If they are polite about it - fair enough. If they are rude or unreasonable - then it would be a problem and I wouldn't buy from them. bit like walking into any shop where staff look down at you, if they don't want the business, their loss
Good points well made Ps no ones ever asked me to remove my helmet in the last 10k miles Sure if they ask and have signs I don't have an issue just a bit of a faff as I might smudge my mascara
I think it's also about the risk of people going into the kiosk/shop and doing a hold-up robbery as well as the risk of riding off without paying for fuel. If you've got a helmet and full body armour on (and maybe a weapon tucked in your leathers) you're not only anonymous but impervious to retaliation from the attendant. I don't like to take my helmet off and I avoid the gas stations I know about but if I was filling up and there was nobody around except a kid or OAP serving, I'd take it off without being asked.
If you don't like how a business operates don't use them and in this case if you have to use them then please don't have a pop at the forecourt staff as they don't make the rules. To get back to the original heading of the post though, I`m sure we all have been looked at differently when walking into a pub or shop in bike gear even with your lid off. Generally people don't like anything they view as alternative. I regularly swim in rivers and lakes as I love swimming but not swimming pools. Most people think I`m mental when I tell them, they don't realise it was normal 100 years ago.
sometimes they do. I've been asked to take my helmet off on occasion and I always go back when the manager is around (I ask) and I'm always told that it's NOT company policy. Clearly, it could be the manager covering his or her arse, but equally, it could be a prejudice on behalf of the person at the till. TBH, you're putting £10 into a Ducati - people on the forecourt have told me that you're not a huge risk in those circumstances.
How am I gonna get fuel on the under seat exhaust? Must have a coin for a brain to do that!...besides, I'm creating a more stable base than putting it on a sidestand which could tip over at any point! Bleeurgh. Health and safety bollocks.
Maybe we are considered a "danger" as we can't be identified and there have been numerous instances of robberies where the offenders have been wearing helmets. That said, would I take my lid off ? Hell, no ! Would anyone be crazy enough to fill up their bike and then rob the petrol station ? I think not. Are the hoodie wearing, Astra driving youths ask to pull their hood down ? No. I have been asked before and I've politely refused to do so and I've told them neither me or my mates would ever use that station again.
I always remove mine..... Any excuse to take the f'ing thing off! I'll also hunt out the pay on forecourt pumps if I can, card in, lid on, sit on bike, fill bike, fook off...:smile:
Trouble is, it is the only time I have been asked there and use it regularly for the car. I reckon we put 700 notes a month in fuel with them (due to my wifes job and travel) and don't normally have an issue. Maybe it was a one off, will see on Saturday when I have another go.. I don't mind, if like banks, there is a sign on every garage asking people to remove helmets, but unlike banks there is no continuity. If we were youngsters wearing hoodies, shorts, helmets not done up and no gloves then I would think they have a point but then you are looking at what 10/15k on bike? and maybe 2k in kit? I would have thought someone would use common sense. Anyway, off to buy myself a Burka!
I do find peoples attitude to bikers strange, considering In my experience the majority of motorcyclists are reasonably well educated, middle class and comfortably off. Do they think we are going to morph into a lawless hells angel as soon as we put a helmet on. Years ago my Mother and Stepfather went out for the afternoon on his BMW R100, they decided to stop for a coffee at a pub and were refused to be served because they were "Bikers" my Mother was a 70 year old retired violin teacher for Christ sake!
I always wear a flip-front helmet and I always open the face as I ride into a petrol station. The CCTV and the cashier can see my face perfectly well as I am filling up and paying. I have not been asked to remove the helmet for several years now. Maybe if I wore a full-face helmet and kept it on, it would be a problem.
In the interest of equality, let's have this right. A person wearing a Burka, a hoodie, hat, with a beard even, can purchase fuel without removing it, either when filling a vehicle or paying for it. Similary, a person is considered innocent until proved guilty. When I'm purchasing fuel with a helmet on, I've committed no crime other than anonymity which as yet, is still not a crime. Is it? You can charge and punish me for what I'm guilty of but not what people would rather perceive of me. A stereotypical bad-ass biker with a shotgun down my trousers. Discrimination. If all bikers throughout the land rolled up at all the BP stations throughout the land and parked their bikes at all the pumps and refused to remove their helmets, what would happen? Plod? Peaceful protest. It's all very well saying in the interest of safety etc would you please remove your helmet, that's one thing, voluntarily, it is not enforceable by law. But to be refused to be served is tantamount to inequality/discrimination, which, in the eyes of most is, unlawful. Your thoughts please, Pete.
Better still, borrow a Stig-like Simpson helmet with a blue irridium visor and a car race suit. Then go back in the Audi and see what happens....
I have never been asked to take me helmet off in any petrol station or supermarket petrol station Perhaps they recognise I'm a girlie and nonthreatening Or they have seen how long it takes for me to get it back on Dont want to smudge my mascara either or my lip gloss
Typical management they make the rules not the staff and never back the staff when confronted with an irate customer then that member of staff gets abused next time!!! It was always happening on our customer service desk we would work to what the rule was and the manager would over rule it in front of us!!!! Dont abuse the cashiers they are following what they have been told.
