It is unbelievable how rude and self-centered people are. That someone actually has the audacity to see a car waiting, shrug it off as meaningless, and decide that their time is more important so they cut in front of people. Who does that?!! I am sorry for the doctor that he was arrested. His reaction may be illegal but perfectly understandable in my book.

This is the same way I feel when cars ride the shoulder to bypass standing traffic and then expect to be let back in. Not in front of me. I tighten up so close you couldn't get a bicycle through the gap.

Not to say what the doctor done was right, but there are so many rude people on the road today - they need to figure out what to do with these people who will cut in line at the gas station and other rude things

maybe he can get some of the big oil companie's record profits to pay for a lawyer...

That's just human. Sorry, but I'm with doctor on this. Since he didn't harm anyone.

I think we should keep a box of rotten eggs for this type of people, who try to cut lines. Is throwing rotten eggs on car that is parked illegal? Anyone?

What's more rude? Cutting in line or threatening someone with a tire iron? One is rude, the other is criminal!

By the way, I don't think this one had anything to do with the price of gas. It had to do with time, selfishness and entitlement.

@Lambasted: I see this regularly as well: construction zone, road narrowed to one lane. Loooong line of cars patiently waiting. And in spite of plenty of warning about construction ahead (by signs and...HELLO...the long line of waiting cars), a few jerks decide it's all right to zip along in the unoccupied lane right up to the construction blockade, then cut into traffic. And some stupid sheep in line invariably lets them in, making everyone else have to wait that much longer!
Not only do I also tighten up really close, but I have taken to partially straddling the lane so yahoos have a hard time getting by.

You know, I once thought i wanted to be a doctor but i didnt have the patients. High five? nah too easy...

I'll have to apologize to everyone, i've been watching Scrubs a lot lately

@Lambasted: Exactly. I really don't have much of a potty mouth except when I'm driving. I live in Houston, but I learned to drive in a small town, so I use my turn signals, wait my turn in line (not cut to the front and try to get in, bypassing a 1/4 mile behind me), and generally don't act like a douche. However, this is not the norm in Houston. As a result, I say the "c" word and the "f" word more than I'd care to admit. I may not have brandished a tire iron if someone cut in front of me at the gas pump, but I sure would have laid on the horn.

You know, people acted like dicks even when gas was $1.09 a gallon. Not everything is due to the high price of oil.

Come on Consumerist! "Losing Patients at the Gas Pump?" Where's your pun like our newspapers? Wait... That's terrible.. Thank you!
It's understandable, but the doctor could have done the evil thing and denied him treatment when he shows up at his hospital or office.

he pulled out a tire iron in la palma? he's lucky he didn't get return fire.

@JollyJumjuck: You are jolly right!! Your construction zone scenario is exactly what happened to me last week. People in front of me let them alternate back in but when it came my turn I squeezed up and refused. The guy on the shoulder was actually pissed as if I was in the wrong. He, and the rest of them, truly didn't see thier actions as anything else but justified as they tore past all of us waiting. I am sure the guy said some naughty words about me but I smiled and cared not. I have an old car with plenty of scratches and dings so if he hit me while trying to bully his way back in that is free repair work for me.

Straddling lanes is a great technique. Though, I have even seen cars try to swerve around them to get by. Shoulder drivers are bold in trying to get back in. They will nearly ram your car or try to push you out of your lane so they can get over. It's enough to send anyone to their trunk for a tire iron--or a gun in you live in L.A. :-)

Funny story, good for the doctor since he didn't hurt anything/anyone and got his point across. And I agree with those above who made it obvious that this has nothing to do with the price of gas.

Apropos of nothing outside of having another lunatic gas station story, here's my story.

Okay, so yesterday I pull into my local gas station for (what else?) gas. I pull behind a car that's unoccupied and isn't being filled, which is irritating because I like pulling straight through, but whatever. I get out, swipe my card, and start the process of filling my tank.

Meanwhile, the driver of the unoccupied car in front of me is in the station, prepaying $10 on his car. You can guess where this is going: he gives the attendant the wrong pump (he's at #8, I'm at #7; he told the attendant he was at #7), and at about this point the pump filling my car shuts off.

The attendant comes running out then, pretty much immediately, and asks me why I stole the other guy's gas. I'm completely confused; I'm irked that the thing shut off at $10. I sort of piece together what happened, and try to explain to him that there was no way for me to know that the two of them were doing anything; he then tells me to give this other guy $10. I don't have $10 in cash on me. The attendant responds to this that he can't figure this out, that he's calling the cops and that I can explain it to them.

So I get a little up in arms here (what was supposed to be a five minute transaction is now stretching on into ten). Upon hearing this, the guy in front of me who made the initial mistake (and copped to it in front of the attendant, who had a complete lack of understanding regarding the whole thing), decided that it was worth $10 to not hang around and wait for the police to come. He leaves. I manage to explain to the attendant that, while there was a mistake made, it wasn't mine and that there was no way for me to know that the pump was prepaid and not charged to my card. He doesn't really get it, but since the other guy left he didn't bother calling the cops. I think he still thinks I'm a gas felon.

So, if you're in the Cleveland area and this happened to you, sorry I inadvertently took your $10. If you work for BP training, though, figure out a procedure to deal with these problems without involving law enforcement.

@MayorBee: I was riding in the car with my father who never honks. I told him that my horn and I are so well acquainted that honking my horn is more of a reflex than blinking. I get severe road rage because, like yourself, I try to abide by the rules of the road too (speed limit excluded).

A huge pet peeve of mine is people who don't use blinkers and think nothing of braking suddenly to make a turn. HONK!

I am doing 50mph and you turn into my lane driving 30mph forcing me to quickly brake. HONK!

Cut me off while changing lanes. HONK!

You sit at a red light in a turning lane and either don't know or don't care that you can turn right on red. TOOT! (not a full honk but just enough to get your attention to move your *&!# car).

How do people get their driver's license without knowing basic road rules?!! But even still, osmosis should have filled in what they didn't learn from the testing book. All those people you see turning right on red and it hasn't sunk in that you can too?!! Unbelievable.

This isn't kindergarten, you don't cut in line.

I blame the wussification of our education system.

@MayorBee:

That's because people in Houston can't drive worth beans. However, at least it's better than Massachusetts, where people are actively malicious. My brother was driving, and about a half mile before an exit, he tried to get into the exit lane, but some pickup truck kept even with him as my brother sped up and then slowed down to get into the lane. The pickup driver looked over, and smiled at us as he kept us from making our exit, so we had to go 1.5 miles down the road and exit, U-turn, and come back. And this was during a non-busy time. There was almost no traffic.

Masshole...

Since we are talking about pet peeves now, I have to get this off my chest. (I realize it has nothing to do with the article.)

When you are making a left at a "T" intersection, MOVE TO THE MIDDLE JUST ENOUGH FOR ME AND OTHERS BEHIND YOU TO TURN RIGHT! I DON'T WANT TO WAIT FOR YOU! Some people instintively move far to the right, then turn on their left turn blinker. WHAT THE F*** IS WRONG WITH YOU! You're holding up traffic, because 10 cars could have turned right already, but we have to wait for you and your complete lack of common courtesy.

Whew... I feel better already.

Well, so long as the doctor only threatened the offending car, it's cricket. Heck, if it was an SUV, the crowd should have joined in!
After forming a circle around it, pointing and laughing hilariously, of course.

@JollyJumjuck: Yup, I'm a straddler too.

@Lambasted: On my route to work, there is an intersection with a well-marked turn-only lane to the right-hand side. At least once a week, someone will occupy the head of that lane wanting to go straight and not even look at the line of angry motorists behind them. What irks me is that it’s usually someone who looks like they have too much money, which causes me to wonder if they actually believe that they have the right to be an unmitigated arse. As prejudiced as it sounds, I have yet to see a regular bloke do this.

@Magnakai Haaskivi: Wow. I think I would have wanted to call the cops on that attendant for harassment. How in the world would you know that wrong buttons were pushed? When I pull up to pump gas, I expect it to pump gas. The mechanics behind how it does it is not my concern. So for an attendant to come out screaming that you should have known that the reason it was pumping gas this time was because it was improperly activated is enough to send me into a rage.

Not only do I blame the attendant but I blame that idiot driver for standing there letting the situation escalate to the point of calling the cops because of a mistake he knows he made.

Since you didn't have cash, you could have easily just bought $10 worth of gas for his pump with your card. But the attendant was too much of a fool to realize that. I loathe people who don't have an ounce of common sense.

My tolerance for people wanes a little bit more everyday.

Wait, so cops didn't do anything to the guy who cut in line? Does this mean its a free for all at gas pumps now?

@Lambasted: I aggree with everything you said, just dont get tooooooo close. I drive a manual transmission car and when people get close I get nervous because if we're on an incline I'm going to roll back a few inches before I go foward.

Bumper cars yay!

@Lambasted: I didn't even think of buying the guy $10; I probably should've. It was such a surreal thing, though; one minute I'm pumping gas getting ready to go to soccer practice, the next I'm being accused of stealing gas. Crazy.

And it's probably good the cops didn't come, because by the time they'd have gotten there that whole "flying into a rage thing" you mentioned would've been in full swing; I'll confess to not having kept the coolest of heads through the whole ordeal.

Oh I like where this thread is going.

1. Why the hell are you slowing down at an intersection with a green light? You're going straight, go straight.

2. Listen, I completly understand that it is your god given right to go 55MPH, I do, but not in the left lane. But my true ire goes to the guy doing 65 in the left, the rest of us want to do 80, you're blocking us and you dont have a leg to stand on because you're already breaking the law.

3. Do not ever honk at me for comming to a full and complete stop at a stop sign. This is Greenwich, CT and the cops will bust down on my ass so hard it'll make a my clutch spin.

4. Finally, do not ever cut me off and then leave me hanging at the intersection. You know who you are, Mr. Cut that guy off and then break right after the white line and dont move into the interesection to take my left until the light is yellow. Yeah you, I'll KILL YOU!!!.

@Lambasted: The other day I had parked in my apartment complex and was sitting with the car off, but the radio still on (I listen to talk radio because I'm a boring accountant). A kid, maybe 8 or 9 years old, stops on his bike behind my car and lets it kinda fall onto my trunk, while he's still on it. I look at him in my rear view mirror and give a little honk to try to let him know to be more careful. I didn't lay on it or jump out of the car and berate him or anything. He gave me the nastiest go-to-hell look I have ever seen from a 8-9 year old. I have my fair share of scratches on the car, so I wasn't worried about that, but I really didn't think I deserved that look. A wave and a "sorry, mister" or something, but not some kid staring daggers at me.

@EyeHeartPie: I've never been on the recieving end of malicious driving, but I'm sure it happens here, too. Maybe not to the extent of Boston, though. I get to travel quite a bit for work. The places I like driving in: San Diego, Austin, Traverse City (MI), Jackson (TN). Places I hate: Boston, Baltimore, DC, Houston (also my home).

@ianmac47: Cops can't do anything to line cutters on private property because it's not illegal. You might get your ass kicked, though.

@AstroPig7: Hmmm...living in the Washington, D.C. area must make people hardcore because from soccer moms in minivans; to thugs in souped up cars; to honky tonks pick-up trucks; to self-absorbed Capitol Hill politicians luxury sedans, they all drive like self-entitled jerks around here. In D.C., even Grandma will flip you off if you don't let her cut in. LOL!

First our economy, then gas, now we have doctors losing their patients...

@MayorBee:

I agree about the bad (and occasionally malicious) drivers in Houston, as I also live there. I also agree with your assessment of Austin. Went to the University of Texas at Austin, and I loved the good and (for the most part) courteous drivers. I also like driving in Austin, hate driving in Houston. I abhor driving in Mass. New Hampshire is alright. Locals can drive OK, but out-of-town vacationers are almost as bad as drivers from Mass.

@MayorBee:
I have a similar potty-mouth when driving, but I come by it honestly.

I was taught that "those are mom's car-words" and never to use them.

It wasn't QUITE violence at the pumps, just the THREAT of it. I personally think we should use the Heinlein method, form an impromptu jury and have the line-breaker hanged for his offense.

MayorBee: Driving on I-95 (hell, or the Merritt) in Stamford is pretty horrible around rush, hour, too. :)

@Lambasted: don't forget avoiding the cars with diplomatic plates

I don't know, why, I used that, extra comma, in there.

@AndrewJC: Stamford is the traffic gates of hell. I live around bull's head and it's a freaking nightmare 25 minutes to go the 1.3 miles from the train station to my house.

@Lambasted:
"You sit at a red light in a turning lane and either don't know or don't care that you can turn right on red. TOOT! (not a full honk but just enough to get your attention to move your *&!# car)."

Just make sure your not the a**hole who honks at someone to turn on red at an intersection with a sign saying "no turn on red". And sometimes those signs can be hard to see even when your the front car.

I have seen the station this incident was at. Pretty much at all times the station is open there is at least a five car deep line. I can see where someone can get ticked off if someone cut in front of them. BTW the station is in Cypress not La Palma.

@JollyJumjuck:
That was one reason I enjoyed my big SUV when I drove it. I would put half of it out in the next lane. Sometimes, either because people wanted to see ahead or got the idea, other cars would join this effort causing at least a full extra lane closure. This would become more effective as the cones started to narrow.

It was amazing to me though how many idiots would go full speed, swerve onto the shoulder, and keep going till they could cut in. One of those times they will lose control and have a totaled car for what? Saving a couple of minutes while being total a**hole? I will never understand the thinking of people who do this. I am also glad I have never known anyone who dose do this, though i would like to meet one just to ask what the hell they are thinking.

@Lambasted: This is the same way I feel when cars ride the shoulder to bypass standing traffic and then expect to be let back in. Not in front of me. I tighten up so close you couldn't get a bicycle through the gap.

I try to make them hit me, refuse to give them any ID, then I call Police. I've had people charged with reckless endangerment before with this. The line, "but officer, he was driving the shoulder like it was a lane. The merge lane ended over a kilometer ago."

@Magnakai Haaskivi: It's not your fault. You had every right to be flustered when an attendant runs out yelling that you are stealing gas and wants to call the cops. It was the attendants responsibility to fix the problem. But he "couldn't figure this out". Dumb as bricks.

@MayorBee: I am not shocked at the lack of manners of today's youth. The internet and a lack of parental discipline have done them in. Manners have gone the way of the Caribbean monk seal--bye, bye forever.

@Wormfather: You are right about drifting backwards. Fear of drifting backwards on an incline was one of the main reasons why I never learned how to drive a stick. I always worried I wouldn't get the clutch right and being stuck on a hill with a car right behind me. Too much trauma for me.

@dualityshift: I've had people charged with reckless endangerment before with this. The line, "but officer, he was driving the shoulder like it was a lane. The merge lane ended over a kilometer ago."

Superman just got bumped off the list. You are my new hero.

GGRRRROOOWWWWWLLLLL the world drives worse than me and does things i never do! :-)

I believe people should be taught the "Supermarket Checkout Line" rule. Here in the US we form orderly queues for almost everything. The rule should be "If you wouldn't do it in a supermarket checkout line, you can't do it in your car." You would pretty much NEVER see someone in a supermarket just cut a line like that. Put some pipsqueak in a car and suddenly he thinks he's tough.

That said a lot of us also need to do a little more assuming of good faith and not being a douche. Being a douche to someone being a douche just makes everyone a douche. Yeah that guy driving in the lane that is about to close, maybe he really didn't see the ample signs, maybe he couldn't find an opening, maybe he thought his exit was coming BEFORE the closure point, maybe he's really just a douche. Whatever the case, intentionally trying to cause a crash by not letting the guy in just to "fix his wagon" is no better than what he is doing and is just going to slow things down in the long run. Just get over it and move on.

It's the gas' fault. I don't blame the doctor 1 bit.

@Lambasted: You sit at a red light in a turning lane and either don't know or don't care that you can turn right on red. TOOT! (not a full honk but just enough to get your attention to move your *&!# car).

Also make sure you're not the SOB that honks when there's too much traffic going by to turn!

I once got accused of cutting in at the pump. I saw someone pulling away and thought "oh yay! Free pump!" I start filling up and this guy who ended up pulling up to the pump next to mine walks by and says "That was real considerate." It took me a moment to realize that he was being sarcastic, and had been waiting for the pump I took. He had been parked to the side rather than sitting behind any car, so how the hell was I supposed to know?! So two sides to every story. But of course this guy didn't threaten me with a tire iron...

@Balisong: I had a hell of a time for a while because my car had its filler neck on the right, whereas most modern cars seem to have it on the left. So there'd be a huge line on one end of the island, and I'd be on the other side, just hoping to get a gap where I could squeeze in going the other way.

My favorite gas line story:

During the oil embargo in the 1970s, there were huge lines at gas stations due to shortages, and cutting in was the height of rudeness. One day a guy cut in near the front of a particularly long line. A woman towards the back of the line got out, removed her locking gas cap, and replaced the non-locking cap on the guy's car with it. Then she calmly walked back to her car, taking her keys with her of course. :)

@EyeHeartPie: Driving in Austin is horrific. The people can't even drive the speed limit, and no one knows where they're going at any given time. I don't understand why people feel the need to go 50 mph on 183 and Mopac when there's no traffic.

At least the people in Houston don't have their heads up their asses. I love driving there because they have a clue. It's sad people like the ones in Austin who hate driving in Houston.

Good grief, and any time it even threatens rain everyone has to come to a complete stop. It's just water. Keep going.

I saw the biggest spontaneous display of good driving manners the other day -- I was doing some volunteer work at a booth at a big air show, and it was at the ruralish airport, out on a four-lane state road. The line to get in was loooooooong and backed up a couple of MILES in the right lane of the road, and EVERYONE was joining the line, and EVERYONE was just sitting there patiently. I didn't see ANYONE race up the second lane and try to cut in, and everyone just left it clear for local traffic. I was totally astounded.

People who go to airshows must be like a higher class of human being or something.