When a customer puts the "ass" into "assistance"

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the petrol station, we offer assistance to disabled people. That means that we go and pump their petrol for them. Now, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever going to help a wheelchair bound man, or an arthritic woman, pump petrol. What bugs me are the people who demand assistance, and are not disabled. We have two who take the piss like this.

One is this guy who drives up and blasts his horn loud and long enough to wake the dead. If you don't run out straight away, he just keeps leaning on the horn. Sometimes, you can't just go out right away, especially if there's a huge queue of customers, or if you are helping a genuine disabled person. He is not disabled; he does his shopping without a stick, wheelchair or any assistance whatsoever. He's just bone idle.

The other is a woman who claims that the smell of petrol makes her vomit. One thing wrong with this; IT'S A EFFING PETROL STATION AND THE ENTIRE FORECOURT SMELLS OF PETROL!!! Sorry about the allcaps, but that really is something that I want to shout. -.- Just like the guy, she's just lazy. And if you go over by a penny, she acts like you kicked her puppy.

Any other stories about people who pretend to be disabled just to get assistance?

[tropicsgoddess]

Good grief, that's sheer laziness!

[LillFilly]

People 'feel' that they're disabled all the time when I write them tickets for parking in the handicap spaces! I want to tell them, yeah, I felt lazy today too but I still came to work and managed to walk to and from my car!

[Nohbody]

People 'feel' that they're disabled all the time when I write them tickets for parking in the handicap spaces!

My response, were I not too interested in keeping such a job, would probably be along the lines of "mentally doesn't count".

(Well, some mental issues might [dunno for sure either way], but that's more thinking than most SCs are likely put into the subject.)

[Salted Grump]

In the case of the male sucktomer, I'm fairly certain that using the horn in that manner is also bordering on harassment, and, depending on the volume, could probably run up against noise violation laws, too.

In both the given examples, well, I'd 'suggest' the implementation of a chainsaw to remove one or more of their limbs so they actually have a reason to require assistance (Note: CS.com does not endorse violence, food tampering, or excessive simian qualities).

[dalesys]

Something LillFilly sent me a while ago:

[bainsidhe]

In the grocery business, this also qualifies as the SCs who:

1) want you to be their personal shopper. If you forgot to grab eggs, run back and get them. I'll keep scanning your stuff and if you're quick, you'll get back before I'm finished. No, I can't call someone. I could page someone twelve times, but they will never answer. It will be faster to get it myself....so should I get it or keep scanning? Grr.

2) wants me to put all the bags in their cart for them. I have twenty bags here and a lot more that needs bagged. I can't put stuff in your cart unless I stop what I'm doing and walk aaaallll the way around to put the bags in while you stare at me and start complaining how I'm doing it wrong. WTF?!? If you're disabled, elderly or just busy with munchkins, no problem. It's when you feel entitled to my generousity that I get annoyed. Everyone else always says thank you and is nice about it. The entitled (lazy) people get snitty.

[Pagan]

He's just bone idle.

I love that phrase.

2) wants me to put all the bags in their cart for them. I have twenty bags here and a lot more that needs bagged. I can't put stuff in your cart unless I stop what I'm doing and walk aaaallll the way around to put the bags in while you stare at me and start complaining how I'm doing it wrong. WTF?!? If you're disabled, elderly or just busy with munchkins, no problem. It's when you feel entitled to my generousity that I get annoyed. Everyone else always says thank you and is nice about it. The entitled (lazy) people get snitty.

Well, there are still some stores that do put the bags in the cart after scanning and bagging. Albertson's for one. Not all of them have that little carousel thingie like Wally World.

[hinakiba777]

When I broke my leg there were a lot of people who would give me attitude about asking for assistance. usually they'd see the cast and apologize. Though I totally understood most of the time. I was on my own two feet for the most part, but it was till hard to hobble around like that.

IT really does bug me when people thing service people are their slaves. I mean honestly, we do have better things to do than pump your gas for you. Like pump the gas of the little old lady with arthritis.

[cozyvally]

At the University I live near students in some majors (special education and nursing for example) are required to spend a day with a "disibility". Meaning they have to navigate classes and social events with a blindfold, in a wheelchair, with sound dampening devices on their ears, and some others I'm forgetting. I think a day like that would do some of these SCs a world of good!

[Shalom]

Re: pumping your own gas. I live in a state where that's against the law. There are no self-service gas stations in New Jersey. I can't imagine why this is so, but it is. So one time I happened to be filling up in New York (which I prefer not to do as it's 30¢ a gallon more expensive), I pulled up to the pumps and ... nothing. I sat there like a dummy for a good three minutes, wondering where the hell the attendant had got to, then did a facepalm and said to myself, Idiot, you have to do it yourself here...

To the OP: Most stations in NY will pump the gas on request, but they have two sets of prices. For self-serv, all they do is take your money; for full-serv, they will pump the gas, check the oil (if they know how), clean the windshield, etc., but there's about a 25¢/gallon premium for this. If you're lazy, you get to pay for being served, which is the way it should be. (I would imagine they'd give the self-serv price for handicapped drivers, but never asked, as it's not relevant to my situation.) I wonder if your station could implement such a pricing schedule?

Any other stories about people who pretend to be disabled just to get assistance?

Well, it's common for beggars (we call them schnorrers in NYC) to solicit alms at large Jewish weddings. I've personally witnessed at least one of these guys limping around leaning on a cane, collecting money from soft-hearted guests, and then skipping nimbly down the stairs when he thought nobody was looking. Not sure that's what you're looking for, though.

[Andara Bledin]

I haven't seen a full service pump around here in forever.

Then again, I suspect that having your gas pumped for you is likely much more attractive when it's below freezing outside your car and not beautiful and sunny for the vast majority of the year.

I'll keep my sunshine and pump my own gas, though, thanks.

^-.-^

[Pagan]

I'll keep my sunshine and pump my own gas, though, thanks.

Same here!

[Bliss]

Re. the nurse students, I've always wanted to go as a blind person for one day (or even a week), using patches or something so I couldn't cheat, to feel and know what it's like (also I've always wanted to start an inclusive supermarket chain) but I've never done so out of the fear that someone would find out I wasn't truly blind, and would find it offensive of me to be faking it.

[Seshat]

(Well, some mental issues might [dunno for sure either way], but that's more thinking than most SCs are likely put into the subject.)

My best friend has severe mental disabilities (psychosis, mania, depression, hallucinations, assorted others). In her case, and in the case of people like her, it really, really, REALLY does count.

Clinical depression can manifest as laziness - or more precisely, as a combination of apathy, lethargy, ennui and a total lack of motivation. But again, there's a difference between chronic, clinically significant depression, and simple laziness.

However, as you said, most SCs are not likely to put that much thought into it.

Re. the nurse students, I've always wanted to go as a blind person for one day (or even a week), using patches or something so I couldn't cheat, to feel and know what it's like (also I've always wanted to start an inclusive supermarket chain) but I've never done so out of the fear that someone would find out I wasn't truly blind, and would find it offensive of me to be faking it.

If you want to feel like I do all the time, run a marathon when you have the flu (with all the aches and pains). Except that that would probably injure you, so don't.

But try living your normal life when you have the flu (and are past the contagious stage), for just long enough to satisfy yourself that you have the experience. (Then give your body the rest it needs to recover properly.)

You can rent a wheelchair for a day. Discover just how many 'accessible' areas aren't. Sometimes you have to go off concrete and onto gravel to get to the ramp. Sometimes the ramp is dangerously steep going down, and extremely difficult to get up.

Sometimes while the bathroom is large enough to get a wheelchair into, it's not large enough to turn the wheelchair around in - so you have the extremely difficult situation of the wheelchair facing the toilet - and if you can't stand, you can't get from the wheelchair to the toilet.

Oh, and enjoy the bumpy ride on many (most?) 'accessible' surfaces. Imagine that ride when you have a pain disorder.

Simulating deafness or hearing impairment is easy and discreet: good earplugs.

You may be able to simulate blindness discreetly with a pair of steampunk or cyberpunk goggles. Just dress in a generally steampunky way, paint the interior of the goggles black, and have a good friend help you around.