We are closed, THE END!!!

[Lace Neil Singer]

As I have said many times before, we have to follow trading laws at the petrol station. That means, no-one gets in before we open or after we close. The end. Finite. However, there's always at least one SC who thinks that the laws shouldn't apply to them.

Like this one, named from now on with the name Precious, cuz that's how she was acting. This was the end of a typical late shift. My colleague Lisa was inside cashing up the last till, I was outside locking up the pumps. It was nearly ten minutes past closing time, nearly time for us to leave. As I locked the last time, a voice hailed me.

"Hey! You! I need to get petrol!"

I turned round to see Precious walking up to me, petrol can in hand. I started to say, "Sorry, but we're closed", but Precious talked right over me. "My car's run out of petrol," she said, imperiously. "I need to fill this can up."

I repeated what I had tried to say earlier. Precious looked at me with amazement. "But this is an emergency!"

"I'm sorry, but it's ten minutes after closing time," I replied. "We can't serve anyone now. The nearest petrol station is just five minutes walk down the road."

Precious snapped, "What? You're making me walk down that road, at this time of night?"

Well, yes. I myself am going to be walking down that same road soon in order to get to my home. It's well lit and is not dangerous in the slightest. You'd think that I was ordering her to walk down a dark alleyway with muggers lurking in every corner. At this point, I figured that there was no point in continuing to talk to Precious, so I walked away from her and went back inside to tell Lisa, who thought that Precious was mental.

We walked over to the store with Precious standing there, glaring at us resentfully. Afterwards, when we left to go home, she was still there, but obviously didn't recognise us wearing street clothes as she made no effort to accost us. I wonder if Precious spent the entire night just standing there...

[Jay 2K Winger]

I wonder if Precious spent the entire night just standing there...

Her train of thought was probably: "If I stand here and keep staring at the windows, their sense of human decency will override these stupid so-called 'rules' they made up."

Never mind that after a certain amount of time in the customer service industry, a lot of that human decency gets burned out of a body...

[MoonCat]

How the hell do people end up running out of gas like that anyway? Whatever happened to watching the fuel gauge? On the other hand....isn't it convenient that she "ran out" right next to a gas station?

[MadMike]

How the hell do people end up running out of gas like that anyway? Whatever happened to watching the fuel gauge?

It happens sometimes. I've run out a time or two because I wasn't paying attention, although the car I have now will ding at me when the fuel gets low. And I've also run out because I knew I was low but thought it would last longer than it did.

I remember one time when I was still with my ex, and I was leaving for work. She had used my car the night before and returned it empty, like she often did. She wanted to use the car again, so she rode with me to work so she could take the car after I got there. I thought I had enough gas to get to the gas station at the end of the bridge, but I was wrong. I got about halfway before it went dead.

It wasn't that far of a walk to the gas station, but she couldn't walk very fast, and she would have just held me up. So I told her to just wait by the car while I walked to the gas station. She said, "OK, but leave the engine running! It's cold out here!"

I wish I was joking.

[notalwaysright]

How the hell do people end up running out of gas like that anyway? Whatever happened to watching the fuel gauge? On the other hand....isn't it convenient that she "ran out" right next to a gas station?

I haven't personally had it happen, but my mom has. My step dad was driving the car a lot, and he left it on empty. My mom starts the car and notices it's on E, but assumes she can get to the gas station. The car dies at a really long light. The gas station is on the opposite corner. Some really nice guys got out of their truck and helped push the car through the intersection until she could coast into the station. All the while passing cars are honking and screaming at her, like she wasn't obviously broken down with people physically pushing the car. I think my parents slept in separate BUILDINGS for a good long time after that.

PS, I have AAA and part of their service includes bringing out a jug (or whatever it's called, the red thing!) of gas. You have to pay for the gas I think, but them bring it is included.

[HotelMinion]

*raises hand* It happened to me too
Lately I've noticed that the gas stations having been closing overnights. I guess to not be held up more???
Well, I was visiting my family in another city and I was late to work. The gas light went on, but I late and work doesn't tolerate lateness!
So 25 miles later I worked and in the morning found a gas station. It was 7:15 am and when I went to pump gas none came out!
I thought it was a pay at the cashier kind so I go inside...and there's no one there! Completely closed! Oh noes!
I texted my sis on what should I do cuz I didn't feel right trying to find another. She was still asleep so I was stuck. Luckily a few minutes later, a man showed up and turned on the pumps. I think the station was supposed to be open at 7 but he was late :/
I blew the biggest sigh of relief, filled up and went. Last time I try that again.

[Lace Neil Singer]

While it's reasonable that someone would run out of petrol at that time of night, it's not the right response to insist that a closed petrol station reopens for you. The correct response would be, on hearing that the place is closed, "Where's the nearest open petrol station?" The one I directed Precious to was five minutes walk down a well lit road. Hardly miles away. The truth is, I think, that she was too lazy to walk it.

[muppet101]

It happened to us too. The fuel guage was wrong.

[Sapphire Silk]

Just curious, why is it that the petrol stations have to close at night (you're in the UK, right?)? Many gas stations here in the US are open 24/7, and even if the C store is closed the pumps usually are still turned on (have to use a card though, no cash).

Just wondering.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Just curious, why is it that the petrol stations have to close at night (you're in the UK, right?)? Many gas stations here in the US are open 24/7, and even if the C store is closed the pumps usually are still turned on (have to use a card though, no cash).

Just wondering.

Some places that aren't 24/7 will shut down their pumps at closing time, so even if you wanted to pay w/a debit or credit card, you're SOL.

Mess near me does this (they close around midnight) and they don't open until 6 . . . and their pumps are turned off during the hours they are closed.

So if for some reason I need gas extremely early in the morning, I have to go to the Quik Trip two streets over that's 24/7 (the store is locked at night but they have a walk up window and their pumps will take credit only.)

So even though some will shut down, you can still find one pretty close by that's open.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Just curious, why is it that the petrol stations have to close at night (you're in the UK, right?)? Many gas stations here in the US are open 24/7, and even if the C store is closed the pumps usually are still turned on (have to use a card though, no cash).

Just wondering.

LNS is in England where they have something called Trading Laws. These laws dictate the hours a shop may be open on Sundays.

More information.

[katzklaw]

i had one of those $300 wonders several years ago... 1980 Toyota Celica. that little thing was surprisingly good for the price we paid, but one of it's quirks was the gas gauge didn't work. we just refilled it completely every 300 miles. but one time we misjudged and ran out.

[Lace Neil Singer]

LNS is in England where they have something called Trading Laws. These laws dictate the hours a shop may be open on Sundays.

More information.

^This. We have to abide by trading laws, cuz otherwise we could end up losing the petrol station its petroleum license or getting it fined. Trading Standards sometimes send people to test them on various laws, usually trading laws and ID laws. They also come and check our pumps are dispensing correctly for Weights And Measures.

I also can't imagine leaving the pumps open all night. The town where I live has some bad elements who'd smash them up. O_o

[wolfie]

I also can't imagine leaving the pumps open all night. The town where I live has some bad elements who'd smash them up. O_o

Why would it just be Honda SUVs, rather than other makes and other types of vehicle?

[raudf]

I've run out of gas.. the fuel pump started leaking and it ran out before I could get to a station. Not that I was going to fill it up, but I wanted to make a phone call without risking getting run over.