Okay, y’all. What the fox is going on with gas station etiquette? Apparently a memo went out seven or eight months ago – I can’t be more specific about the time frame since I didn’t get a copy – and states that it is now socially acceptable to leave your vehicle unattended at the gas pumps while you wander inside the associated store for a shopping spree or meal. As what seems to be the lone dissenting voice crying in the wilderness, I beg you, for the love of all that’s polite… please don’t do this!

After months of frustration with getting trapped at pumps, an eye-opening conversation with our son and daughter-in-law may have shed some light on the thinking behind this “trend.” We were at dinner with the kids and venting our frustration at, once again, getting trapped behind a vehicle. The kids glanced at each other and then admitted “We do that too.” They then hurried to add, “But, only if other pumps are available.” I have to admit, I temporarily lost my power of speech, which was probably a good thing – it meant I couldn’t yell, LOL. Once I was able to form words, I explained that it’s not a matter of if any other pumps are available, it’s whether anyone can get to those pumps around you, and more importantly, can anyone behind you get out?

Winding your way between vehicles “abandoned” at random gas pumps may be easy when you drive a small car; when you drive a Toyota Tundra, not so much. When said Tundra is pulling a travel trailer, even less so. Those of us driving RVs or towing travel trailers don’t have the luxury of backing up from a pump at a busy travel center, at least not without risking serious problems and possible (probable) accidents.

The worst incident was at a small travel center (I think it was a Pilot) the morning of the last leg of our trip home on our 2023 road trip. We pulled up to a pump, and there was a car at the pump ahead of us. We didn’t immediately notice that no one was pumping gas, and when we did, we just assumed they had run inside to get a receipt or something. After a few minutes, two teenagers came out of the convenience store and climbed into the back seat. Grandma then got out of the passenger seat and headed inside. Now, it takes a few minutes to fill up a thirty-eight gallon gas tank, but even after that amount of time, no driver appeared. I got out and took a picture of the license plate, intending to go inside and have the driver paged. While I was doing that, Kenn handled it with a phone call. In a few minutes, an annoyed lady walked by carrying a bag and drink from the fast food store inside the store. She seemed to be embarrassed about having been paged, but I felt no sympathy; at this point, we had been finished and unable to leave for somewhere between ten and fifteen minutes. Did Embarrassed Woman move into one of the six or more parking spaces easily available from her location? She did not. Kenn went and knocked on her window and asked her to please move as we would like to leave and had been trapped behind her car for some time. What was she doing? SHE WAS EATING HER SANDWICH. WHILE STILL SITTING AT THE 🤬 PUMP! She got huffy, but she moved.

We had a similar incident a few days ago at a small Love’s travel center. We pulled in behind a car, which I initially thought was empty, but then saw someone in the driver’s seat. We filled up and were ready to leave only to be unable to do so. Why? Rude Dude was just sitting there scrolling on his phone while there were several easily available parking spaces in front of him. Fortunately, other vehicles left the pumps next to us so we were able to do some jockeying and get around him – without hitting him with our travel trailer – but, geez. Just move your car, people!

Even though I’ve only highlighted a couple of incidents we’ve had several over the last few months. Maybe I’m too Southern for my own good, but I can’t figure out why so many (including my kids, apparently) suddenly think this behavior is okay.

Have you gotten trapped at a gas pump?