So, as mentioned in my previous blog I managed to piss off some lady today at lunchtime.
I was low on gas so I decided to try the gas station a few miles from my office. My friend had pointed it out one day when we had lunch together. She told me it usually has better prices for gas than most of the stations in town. So, gas costing what it does, I decide to give it a go.
When I pulled into the station it was buzzing with cars. It's a large gas station, with three islands that each have 6 pumps (three pumps with a nozzle for each side). The price is about 10 cents per gallon cheaper than anything closer to work. Cars are lining up going both directions on each side of the islands. This means that the middle pump is sometimes occupied by a car coming from either direction. I know, a little confusing, but I pick a line and wait.
When the car directly in front of me is done pumping it drives off and I creep forward trying to line up the gas tank with the nozzle. It's one of the end pumps, so I try to leave as much space in front of me as possible so the middle pump can be used. I have a subcompact car so I know I'm not taking up a lot of space.
A lady in a mid size sedan was directly in front of me at the middle pump, so I was very careful to only pull up as much as I really needed to. Apparently that was too far ..... or something. I'm still not quite sure what the issue was.
She starts waving her arms at me. She's gesturing to me as if she'd like me to back up and let her pull up to the pump I've been waiting for. I gave her the universal "huh?" look and she kept gesturing. Her face was getting more and more irritated looking.
I looked in my rearview mirror to see if it was even possible to back up and there was a car mere inches from my back bumper. Nope, I'm here lady, you'll just have to make due with the middle pump. I'm not sure what her problem with using the middle pump is anyhow.
Now my cell phone rings. Of course! It's not bad enough I'm feeling a little flustered already. It's Bill wanting to know if we can have lunch together. Normally a very nice gesture, but I'm trying to decide what the crazy lady in the sedan wants.
Finally I give up, put my car into park and turn the engine off. She sees that I'm not going anywhere and the air inside her car starts turning a vivid shade of blue. She pulls out of position past me and disappears somewhere that I don't bother to keep track of. I'm still on the phone with Bill trying to explain what I'm doing. Not well either since I apparently can't get out of my car, figure out what the lady wants, and have a conversation at the same time.
I find the pump's number and go to the nearest pay station. Out of order, big sign. Okay. There are two per island so I go to the other one with credit card in hand. I try to navigate the menu while making lunch plans. I don't do either one very well. It takes me three trips through the menu to figure out that you can only use cash at the pay station so I head to the attendant's shop.
When I get to the register, still talking to Bill, I tell them the pump number and how much I want to put in. The guy, who is looking at me like I'm stupid (good call at this point) starts punching buttons. I run my card through the machine, but even that's not going to work smoothly. I have to run it through a couple of times before his button pushing and my card sliding sync up. Then, when it asks for my code I'm distracted by my phone call. It takes me a minute to figure out why the attendant is staring at me. I put the code in and get my receipt and head back to the car.
I take a few seconds to scope out my car for signs of crazy lady with foul mouth. Good news!! She is no where around. I pump my gas, which should take like 2 minutes, but the pump is crawling along so it takes more like 10. Get in the car and go have lunch.
This seems like an awful lot of work for some gas. I also need to learn to call people back while I'm doing something since it has a direct relation to my IQ taking a nose dive.
