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Thread: 360 awareness while pumping gas

  1. #11
    Member NETim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by EMC View Post
    Great point. It goes along with the other preparedness habit of filling up when you reach half tank. That way you can have flexibility in when you fill up (and where) instead of being forced to fill up somewhere unplanned when the fuel light comes on.
    +1 Flexibility is a good thing.
    In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

  2. #12
    Site Supporter LOKNLOD's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NETim View Post
    I dunno about the car door thing. An open door may slow down an attack from that direction, but I can sure see it making for a good corral should it come from the other direction.
    I tend against the door thing as well. Since it swings toward you to close, it's kind of like a swing-check valve in your potential movement. Stuff can come at you from that direction by slipping past the door, but you can't go back against it smoothly. It mostly provides a visual barrier but other than possibly obscuring a preemptive draw, you need the visual freedom more than they do (you're the duck, not in the duck blind).

    The one big advantage I do see to the door open is it provides a line to cross. A guy genuinely asking for directions or a jump might approach the door, anyone that starts crowding through the door is trying too hard to close distance.
    --Josh
    “Formerly we suffered from crimes; now we suffer from laws.” - Tacitus.

  3. #13
    Member NETim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LOKNLOD View Post
    I tend against the door thing as well. Since it swings toward you to close, it's kind of like a swing-check valve in your potential movement. Stuff can come at you from that direction by slipping past the door, but you can't go back against it smoothly. It mostly provides a visual barrier but other than possibly obscuring a preemptive draw, you need the visual freedom more than they do (you're the duck, not in the duck blind).

    The one big advantage I do see to the door open is it provides a line to cross. A guy genuinely asking for directions or a jump might approach the door, anyone that starts crowding through the door is trying too hard to close distance.
    If I were positioned "upstream", i.e., forward of the hinges, okay, then it works for me. I would be much more willing to use it as a barrier of sorts in that instance. I could still back up through the door if desired. But few vehicles have the fueling port forward of the doors. (My Dad's '60 Beetle did.)
    Last edited by NETim; 09-07-2012 at 11:16 AM. Reason: still thinking on it (a little)
    In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

  4. #14
    We are diminished
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    Feb 2011
    Panhandlers at gas stations have become a common sight in our area recently. They range everywhere from the stereotypical homeless EDP to thug wannabes to lazy high school kids who expect me to pay for their Mountain Dew. I've actually started specifically going to certain stations where it's a particularly common thing because -- don't laugh -- it gives me a regular opportunity to practice my MUC skills. So far the only guy who has needed anything beyond a polite "no, thank you" was actually not a panhandler... it was a dude who'd set up a sales tent and was hocking some kind of super car cleaning liquid. After being told I wasn't interested he tried to apply the stuff to my car anyway. Loud voice followed.

    Thanks to Jody for posting the vid, though, because I was able to show it to MrsG and reiterate why she's supposed to keep her gas tank at least half full and never get fuel after dark.

  5. #15
    Very Pro Dentist Chuck Haggard's Avatar
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    While fueling the gas pump itself is a pretty good weapon. Not a lot of people can take a spray of gasoline right in the face and walk it off.

    Just a thought to consider.


    When going for gas after dark I tend to pull around the block at least once and circle the lot before deciding to get gas, and to get a look at who is hanging out at the sides and rear of the building if possible.

  6. #16
    Member orionz06's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToddG View Post
    Thanks to Jody for posting the vid, though, because I was able to show it to MrsG and reiterate why she's supposed to keep her gas tank at least half full and never get fuel after dark.
    You know... Wait until she figures out that if she needs gas after dark that she won't have to go get it, ever.
    Think for yourself. Question authority.

  7. #17
    Site Supporter MDS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ToddG View Post
    it gives me a regular opportunity to practice my MUC skills
    Glad I'm not the only one who does this. It also turns out that the cheapest gas is always at the sketchiest stations, so that's a bonus.

    (ETA: if it's after dark, I'll go to the rich neighborhood station with the open views and good lighting and pay the extra $.25/gallon...)
    The answer, it seems to me, is wrath. The mind cannot foresee its own advance. --FA Hayek Specialization is for insects.

  8. #18
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    My wife and I got into the whole two-man hustling team in El Paso recently. Already being on guard in El Paso helped a bit. But after one guy gave me attitude for not spotting him some cash (one guy waiting literally in the shadows) my attention was stung by what was going on. Luckily some stern looks and a hasty exit was all that was needed.

  9. #19
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    This just happened to me but in the middle of the day, in a decent part of town but with a much better outcome. At first I thought I was being paranoid but better to be safe then sorry. After reading this and telling people about my experience and hearing that this kind of thing is on the rise I feel better about my actions. It transpired as so:

    Fueling up at the rear of the station the attendant building blocking view from the street. Behind me is a residential fence and a carwash with no access. In front of me is a second street exit. From the street exit a typical Albuquerque young pan handler heads my way. About 10 paces out he asks for money. I decline. Out of my peripheral I notice someone approaching from behind me where the carwash is, mind you where the is no access. The pan handler is still moving in my direction and I get the feeling I am being boxed in between the pump and my car with this guy in front of me and possible a guy behind me.

    I reacted by moving to the front of my vehicle quickly where I had escape routs and could see both people without too much head turning. This sudden movement, freeing up of my hands and a reiteration to the pan handler in a not so subtle tone "I can't help you!" He did stop his advance and moved on to others. The gentleman who came from behind continued walking right past and into the store.

    At the moment I felt like they assumed I was an easy target and they were working as a team. The simple act of being aware and presenting the posture that I was ready to defend or put up a fight the situation deescalated.

    After I felt a little like a paranoid fool because foot trafic there is high, the pan handling is common and it was the middle of the day. The posting of this story and hearing how common this is makes me think my intuition was correct. Really what did it cost to be aware and cautious? Three steps to improve my position. Making a guy think I was a jerk that I will never see again and has no baring on my life. Seems like a fair cost for not having to use my fists, feet or worse gun.

    These are crimes of opportunity. I think if you limit the opportunity you can limit the crime.

  10. #20
    Member fuse's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tpd223 View Post
    While fueling the gas pump itself is a pretty good weapon. Not a lot of people can take a spray of gasoline right in the face and walk it off.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=kIfOjkB17BA
    If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever. -George Orwell

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