What do you do when you get hit up for money at a gas station?

This happens to me all the time. I’ve just filled my gas tank, and I’m about to pull out of the parking lot, when there’s a tap-tap-tap on the window. This time, it’s a rotund, shabbily dressed woman.

“Hi, I just ran out of gas! I’m really sorry to have to ask you for money, but I just need like $3. I feel like such a bum having to do this, but I’m stuck here… please…”.

I sigh, blush a little bit. She just saw me put $30 into my Toyota with a debit card, so I can’t say I don’t have any money, but I really don’t have very much left in my bank account. I don’t see any other cars at the gas station (it’s late). My husband is in the passenger seat absorbed in a phone conversation, so I don’t feel physically threatened, but I’m not about to pull out my wallet and get out of the car like an idiot. To make her go away, I reluctantly pluck out some quarters from my ashtray and hand them over.

At this moment, on the inside, I am positively teeming with rage. I want to scream in her face, throw a cup at her, and tell her off for being a crappy gas station hustler. I want to tell her to go **** herself for being a leech, probably a drug addict.

But, with an embarrassed smile, I hand over the change, awkwardly roll up the window, and pull away.

My husband hangs up the phone, and I begin ranting about how I always get approached because I look really young and naive.

“Why didn’t you just drive away?”, he asks.

In hindsight, I wish I had done that, or at least politely declined. “Sorry, I’m on a budget and was planning to use what money I have to get around for the next few days…”. I sort of tried, but she was really pushy.

Anyway, does anyone else have a similar problem with saying no to people, even if it goes against your principles? What do you do in situations like this? More specifically, do you feel that social awkwardness and inability to deal with situations makes you more susceptible to being taken advantage of by people?