Ok, I know this is a common complaint, but seriously on this last trip I had chose to bail on getting gas three separate times, and came close some others.
First one was a small town with a small gas station... maybe 4 pumps? All four were occupied, which is fine, but none of them had people pumping gas. There were several other cars similarly perplexed and/or waiting, so I left for the one down the street. It wasn’t much better and by the time I left people were so lined up I almost couldn’t make it out of the parking lot.
Second one was in Socorro. Three gas stations in one intersection, but only one was on the right so we went there. Lots of pumps, but they were all full of empty cars. Taylor decided to wait on one guy who was in his car. The guy finished his phone call, and then left to go inside. With someone waiting on him. Maybe he was going to pay, but he’d been sitting at that pump for a while.
Last one was on the way back home and it was the same story. A lot of pumps, a lot of cars, and the cars were mostly empty.
We also came across a lot of broken gas pumps, but that is a different issue.
So the common theme here is people leaving their car at the pump while they go and do whatever one does inside a gas station. Poop, I guess? Don’t get me wrong, at an uncrowded gas station I’ll totally leave my car at the pump, but if there are only a couple pumps left I’ll do the right thing and either move on or park.
I have been to exactly one gas station that cracked down on this, and they ladies at the desk were constantly on the intercom shouting at people. Why don’t more do this? Lets face it, every time I drive off in the Land Rover they’re missing out on $45 in gas sales, at least, and probably me buying some higher margin items when I go in to use the facilities. When it is all three of us that have to bail... well that has to be a significant amount of money driving off.
I don’t offer any specific solutions or insight into why people are like this or why gas stations don’t do more to stop it. I just... wanted to express my frustration at my fellow humans and wish them all the best in getting the fuck out of my way.