke, why didn’t you say so instead of accusing me of stalking you?
Didn’t think it was necessary.
> [@Lute](#):
>
> One can be an ass while making a point. You were being an ass by virtue of dismissing all those who disagreed with you.
There’s a bit o’ irony there folks. We have already established that opinions inconsistent with your world view are not to be entertained, and that whether you are right or wrong has no bearing. But try this anyway. If I am arguing with basically three guys for pages and pages how is that dismissive? Dismissive would have been to, you know, dismiss them. Or do you have a creative definition for that word as well?
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/44 "2006-02-17T20:52:04Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Maybe if you start your own radio show à la Dr. Laura…
So you are backing off from your original post? Just getting paid isn’t enough? You are either a very unmotivated stalker or dumbass mealy-mouthed dishonest debater. Or both.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/45 "2006-02-17T20:55:52Z")
> [@Dante](#):
>
> BTW, I figured out why you noticed me today. FTR, I wasn’t referring to you in that post, but I believe you are going to find yourself on the opposite side of the table of me most of time.
Ah, okay. I don’t mind folks that disagree with me; I kinda enjoy it sometimes. But I don’t much like having my sincerity questioned, which is what I thought you were doing earlier. My mistake as well!
I still thought **TKoS** ’s post was good, though. It doesn’t pay to give a shit about what the guy at the gas station thinks about you.
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/46 "2006-02-17T20:58:06Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> Ah, okay. I don’t mind folks that disagree with me; I kinda enjoy it sometimes. But I don’t much like having my sincerity questioned, which is what I thought you were doing earlier. My mistake as well!
>
> I still thought **TKoS** ’s post was good, though. It doesn’t pay to give a shit about what the guy at the gas station thinks about you.
>
> Daniel
Aha. So now we’re going to be smug and elitist. Since the gas station attendant has a low-paying job, his opinion doesn’t matter, right? Classist snob.
: storms off in a huff :
Just kidding, just kidding.
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/47 "2006-02-17T21:03:51Z")
> [@Walter Windchill](#):
>
> Aha. So now we’re going to be smug and elitist. Since the gas station attendant has a low-paying job, his opinion doesn’t matter, right? Classist snob.
Who are you, the burgerflipper at McGreasy’s? Post again when you have a real job, and I’ll care what you call me.
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/48 "2006-02-17T21:08:48Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#):
>
> I’m guessing that yellow smiley mustof threw you off, huh?
The possibility of it being a smarmy smilie crossed my mind.
> [@](#):
>
> If I am arguing with basically three guys for pages and pages how is that dismissive?
Your behavior in that thread was along the lines of sticking your fingers in your ears and going “LALALALALALALA!” Threads like that can go for multiple pages until all parties agree to disagree or the thing just gets locked. Who was that who for seven pages refused to accept that in some cases people are simply unable to pull over safely to let a tailgater pass?
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### Author:  [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/49 "2006-02-17T21:08:56Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#):
>
> Who are you, the burgerflipper at McGreasy’s? Post again when you have a real job, and I’ll care what you call me.
>
> Daniel
First of all, I was promoted to grill manager nearly three weeks ago. Second of all… never mind, the boss I have to go mop the floor. Lucky for you!
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/50 "2006-02-17T21:16:54Z")
> [@Walter Windchill](#):
>
> First of all, I was promoted to grill manager nearly three weeks ago. Second of all… never mind, the boss I have to go mop the floor. Lucky for you!
😃
Daniel
---
### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/51 "2006-02-17T21:41:32Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> **levdrakon** , just out of curiosity, I’d like to ask you if the register drawer was open while you were pulling out the money. Some register jockeys are somewhat pre-programmed to an anxiety level up one notch from default whenever the drawer isn’t closed.
>
> The cellphone, though? No excuse, with a customer in the store.
I don’t remember if the drawer was open, sorry.
I don’t start lame, irrational rants that often. But this one’s been building for awhile. It’s not the first time I’ve had to wait a bit longer because Register Boy is yakking on the cell phone. I’m sure it’s a mind-numbingly boring job. I don’t care if you spend your shift chatting with your friends on your cell phone. Just don’t act put out when you have a customer standing right in front of you.
Call me old fashioned and insensitive, but I just can’t imagine indicating to a customer via body language that they are bothering me and I just want to get back to doing nothing, which is what I’m being paid to do. Apparently.
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/52 "2006-02-18T00:53:12Z")
> [@Contrapuntal](#):
>
> So you are backing off from your original post? Just getting paid isn’t enough?
I was being simplistic earlier; I doubt that a few ten-spots would be enough for a person to live on. Besides, “unprofessional” is the word that started this–one can be a gas station boy and be fired for unprofessionalism.
> [@](#):
>
> _You are either a very unmotivated stalker or dumbass mealy-mouthed dishonest debater. Or both._
Try “neither.” I am not stalking you and wasn’t looking for a debate.
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### Author:  [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/53 "2006-02-18T06:57:25Z")
> [@Dante](#):
>
> I just get the vibe that you really want to diagnose and advise people on their mental states. Alot.
Well, sometimes, sure, with respect to thread-starters (whose mental state is frequently the crux of the issue), but not indiscriminately. If that were true, how could I keep holding my tongue once I met someone like you? Just kidding. In fact, friend **levdrakon** has even more reason than you to dismiss my opinion, because he at least has the evidence of his own perception and memory to rely on. I tend to overanalyze and pontificate, and you doubtless have your own, thus far undiscovered, flaws. Without any substantive issue to disagree about, I don’t see why we can’t still get along. I did say sorry, after all.
> [@davenportavenger](#):
>
> Seriously dude, simplify your language, you’re coming off like a dick.
Well, I can’t promise to do it _every_ time, but I’ll tell you what: whenever I _do_ notice your participation in a thread, I’ll include a spoiler box at the end of my posts in which I’ll try to translate my overwrought, purple prose into something more palatable for the more pragmatic sensibility you represent on this board. Okay?
(spoiler)I’ll talk to suit myself, sport. If you care enough, get an Eighth-grader to translate for you.(/spoiler)
---
### Author:  [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/54 "2006-02-18T07:40:42Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#):
>
> Some people drum fingers out of nervous habit, not necessarily to be rude or imply impatience.
>
> Talking on a cell phone is unprofessional, though.
I have to agree. Was this guy doing the entire "rollie eyed, snotty sighing, huffy shoulders " thing, or was it just a blank space in the action, so to speak, and he unconsciously filled in the “blank space” with the finger drumming?
If not, I totally agree, but my reaction is generally either a stern “mom” look and as someone suggested above a casual “am I keeping you from somthing?” type verbal reminder of where they are (at WORK, not girlfriend cell phone hour).
Although lately, in my old age, ineptness in clerk types seems to give me a fit of the giggles. It’s as if, I am too jaded at the widespread inability to work in such a large portion of the “lower end” (gas station clerks, fast food etc), type customer service folks to get angry, but it’s just so unbelievable to me that someone could be THAT brainless (I know, I know, despite the overwhelming number of these folks that work in these jobs and are this way).
I mean, come on, think about it from a different perspective. This guy has slightly above a sloth’s ambition level, so his lot in life is pretty much fixed barring some miracle increase in his IQ or sophistication and understanding of The Way Life Works [sup]TM[/sup]
---
### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/55 "2006-02-18T13:46:26Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> Who was that who for seven pages refused to accept that in some cases people are simply unable to pull over safely to let a tailgater pass?
Ah yes, now I remember. T’were [lucwarm](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=225883). and I bet his behavior in that thread had at least something to do with him being banned.
---
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/56 "2006-02-18T15:54:46Z")
First, I would like to point out that in North America, drumming your fingers while waiting is pretty much universally a sign of impatience. If you’re doing it unconsciously or out of habit, you are still giving people the message that you are impatiently waiting for them.
Second, I agree that it would be a whole lot easier to read your posts if you simplified a little, **King of Soup**. You can write any way you like, of course, but your posts are kind of hard to wade through. It’s like, I’ll be cruising along the highway of the Straight Dope, doing about 100 kph, wind blowing in my hair, good tunes on the cd player, then I hit one of your posts like a bottle-necked construction zone.
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### Author:  [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/57 "2006-02-18T22:24:16Z")
> [@The King of Soup](#):
>
> Well, sometimes, sure, with respect to thread-starters (whose mental state is frequently the crux of the issue), but not indiscriminately. If that were true, how could I keep holding my tongue once I met someone like you? Just kidding. In fact, friend **levdrakon** has even more reason than you to dismiss my opinion, because he at least has the evidence of his own perception and memory to rely on. I tend to overanalyze and pontificate, and you doubtless have your own, thus far undiscovered, flaws. Without any substantive issue to disagree about, I don’t see why we can’t still get along. I did say sorry, after all.
Vell, zee, vhat I zhink here is zat you are being pazzive agrezzive, yes? Tell me about your muzzer.
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/58 "2006-02-18T22:31:25Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> The possibility of it being a smarmy smilie crossed my mind.
That’s your schtick. You pick a possible but unlikely explanation and hang your hat on it.
> [@Lute](#):
>
> Who was that who for seven pages refused to accept that in some cases people are simply unable to pull over safely to let a tailgater pass?
Not me. Who was it that said “my post is my cite?”
---
### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/59 "2006-02-18T22:42:56Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> The possibility of it being a smarmy smilie crossed my mind.
That’s your schtick. You pick a possible but unlikely explanation and hang your hat on it.
> [@Lute](#):
>
> Who was that who for seven pages refused to accept that in some cases people are simply unable to pull over safely to let a tailgater pass?
Not me. Who was it that said “my post is my cite?”
> [@](#):
>
> I was being simplistic earlier; I doubt that a few ten-spots would be enough for a person to live on.
Or simple-minded maybe. This is your response–
> [@](#):
>
> As long as they get paid for it, yeah. Always been that way.
Where does “enough to live on” appear in it? You are adding conditions in a feeble attempt to escape your own words. That’s where the dishonesty comes in. Get it? What the hell does “enough to live on” have to do with anything? If a doctor works for free is he no longer a professional?
---
### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-about-i-break-your-tiny-little-fingers-gas-station-boy/344914/60 "2006-02-19T00:04:06Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#):
>
> I mean, come on, think about it from a different perspective. This guy has slightly above a sloth’s ambition level, so his lot in life is pretty much fixed barring some miracle increase in his IQ or sophistication and understanding of The Way Life Works [sup]TM[/sup]
Part of the reason I’m hard on this kid is he seems young, bright, healthy, clean cut, good looking, etc. I can’t see a reason for him to work there, but it’s none of my damn business why he works there. But it’s my business that he’s apparently too good to work there, and yet does. Too bad. Get over it, gas station boy.
It’s my corner gas station. I go there all the time. I’m familiar with all the people who work there. There’s this one young woman. I think she’s fresh from India. Hardly speaks English at all. Totally fucks up well, pretty much everything. But she tries, and she’s earnest. She recognizes me, and always tries out her English. “Hi! How are you today? Nice weather today, yeah?” I give her huge points, even though I have to count my change every time. She still gets huge points.
Gas station boy is apparently too good to work there, yet does. Too bad. Don’t drum those fingers at me, gas station boy.
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