Why are people assholes?

My family and I spent the weekend in San Jose visiting my wife's sister and family. We drove back yesterday, and pulled off at an ARCO station on the 5 freeway to get gas. The gas station was busy and there were cars at all of the pumps, so I pulled up behind a car and waited. The guy ahead of me finishes pumping his gas and looks right at us as he put the nozzle back. He then gets in his car and sits there. After a couple of minutes, I toot the horn -- maybe he didn't see us?

The guy gets out with this pissed off look on his face and walks towards us. I roll down my window and before I can speak he says, "I guess you can't see those open pumps up there." I say, "You saw us waiting, why can't you move your car?" He says, "Shut up and move your car to one of those pumps." I'm thinking, "Did he just say 'shut up'"? I've got my kids in my car so I bite my tongue...

I must have been stunned because I have a quick temper and this didn't get me too riled up. Maybe it's a good thing the kids were with me. My wife had ran into the bathroom so she missed this exchange, but my daughter said, "That man wasn't very nice, was he, Daddy?"

I assume people like that have ugly lives but maybe I'm fooling myself, maybe they get everything they want. I'm surprised by how awful people can be sometimes, it makes me lose hope in everyone.
Your daughter sounds good though!

he was lighting up a cigarette and you, thinking only of yourself,
impatiently expect him to move his car? How inconsiderate of you!
He was prioritizing, what part of that don't you understand, are
you not an American? ;)

Hope I don't have to deal with that guy!

Sort of dampens the day when you encounter a jerk like that!

And because its a big world, and they figure they will never see you again, and there are no consequences. Imagine if they got in a terrible accident and you were the next person to drive by, and they needed help!

Very young and Very clueless. I said we were waiting for that spot and she looked at me like I had just spoken an obscure slavic language.

Manners are dead, but some rude assholes are going to go hungry if they're depending on ME for their next meal.

I've been trying to figure this out for years... something about being in a car turns many people into total fuckers. Now, I believe most folks are generally nice, with some exceptions of some few who are just complete shit. But even borderline types or people I'd otherwise consider OK seem to become turds behind the wheel. Even me - I don't drive rudely; don't weave in and out of lanes and almost always let people in, etc. but I get annoyed if someone is behind me too long (not tailgating, but just generally driving to the same place I am) and almost always believe that traffic in front of me takes too long to start moving after a light turns green.

It's really a symptom of a deeper issue: stress in this society; fear/mistrust/hostility to strangers; and I think resentment towards competition for resources (even something as minor as use of a gas pump). Notice how much of our interactions with people we don't know involve waiting in line for something like buying groceries or to get a table at a restaurant. People start to think other people are just there to be in the way, and the case of this jackass at the gas station he probably thought "Why should I have to move? I'll just sit right here until this guy has to go somewhere else." Juvenile - infantile, really - and pointless, but representative of the seething frustration so many people in this country seem to show towards strangers they have to "share" with.

:D

I've found that thanking them for being a dickhead really gives me a chuckle so I don't get mad. Usually it's just to myself, but I've been known to smile and wave in a friendly manner to people too. It usually created confusion too, for an added benefit.

it's rewarded.

namely, got back into my car and sat there. Not because I wanted to piss the person off behind me or because I didn't notice them, but because I had to fill out my logbook of fuel consumption. Yes, I record the amount I filled the tank with (not according to amount of even-dollar amounts, mind you, but fill until the pump stops), the mileage driven and the date. It takes a minute or so to do that. I've only been honked at once for doing that. I guess most people around here are more patient than the old guy in the dickup truck (that is, a pickup truck in pristine condition, bought only for status, not utility) that couldn't wait for me to finish what I was doing or go to one of the empty pumps. I had no trouble making him wait. I am always patient with people and shut my engine off as I wait. I won't get out and make a scene as that's just not necessary. A minute or two is nothing; it's not anything to really get upset about, but people do, anyway.
Relax!

Any excuse to fly off the handle or push people around. I wouldn't want to share the road with him. :scared:

I'm glad you kept your cool. His pockets may have concealed more than harsh words.