Quarrel at the petrol pump

Quarrel at the petrol pump

A few days ago, my husband and I stopped at the mini-mart of a large petrol pump for ice cream. This particular pump was quite busy, as it was located on Shahra-e-Faisal, a major road in Karachi. As we came out of the mini-mart, I noticed two long lines of motorcycles waiting to fill up petrol.

There seemed to be some disturbance taking place near the front of the second line. When I looked closer, I saw a man and woman arguing with a petrol pump attendant. Apparently the couple had brought their motorcycle to the front of the line to fill up. This is quite normal in Pakistan, where a motorcyclist with a female passenger is allowed to bypass the line, which usually is made up of male motorcyclists.

For some unknown reason, the pump attendant was acting extremely rudely and was refusing to give petrol to the couple. He kept gesturing for them to go to the back of the line. The man said that he had a woman with him, hence they had come to the front of the line. This went on for a few seconds, the volume of voices getting louder with each repetition.

Just as I was considering stepping up and giving a tight slap to the attendant, a senior pump attendant, who was collecting payment, told him to give petrol to the couple on the motorcycle. He did not reply, instead prepared to dispense petrol to the motorcycle just before the couple’s. This flared things up even more, as then the motorcyclist with the woman shouted quite loudly at the attendant. Finally the attendant gave in and dispensed petrol into the motorcycle of the couple.

I left that pump area wondering how many people this attendant quarreled with every day, and how many customers would not like to visit that pump again; at least I made it a point not to.

P.S.: This article was written by a human with no support from AI whatsoever.