Petrol station “etiquette”

The moral of this story is - always allow extra time for your journey if you need to get petrol on the way!

I was informed you are not to move your car away from the pump you have used until you have paid for fuel. Also it will not be cleared for you to use it until previous person has paid. I now use pay at pump much much quicker and the way forward.

I guess, at the end of the day, we all move in our own time zones and catering for each other's problems is nigh on impossible and little to do with politeness. Happy days!

In Canada it's etiquette to move your car to a parking space in a petrol station before you go to pay. Canadians are so polite though, that they would never castigate you for leaving your car at the pump. Any other Gransnetters besides me flummoxed by pay at the pump machines?

I’d like to let this go now, but Gabriella I live in a village and this petrol station is in the depths of the country and unlike supermarket petrol stations never busy.
I had factored in plenty of times (unpunctuality is anathema to me) but as my friend is poorly I did not want her to worry waiting for me.
This petrol station as I said rarely has more than one other customer when I have used it, it is en route to my friend’s village and an obvious choice. They however had several pumps “out of action” yesterday , perhaps due a delivery?
So for once all the pumps were in use.
May I stress that it would normally be no big deal.

No the situation had nothing to do with Paw, MillyG I was replying to Mabon1 who seemed to think I have nothing worse to worry about. I suppose I don’t, the time for “worry” was over in the early hours of 10 November 2017.
However I try to keep as “chipper” as I can and am sorry that the use of a word like “choccy” did not flag up a degree of observational humour.
Personally I hate LOL and the like , but that is a personal preference. “Laughing out loud” seems unlikely, and Ha Ha likewise. It’s like secondrate comedians who start “Here’s a funny thing ...” or laugh maniacally at their own gags.

It was a comfort however to see that some others shared my sentiments.

It's perfectly reasonable for a new poster to admit that they don't know a 'back story'.
That being so, it might also be reasonable to avoid criticism simply because you are not familiar with a poster's situation.
How about trying to 'err on the kind side'?
Have to agree that we've always seen occasional thoughtless backbiting but it's fast becoming a daily occurrence on GN.
How about holding back the bitchiness until you know if it is/isn't deserved?

All this is mainly the result of poor design and planning. Tesco or whoever want to sell more than petrol/diesel at their stations, even where those stations coincide with a superstore.

They are not bothered about customers who have to wait behind uncaring other customers. If they were in the least bothered they would put up some signs asking drivers to think of those behind them.

Providing specific parking spaces adds to their overall cost so they leave it to individual drivers to think. THINK is not what so many people do nowadays in many other situations. Life is one mad rush for so many.

That means many of us just have to use patience, otherwise we are not doing ourselves any good - raising blood pressure is one bad side effect.

Elegran, I think most people pay for their petrol after they have done their shopping and not before. They always ask you at the checkout if you have had any petrol (they tend to know anyway) and you pay for it all together.

I wouldn't pay for petrol, move my car (there might not be anywhere to park it) then go back and do some shopping. Far too much hassle.

That's why I don't shop in garages

If a petrol station sells things other than petrol why shouldn't customers buy them?
Its frustrating for others, but it was a tongue in cheek observation, is all.

I would also suggest that people who have filled with petrol and paid up don't then spend fifteen minutes buying groceries, visiting the loos or chatting while their car stays parked at the pump.

A petrol pump is not a supermarket car park, it is somewhere for others (remember them? They are the rest of the people in the world. ) who also would like to fill up, pay up, and go on their way.

If I pulled forward I would be blocking the way out at one petrol station. At another I would have to drive around the shop to park. ...would look like I was driving off...quite a way around. I could go on but I think you get the idea. It isn't always possible. I suggest that you just allow extra time. x

When I moved ahead from the petrol pump before paying, I was told not to do it again! They said it looks like trying to leave without payment.

Problem with chatting in this way is that there's no tone of voice or facial expression to make it obvious that something is written tongue in cheek. Therefore it's necessary to either use emoticons or to lighten the text by adding the odd 'lol!' or 'haha', or crossing out.

Its no good getting upset if people take what is said seriously when you didn't mean it like that, if you haven't made it obvious that you meant it to be a light-hearted comment. To me, the original post as written reads 'cross and feeling snappy'.

So I apologise, Maw, if I misunderstood your intent and hurt your feelings. I had no idea that you were grieving and that your situation on the day you posted about probably brought back sad memories.

After all...one never knows what the queues are going to be like at any petrol station.
If I'm going anywhere where timing is of the essence, I fill up the day before or, if that's not possible, give myself plenty of time on the day itself.
To have 15 minutes leeway is no time at all.

from their very high horses

Quite!

Some people just try to find things to jump on their very high horses!

Maybe MawBroon should factor a little more leeway into her timetable.
I agree that the incident she mentions is a frequent occurance but I, for one, always pull away from the pumps to leave room for others to fill up.
There is, perhaps, one reason why many don't and that is the cctv which may alert the staff to a drive off.
I have known the police to be called to a petrol station just on the English side of the Severn Bridge when the driver pulled round the side to avoid blocking the exit.

Yet another light hearted thread which has disintegrated into a slanging match! What IS happening to GN?

Observational humour would be a brilliant thread title, MissA but I bet there would still be some who would dive in with a patronising lecture.

Maw - maybe you don't realise that many people are new to posting and haven't seen your posts and don't know some of the things you write are as you say 'tonge in cheek'. I badly upset you once as I was critical of something you had written about your husband when he was ill which I took at face value and I thought unkind. I had never particlularly noted your past posts or new you story as it seemed many other OPs did.

I didn't realise this post was from you and I must admit if this happened to you, I don't see anything wrong with your post and at our Supermartket petrol stations there is rarely a quiet time and sometimes you just need petrol. If I needed the loo and there were parking spaces I could move my car to one not leave it blocking a pump.

*Too well..

Observational humour doesn't seem to go down to well here on gransnet.
I wonder if comedians ever get hecklers who say "If that's all you've got to moan about...."

Much as I agree with OP, I thought you weren't allowed to move your car before the petrol is paid for

It did, didn’t it Miss A?

All you have to worry about
Oh dear Mabon if only you you knew.
Losing my darling Paw (DH) just 5 months ago, not a day passes without pain and tears, but I do try to be a bit more light hearted when I can and then find it even harder to be slapped down.
Perhaps that is the “new” style of GN which Phoenix referred to a few days ago.