Always more than 2 ways to do something

I am an unconventional ideator and that’s made my life harder than most people in this real world. Here’s a real- life example I’m blogging while standing in TSA line for security check.

Returning a rental car with a full tank of gas is a must for avoiding exorbitant service fees. So I pull up to the nearest gas station near Nashville BNA airport.

I pull up behind another car at the 1st pump and I’m at pump #2. Turned off the engine. Stepped up to swipe my credit card and then I see a handwritten note that the credit swiper is not working. I walk inside to talk with the cashier. This conversation followed:

I asked, “I saw the sign on pump #2 but can I pay on a credit card inside?”

Cashier: “No. There’s a sign on pump 2 that says the swiper is not working.”

Me: “Yes, I read the sign and that’s why I’m here to ask if I can pay by credit card inside.”

Cashier: “No. You can only pay cash here or go use another pump.” (Now my brain parts are triggering a little frustration and creativity to find another way.)

Me: “Can I use my credit card to buy this?” (Pointing to aspirin on the shelf.)

Cashier: “Yes.”

Me: “So why can’t I pay for gas by credit card here?” (Pulling out wallet, showing credit card, pointing to swiper at cash register.)

Cashier: “No, you can only pay cash here.”

#sigh Okay, fine. I open the cash portion of my wallet, pull out a $5 and rigidly hand that to him. “This is for pump #2 but I won’t need that much gas, so I’ll be back. (For the change)”

Cashier takes cash. I go out to pump gas and stop at $4.25 and walk back inside. I ask for my change and said “and I’ll need a receipt, please.”

Cashier gets me change and receipt. I said “thank you”, a sincere nod, and walk away. He said nothing on this interchange.

Some people can only see 2 ways to do things, yes or no, my way or the highway, here’s the prescribed rules and that’s all. Discussion closed.

This is my sharing of a real-life personal isolated incident, with no intention to connect it to other things going on in my life. But, for some high-context people, you/they might read into this, and come to a different conclusion. That’d be a case where intention doesn’t match impact for some.