Well, this story doesn’t make Americans abroad look good, now does it?

It comes to us from Reddit’s “I Don’t Work Here” page and we think it’ll make you laugh…

And cringe a bit if you hail from the USA.

Check out what happened!

‘You’re in the wrong country if you think people are going to do that for you.’

“Background on me. I’m a British national who has been working in another country for a couple of years.

I haven’t been home at all during this time, so this year I saved up all my holiday time, okayed it with my bosses, and decided to use it all on coming home from now until the new year.

My flight touched down mid-afternoon yesterday at Big International Airport. I had opted to hire a car to use since I’m planning a couple of day trips to visit friends who now live across the country.

It just so happened that the company I was going with had an ’empty to empty’ fuel policy – there was just enough fuel in the car to get you to the nearest petrol station, and you didn’t have to bring it back with any specific amount of fuel in the tank.

This all begins at the petrol station about 5 minutes down the road from the car hire place. I feel like this isn’t a surprise to anyone reading (apart from the antagonist of this story, but she appears in a minute) but in the UK, on the whole, we fill up our own petrol tanks.

People pump their own gas here!

People paid to pump your petrol for you are not a thing – if you go into really rural areas with no other petrol stations for miles around you might get a hand from the one member of staff there, but that’s it.

This is the same in my country of work also. You mostly pay over the counter in the shop connected to the station, but for some of the chain petrol stations you can pay at the pump itself via a PIN machine.

It just so happens that this petrol station in question had the ‘pay at pump’ option. The queue for paying behind the counter was massive, so I decided when I pulled in to pay at the pump.

There was a bit of a wait to get to a free pump, and while waiting I noticed out of my window that a car just turning into the petrol station was a hire car by the same company as mine.

At the time it was just something to spot, but I didn’t realize that I would be front and centre in their cross-hairs.

I eventually pull into a space, get out the car, and start filling it up. I finish and reach into my pocket to get my card out to pay when there’s a tap on my shoulder.

I look across and there’s a mid-30s woman standing there looking angry.

I should note that I myself am a woman in my late 20s, and was wearing the jogging bottoms and university hoodie that I had travelled in, so definitely in no discernable uniform at all.

Here we go…

I’ll be calling her Shouty American (SA) for short.

SA: Finally someone appears. Can you tell these other cars to move so we can get into this space next?

Me (tired because flying is draining, and confused): Um, no. They were here before you.

SA: But they’re not with Car Hire Company! You are because your car says so! Get them to move and then get pumping our gas!

Me: I’m not employed by anyone, I just hired the car. Also no one’s going to pull any petrol in your car other than yourself. [At this point I turned away from her so I could pay, and she did not like that].

SA: [Pulling my arm away from the screen] I don’t want ‘pet-roll’ [The fact that she was trying to make fun of my accent was just odd], I want gas! We were told to fill up here, and if you don’t do it I will drag you to that office and watch as you get fired!

Jeez lady, give it a rest.

Obviously, because she is on the verge of shrieking at me and has created a scene, a member of staff comes over and asks what is happening.

I was going to politely explain that the woman just seemed to be a little bit confused over what she’s been told by the car hire company, but she gets in there first:

SA: This employee of your partner firm Care Hire Company is terrible, she’s refusing to pump my gas!

Staff Member (SM): [To me] Do you work for Car Hire Company?

Me: No, I just hired the car and needed to fill it up, and now I need to pay.

SA: NO! She works for them! Look at the stickers on her car! (They’re the same stickers on every hire car)

SM: [To her] Madam, I don’t think this lady works for Car Hire Company, I think we just need to let her move on so she can leave and we can keep everyone moving. We also don’t have any contracts with Car Hire Company to begin with.

At this point there are about 8 cars parked behind the car that she was in, since the driver hadn’t thought to move into one of the now many free spaces next to the pumps, and many more indicating that they want to enter the petrol station. But SA seemed oblivious to this:

On and on she went…

SA: I want someone to fill up my car NOW! I son’t care if you fill it up with ‘pet-roll’ and not gas! (She seemed to have no clue that petrol and gasoline are literally the same thing) You’re all lucky that I don’t film this and stick it on Facebook so you all get shamed and fired!

SM: [getting annoyed as there were people shouting and car horns blaring because of the blockage] You’re in the wrong country if you think people are going to do that for you. Please tell the driver of your car to move, or we will have to have the car towed for an illegal obstruction (I’m pretty sure this isn’t a thing, but I sense the guy was just hedging his bets that Shouty had no clue what the law was).

She eventually signaled for the driver to move into a space (to the wonderful sound of British sarcastic cheers – it’s good to be home!) while the staff member apologized profusely for what had happened and offered me anything in the shop on the house.

I went home with a tank full of petrol, a deluxe Christmas sandwich, and a good story to tell to my family. That probably wasn’t the welcome to the UK that Shouty expected, but it was the one she deserved.”

Check out how folks reacted on Reddit.

This person shared their thoughts.

Another individual had a lot to say.

This reader spoke up.

Another individual weighed in.

Some people are just totally CLUELESS.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.