Am I just crotchety and old fashioned?

xrac · June 17, 2010

Today I had a woman approached me at the service counter telling me she thought she was out of gas and di I have a gas can. The car was at the Sonic Drive-in which is next door. Of course I had a gas can and funnel available but no gas. There is a station about two blocks away. I was busy but thought it was too hot to have the woman (about 55) walk to the station, purchase gas and walk back to her car carrying the can. I took her to the gas station, she paid for the gas that I pumped. I brought it back to her car, pumped it into the car and we got the car started.

I then learned that while all of this was going on her grown son, his girlfriend and their two kids were feeding their faces at the Sonic where the car had been pushed when it ran out of gas. This grown son was doing nothing while momma fixed the problem.

I spent about 20 minutes of my time when I was busy working. I used my car, my gas, my gas can, and my funnel and all I got offered from the woman was a thanks. That was it. I got no offer of anything for my time or my gas or the use of my stuff. Now if the woman had asked me if she owed me anything or if she had offered me $10 or $20 for my efforts I would have politely declined. But my point is the way I grew up and was taught you would have ALWAYS asked if you owed anything or would have ALWAYS pulled out some money and offered. I basically supplied her with a $20-$30 roadside assistance call for free.

My gripe is a lazy son who would let his momma try to solve the problem while he did nothing. There is no way in the world I would have ever done that to my mother. My other gripe is the lack of courtesy and respect that was shown by not offering some compensation or asking. The woman had money because she had to get change to pay me for the gas and she was on her way to Wal-Mart.

Am I just crotchety and old fashioned? Should this have bothered me?

CARMandP · June 17, 2010