Fuel Island...THE RULES!!!!!

apparently he did know who he was messing with because you didnt say a word to the guy.....



American Trucker

 

Many congested fuel stops leave little if any room for someone to pull up after fuelling; pull up and block others from leaving, end up0 facing a loud obnoxious 'git out of my way' type at best, lose a chunk of your hood at worst. Stay put and need to face some mouthy 'git outta my way' type.
Some fuel stops, if you look around, have little signs posted asking you to 'pay for fuel before moving'. you move and park out of courtesy, you will enter to find yourself a 'driveaway'. Then there are the times you pull into the pump and find yourself dancing with a suddenly full bladder; i'll never myself begrudge a guy two minutes to take a leak, after smelling the parking spots where many others didn't bother taking those moments.

The point is, folks, there are times when someone is being a jerk, and there are times when someone has reasons for taking up an extra five or ten of your important minutes. If I am at the fuel island, there's a reason why I don't hop in the truck and pull forward or park. And if you feel inclined to get all heated up and swing your fists, I WILL swing back. And you, not I, will be the idiot sitting in jail.

We really don't need this kinda raging macho crap at fuel stops to add to the already high pressures we all face on the road. If you can't control your temper over a few minutes stopped at a fuel pump, how can you control it when some schmoe in a minivan cuts you off? Consider a career change.

 

It's not the fact of waiting, its the fact that they clog everything up. I'll wait 30 minutes, you don't move. I'll put a note on your door with pure RAGE.

 

I was getting fuel at a pilot in Tn. here a few months ago when a knight truck pulled in behind me, the big fatty driving it got out and waddled up to me and asks me how long I was gonna be, I said I dunno, why? He says I'm gonna go get something to eat, so if I'm not back by the time you get done just stay parked here so people don't think I'm the one holding up the pump.. Uh, really? I finished and pulled up went in to get my receipt, and use the bathroom and when I was leaving he was still there.. There were plenty of parking spaces open, he was just to lazy to walk any farther than he had too.. God forbid you should burn to many calories..

 

Baloney to the first part. Most (not all, but the vast majority) of fuel stops have at least enough room to pull up one truck length without impeding anyone else.

The second part is true. But over the years I've been doing this, and particularly the last 5, the problem has gotten exponentially worse. And most of the time, the driver is simply being an incosiderate, "me-first-no-matter-what" first-class asswipe.

 

Today at the J, when I woke up SWIFT, Boyd, CRST, and a Werner were fueling. 30 minutes until my legal 34 reset, started the truck up to start cooling the cab off. My fuel light comes on, no buzzer because it wasn't, but was pretty close to being it the yellow. Pulled out and around behind Boyd. The husky man pumping fuel into the tank looked like someone I knew when I was employed.

Back to the point, me and him got to talking and I helped him check his straps and all. He pulls up, I start fueling. Werner is still on the pumps with the nozzle in his tank, but no flow. Jon I think his name is comes back with 2 cups'o coffee, says he got me one. I paid him back the money. He leaves, Werner still over there. I figure its alright to stay on the pump since there's only 2 of us on the island.

I go in, get my ticket and buy enough to reload my in-cab eats for today. Come back, Werner still there. I go over and ask if he's broke down...

Another reason I don't want E-logs. So for 9 hours he's gonna be clogging the island, 9 hours of steamed drivers banging on his door... what luck he's having.

 

Sounds like he doesn't know WTH he's talking about. While I've never worked with Werner's system, I've been on e-logs enough to know what's going on.

I can drive up to 2 miles without going on the "driving" line. This small movement should not have been a problem for him. E-logs sometimes makes a driver plan things a bit better, for sure. Sounds like this Werner driver just didn't plan it correctly. And I'd be ###### if he would be staying on that fuel island for 9 hours.

 

Poor planning leads to this stuff, I know with their system with some drivers as soon as the parking brake releases it goes into driving.

 

7 months and 77 pages later, what's changed? Nothing. There are no "rules". There is, however, common sense. Alas it is not common. There is courtesy, but one jerk ruins it for 50 courteous drivers. You can publish "rules" here and the rants may be cathartic but the jerks aren't reading this, and if they were they wouldn't change. Why? Cause they're jerks.