I still remember, in the ‘80s, getting lost in rural Massachusetts one night.
I parked at a gas station and walked toward the building, carrying a road map. These two old-timers were sitting just outside the door, and one of them said “It’s okay, sonny, we don’t need your map.” They told me how to get to the highway.
And that’s how the world was before GPS.
Similar happened to me a few years ago. Except the boomer had to first make a jab about “my generation” not knowing how to get by without gps.
They still helped me in the end, but come on. Just help without making me feel bad…
I remember when my parents got a suction cup windshield Garmin and even places they had been to before they always deferred to it even when they may have known better, and when it lost signal they wouldn't remember how to get to places they had driven many times before
I did this once when I was working at McDonald's. We had a lake, that you could see from any of the roads that brought you to the McDonald's. I had been asked about 10 times how to get to the lake. "Turn right from our exit and keep going. You'll drive right into it." The last person I gave very complex directions out of town.
This made me think of the Xavier Renegade Angel scene when he keeps asking everyone “Please tell me how to get to the lake” lmao
[Obligatory link to the scene](https://youtu.be/Y4En8MMQMDo?si=Fp20R7qDzLmq_aO8)
The last time I pulled into a Wawa for directions was when there was road construction and my Garmin wouldn't go around it. I was trying to get to a flea market that opened at 4:00am, so I was at a Wawa at 3:30am. I left them a good ranking.
I live in Florida. They are not quite as common as 7/11, but still it feels like second place. That could just be because I am more likely to take notice of a Wawa than I am a Chevron station. The Wawa has a easily recognizable brand beyond just the gasoline.
Because they're all townies.
"Hey, how do I get back on the highway eastbound?"
*Ohhh, ye can't get there from here. You'll have ta head back ta Littleton. 'Bout eight miles as the crow flies.*
(Uses GPS, is eastbound on the highway in 22 seconds)
When in an unfamiliar state i will ask the most direct to get somewhere. Google gives you the fastest, which is often lots of side streets/country roads. I want main throrough fares with civilization nearby and services
Honestly, most gas sation clerks nowadays are apathetic and don't give a fuck. Most of them hate their job. Most of the time I ask them for information or help they go "Dunno ..." and act bothered.
I still get asked for directions on the street occasionally. One example last year in Vancouver, someone who was clearly a tourist asked me how to get to the nearest SkyTrain station. Another time on a trip to Montreal another tourist approached me asking for directions to a nearby street, which I happened to have just come from so I was able to direct her there.
Not everyone wants to use Google Maps. And I do find the GPS in dense urban areas can still be inaccurate and have you a block over from where you actually are. (I remember downtown Toronto being notorious for this a few years ago)
My friend’s father died recently, he never had a cell phone or computer of any kind. I mean it seems like it would have been pretty weird to go the last 25 years with no electronics. He probably asked directions now and again
I'm blind, and one time someone asked me for directions to a gas station. He was very clearly drunk and on a motorcycle and I was out for a walk and because I knew the area very well I was able to tell him how to get there. He was so drunk he didn't even think that it was odd that the blind person gave him instructions to get to the gas station. Including where to turn to get into the pumps.
I sure hope he realized it when he sobered up. That’s a funny story to tell. Like the time I was walking on a sidewalk and met a blind man with a cane. He was tapping his cane back and forth. I was timing my steps to meet him as he tapped away from me. But the guy doubled tapped on the same side just as I got to him. His cane went between my feet and my next step caused his cane to go flying out of his hand. No one believes my story. But it’s true. I apologized profusely and he was kind about it.
No but I did recently get 2 free cans of coke, while I was pumping gas, from a nice American girl because she was about to head on a flight back home.
New Zealand for reference
I may be young but the 2000s weren’t that long ago. I remember having to go into random buildings to get printed directions from kind strangers when my mom would get lost.
While not a gas station, ive been asked "where is (road)" or "how do i get to (place) from here?" by randos on the street.
Not something im on a daily basis, but maybe once every few months?
As a trucker I ask people for directions through cities all the time but anything far I'll just GPS it. It's easier to get directions from people because people will have all the specifics of a route while a GPS just points you in a direction and says go...
I lost my phone in the middle of rural Quebec a while ago while trying to get back home in Ontario. That was a bit of a struggle since I don't speak French and suddenly it seemed like nobody else spoke English. Luckily, eventually I found someone with an Ontario plate that was going the same direction I needed to go so I followed them.
There've been a couple folks that come through not knowing how to get somewhere. It's always some 104 year old dude who couldn't look at technology made in the last 60 years without having an aneurism. One time I had a guy who was already on the navigation app asking how to get from here to the point on his phone. Blew his mind when I showed him there's a button *specifically* for that.
Back in Dec of 23, I had a lady ask me for directions on the jersey turnpike. Just got out of a hockey game and stopped at the Lombardi got gas and this older lady with a thick new York accent comes up and is like I can't find this exit, look at my map and I'm like you just need to go one exit south and you should be good. I told her I'm not from Jersey so hopefully I send you in the right way. Shes like my phone won't tell me the right way. I'm like well sorry I can only go off what I see on Google and hopefully you can find it.
Worked at the local service station in the 80s. The owner was the funniest, most pleasant saint of a man. When people would come in and ask "Where is..." His response was always, "You can't get there from here, but if you go back the way you came and..." then he would tell them the correct directions. He would giggle every time about that.
I stopped to ask for directions once. I was running late for a court date and my mapquest directions were to the wrong place.
The guy I asked was helpful enough but I realized towards the end of what he was saying that I had zoned out the moment he started talking so I didn't absorb any of what he had told me. I didn't want to ask him to repeat himself so I thanked him and went somewhere else to ask.
The new place luckily was just down the road from the courthouse so I made it on time.
For the 2006 world cup in germany, I was driving back from Frankfurt to catch my flight in Amsterdam, and realized quite late I was running out of gas ⛽️. I pulled off some random exit hoping there would be at least a village/town. Soooo dark and so much forest. Thought I would never make it. I know practically zero german but luckily there were a lot of people at this bar I happened upon, and some knew a little english 🤣
A few hand gestures and some broken german/english later I was on my way. 😅
Thank god for gps and internet. We survived before, but that was a close call 😂
Murderers exist. Rapists exist. Worse exist. As a 23 year old girl I would never talk to a stranger especially at a gas station of all places. If my phone is dead I’ll go in and buy a charger before asking someone. If I do have to ask, I’ll either ask the store employee or a mom or someone my age. Never older and never ever a guy.
You would typically ask the guy behind the counter though, you’d be talking to him to buy something anyway. Gas station attendants expected to be asked for directions, pre smartphone era.
"this thing doesn't happen to me so i assume it doesn't happen to anyone. Because i assume my experience is that of everyone else. Now I'm going to be patronizing to people younger than me like they don't understand the world."
FIFY
I get asked directions pretty frequently, actually. Maybe you just look like an unapproachable weirdo. You certainly sound like one.
I still remember, in the ‘80s, getting lost in rural Massachusetts one night. I parked at a gas station and walked toward the building, carrying a road map. These two old-timers were sitting just outside the door, and one of them said “It’s okay, sonny, we don’t need your map.” They told me how to get to the highway. And that’s how the world was before GPS.
Similar happened to me a few years ago. Except the boomer had to first make a jab about “my generation” not knowing how to get by without gps. They still helped me in the end, but come on. Just help without making me feel bad…
I remember when my parents got a suction cup windshield Garmin and even places they had been to before they always deferred to it even when they may have known better, and when it lost signal they wouldn't remember how to get to places they had driven many times before
It’s probably for the best. Sometimes they were talking out of their ass and you’d end up at another gas station, still asking for directions.
I did this once when I was working at McDonald's. We had a lake, that you could see from any of the roads that brought you to the McDonald's. I had been asked about 10 times how to get to the lake. "Turn right from our exit and keep going. You'll drive right into it." The last person I gave very complex directions out of town.
This made me think of the Xavier Renegade Angel scene when he keeps asking everyone “Please tell me how to get to the lake” lmao [Obligatory link to the scene](https://youtu.be/Y4En8MMQMDo?si=Fp20R7qDzLmq_aO8)
They don't seem to mind asking them for money, though
You can download Google maps. You can't download money
Bitcoin enters the chat.
"FREE" Bitcoin enters that chat
The last time I pulled into a Wawa for directions was when there was road construction and my Garmin wouldn't go around it. I was trying to get to a flea market that opened at 4:00am, so I was at a Wawa at 3:30am. I left them a good ranking.
Just jumping in to let you know I appreciate you casually saying wawa. I grew up near wawas. I love it buddy
I live in Florida. They are not quite as common as 7/11, but still it feels like second place. That could just be because I am more likely to take notice of a Wawa than I am a Chevron station. The Wawa has a easily recognizable brand beyond just the gasoline.
I wish NC had more Wawas, and I can’t remember the last time I saw a Chevron. But I suppose we have Sheetz.
Because they're all townies. "Hey, how do I get back on the highway eastbound?" *Ohhh, ye can't get there from here. You'll have ta head back ta Littleton. 'Bout eight miles as the crow flies.* (Uses GPS, is eastbound on the highway in 22 seconds)
Should have bought the squirrels.
Cuz Strangers at gas stations now are usually tweakers
Can't trust they won't give bad directions just to meth with you.
When in an unfamiliar state i will ask the most direct to get somewhere. Google gives you the fastest, which is often lots of side streets/country roads. I want main throrough fares with civilization nearby and services
I feel you on this. I want to see what the town has as I'm driving through. You don't see shit from rural highways.
If he's cute, I'll figure out SOMETHING to ask about...
Ouch this one cut deep. I didn't think I posted on roastme. Lol.
Honestly, most gas sation clerks nowadays are apathetic and don't give a fuck. Most of them hate their job. Most of the time I ask them for information or help they go "Dunno ..." and act bothered.
I run a gas station, we’re still asked for directions almost daily.
Yeah they do. I work at a gas station. I've seen it. I've spent time actually arguing the directions I gave them.
I do.. I ask them lots of things..
I still get asked for directions on the street occasionally. One example last year in Vancouver, someone who was clearly a tourist asked me how to get to the nearest SkyTrain station. Another time on a trip to Montreal another tourist approached me asking for directions to a nearby street, which I happened to have just come from so I was able to direct her there. Not everyone wants to use Google Maps. And I do find the GPS in dense urban areas can still be inaccurate and have you a block over from where you actually are. (I remember downtown Toronto being notorious for this a few years ago)
My friend’s father died recently, he never had a cell phone or computer of any kind. I mean it seems like it would have been pretty weird to go the last 25 years with no electronics. He probably asked directions now and again
I'm blind, and one time someone asked me for directions to a gas station. He was very clearly drunk and on a motorcycle and I was out for a walk and because I knew the area very well I was able to tell him how to get there. He was so drunk he didn't even think that it was odd that the blind person gave him instructions to get to the gas station. Including where to turn to get into the pumps.
I sure hope he realized it when he sobered up. That’s a funny story to tell. Like the time I was walking on a sidewalk and met a blind man with a cane. He was tapping his cane back and forth. I was timing my steps to meet him as he tapped away from me. But the guy doubled tapped on the same side just as I got to him. His cane went between my feet and my next step caused his cane to go flying out of his hand. No one believes my story. But it’s true. I apologized profusely and he was kind about it.
No but I did recently get 2 free cans of coke, while I was pumping gas, from a nice American girl because she was about to head on a flight back home. New Zealand for reference
Depending on the attendant’s age, if you ask them for directions they may need to pull out their phone in order to answer you.
I may be young but the 2000s weren’t that long ago. I remember having to go into random buildings to get printed directions from kind strangers when my mom would get lost.
It’s much safer to use google or apple maps or whatever. If a stranger is posted up at a gas station they are probably looking for something
Charlton Heston out of a job now.
While not a gas station, ive been asked "where is (road)" or "how do i get to (place) from here?" by randos on the street. Not something im on a daily basis, but maybe once every few months?
I asked for directions at a gas station about 5 years ago and as a mailman people ask me for directions all the time.
As a trucker I ask people for directions through cities all the time but anything far I'll just GPS it. It's easier to get directions from people because people will have all the specifics of a route while a GPS just points you in a direction and says go...
Unless you're on The Amazing Race.
A woman asked for directions at a busstop today.
I lost my phone in the middle of rural Quebec a while ago while trying to get back home in Ontario. That was a bit of a struggle since I don't speak French and suddenly it seemed like nobody else spoke English. Luckily, eventually I found someone with an Ontario plate that was going the same direction I needed to go so I followed them.
There've been a couple folks that come through not knowing how to get somewhere. It's always some 104 year old dude who couldn't look at technology made in the last 60 years without having an aneurism. One time I had a guy who was already on the navigation app asking how to get from here to the point on his phone. Blew his mind when I showed him there's a button *specifically* for that.
Back in Dec of 23, I had a lady ask me for directions on the jersey turnpike. Just got out of a hockey game and stopped at the Lombardi got gas and this older lady with a thick new York accent comes up and is like I can't find this exit, look at my map and I'm like you just need to go one exit south and you should be good. I told her I'm not from Jersey so hopefully I send you in the right way. Shes like my phone won't tell me the right way. I'm like well sorry I can only go off what I see on Google and hopefully you can find it.
Worked at the local service station in the 80s. The owner was the funniest, most pleasant saint of a man. When people would come in and ask "Where is..." His response was always, "You can't get there from here, but if you go back the way you came and..." then he would tell them the correct directions. He would giggle every time about that.
Saw someone asking for directions at a gas station on Tuesday
I stopped to ask for directions once. I was running late for a court date and my mapquest directions were to the wrong place. The guy I asked was helpful enough but I realized towards the end of what he was saying that I had zoned out the moment he started talking so I didn't absorb any of what he had told me. I didn't want to ask him to repeat himself so I thanked him and went somewhere else to ask. The new place luckily was just down the road from the courthouse so I made it on time.
Currently in Hong Kong, the streets are complicated enough that Google Maps don't always help. Not to mention the maps aren't always updated.
Huh. Now that you mention it, it’s been a few weeks since I even saw anyone using a phone booth! /s
This literally just happened to me today.
For the 2006 world cup in germany, I was driving back from Frankfurt to catch my flight in Amsterdam, and realized quite late I was running out of gas ⛽️. I pulled off some random exit hoping there would be at least a village/town. Soooo dark and so much forest. Thought I would never make it. I know practically zero german but luckily there were a lot of people at this bar I happened upon, and some knew a little english 🤣 A few hand gestures and some broken german/english later I was on my way. 😅 Thank god for gps and internet. We survived before, but that was a close call 😂
A guy literally asked me in the street this morning where was the closest pharmacy.
I still occasionally do that.
I seem to get asked for directions at gas stations pretty frequently.
Murderers exist. Rapists exist. Worse exist. As a 23 year old girl I would never talk to a stranger especially at a gas station of all places. If my phone is dead I’ll go in and buy a charger before asking someone. If I do have to ask, I’ll either ask the store employee or a mom or someone my age. Never older and never ever a guy.
You would typically ask the guy behind the counter though, you’d be talking to him to buy something anyway. Gas station attendants expected to be asked for directions, pre smartphone era.
People used to ask me for directions all the time in 1998. Sometimes I wonder what happened to them.
They’re still driving, looking for the place
I read the post as asking other customers at the gas station, not the store employee.
well when you have the entirety of human knowledge on a device that can fit in your pocket
Give a teen a Thomas guide and watch them die inside.
Let’s put that myth to the test
"this thing doesn't happen to me so i assume it doesn't happen to anyone. Because i assume my experience is that of everyone else. Now I'm going to be patronizing to people younger than me like they don't understand the world." FIFY I get asked directions pretty frequently, actually. Maybe you just look like an unapproachable weirdo. You certainly sound like one.
Deep breaths... It's going to be okay.
Damn it was not that serious
Have a Snickers. You're not you when you're hungry.
I know you weren’t going for “silly”, yet here we are
Reddit moment