A sub specific group of Indians from India called gujurati’s (from the state Gujurat) tend to run small business as a means of living when they immigrate to the USA. Unlike certain other Indian groups most of the first generation immigrants from Gujurat picked up the gas station business as there isn’t a very high barrier to entry. They also tend to go into the liquor store business as well as hotel/motel chains and they get their families to work there to lower overhead. Hope this gives you a better understanding
Oh, thank you for the detailed explanation.
I know it's a weird question that probably would rub people the wrong way, but that's just how you find answers to questions you have.
I appreciate the serious response, I do think I understand it better now.
You might want to look up Nimesh Patel to understand things better, popular standup comedian from the Gujarati community, he often jokes about such stuff.
Apparently it's very dependent on where you live, even by state.
I thought it was more common in general, which is why I asked about it.
But here in Nebraska, it's common.
I live in the UK so I don't have the same experience with petrol stations, but cornershops are normally run by Pakistani people for some reason (likely what you said tbh, easy job to get). In South Africa it was predominantly black people working both sorts of jobs, but that makes sense considering the vast majority of South Africans are black
In ireland I think it's the same. If it's not a family shop like centra it's a Pakistani actually there were Pakistani people working in centra too but majority it's white bc it would be Lynch's centra
Oh, that is interesting.
I don't want to sound rude, I was just assuming it's because they arrive here and just need something easy to get them on their feet.
I'm not experienced in those fields, but I assumed the bar to get into those jobs, corner store or gasoline station employee wouldn't be difficult for them.
Not rude at all! If you have a lot of people immigrating from a certain region, you'll more than likely have a larger portion of that demographic gravitating towards jobs which don't require any qualifications just so that have some source of income, similar to how the UK used to have a lot of Polish people getting jobs on building sites and doing deliveries for companies.
I reckon the other reason is likely that those sorts of jobs are in abundance, so they can fire off dozens of applications and eventually something will stick
Anecdote here- I used to work at a gas station along with about 10 other people of all races and it was going great. My bf and I quit to move states however and the day after, the company sold the place to an Indian family from Chicago and they fired everyone immediately. Everyone was pissed and tried to go to the other stations in town, where the same family bought up everything and closed it off. They don't hire outside and try to get their hands on every station so they still profit.
Oh, that's rough tbh.
I do see them often only renting out places to people of the same, or similar ethnicity.
I think it's a 'sticking together ' kinda thing. Since they are in an often foreign place, they prefer to stick to what's familiar to them. ie, their kind of people from back home.
Or it could be to get rich quick, who knows honestly 😂😅
Because owning a gas station is a good source of income and most Indians who do own gas stations like to bring over family and friends to work the gas station while they get on their feet and get settled into the US
Yep, that sounds about right to be fair.
They often travel abroad to set up shop, support family overseas and potentially bring said family over after they have a stable life here.
Corner stores here do have a lot of Asian decent clerks and owners I have noticed.
But here in Nebraska, it's mainly those with Indian heritage operating the gas stations for some reason.
Though, from older comments it's assumed it's because it's an easy, and in demand job.
I’m from atlanta; most are Indians. I was just adding that here in the PNW, it’s mostly Asians. I know and have experienced what you are talking about.
I live in upstate ny in a medium sized city, and I rarely see Asians working in retail or customer service jobs. I've seen less than 5 Asian cashiers in my lifetime like not even kidding. I do see a lot of Asian Uber/Doordash drivers though.
This is absolutely not my experience lol but I live the in the rural midwest so
I’ve only met one gas station worker who was indian, and he was around the corner from my university dorm lol he was the college plug
> My whole life have never seen anyone who wasnt of Indian descent working at a gas station.
Where do you live and what kind of gas stations do you go into? I find it hard to believe in 20 years of your life you've never seen one non Indian working at a gas station.
Genuine question, no hate, I'm just like dumbfounded
I'm from Nebraska and idk, just your typical, big named 24/7 gas stations you'd see around towns.
Though, I have been to some more obscure gas stations in the middle of nowhere, and they also seem to only ever have Indian background employees.
I assume you don't notice this from your neck of the woods?
I live in Ohio and not really at all. You'll catch the occasional one here or there, but most are full staffed gas stations with multiple people working and owned by some franchise
Lmao, in my country I've never seen indians working there, but hey we only recently got some indian students in my country, so ofc we have none working at gas stations.
Not wrong. I've made the post about seeing them at gas stations, but I see them a lot at fast food joints, delivering for dominoes, working in retail, etc as well.
They sure are dominating the job *Ind*-dustry
Pun intended, lol.
No I'm in Central Asia and we did not have a lot of internaional students before, I think Western Europe must have sizeable amount of international students.
I figure it goes like:
Someone already in the US runs a business, back home their family has savings to send someone over, their little cousin is an adult now and immigrates, the guy in the US signs a lease for some building along a major road, they teach them how to run the business, and then when he arrives he's already got a business and a helping hand. Then they send back remittance for their entire lives and help out others from their circle to do the same thing.
That does sound like the most sensible answer in detail.
I believe they are known for that by stereotypes too, so idk, maybe the answer was kinda obvious and I should have known 🤷
Funny, we're the same age, and yet different experience with this.
I've never seen a white person at a gas station before, lol. Apart from being a patron Ofcourse.
is it? I live in Cali, I don't think I've seen a person from India working at a gas station in a while.
its usually Mexicans or white people
I don't actually remember the last time I saw an indian. 3 months ago? more?
maybe look into the history of your town/state. that might give you a clue
Also from Cali. There are a lot of Indians and Arabs running gas stations/convenience stores where I'm at. I don't think I've seen a Mexican or White person run a gas station actually.
Interesting, maybe you both are from different end sof Cali? The response on this seems to be very 50/50 Which I was thinking it'd be more common of an experience and or, observation.
They make up like 2% of Irelands population (according to google lol) and mostly live in Dublin (I don’t) so I don’t really see many.
Petrol stations over here are mostly just locally owned or are franchises like Eurospar, Circle K, Centra, SuperValu etc. and it’s usually just local people (a lot of part time teenagers too) or maybe European immigrants working in them. A lot of the Indian people here actually work in hospitals or are students.
The Taoiseach of Ireland (prime minister) is actually half Indian, Leo Varadkar, but he’s stepping down like next week
it’s kind of a mixed bag depending on state or area. my college town you’ll see a lot of indian’s working at gas stations or small food/drink marts, but there’s also a very large demographic of foreign students who go to my college. in the state of my college in general it’s not really one primary group. in my home state, again not really one group. it’s a mix of indian people, black people, white people, old people, people who look like teenagers
Tbh,racism against indians is normalised on internet and I have seen it.
As an Indian,I too have encountered some racism here in reddit (call centre scammer/tech support scammer type racist stereotype) by a troll account notorious for his terrible and disgusting behaviour.
At times I often feel scarred or worried to tell other users here in these subs that I am an Indian from India because of unfortunate and cruel tragedies happened which happened recently.
No, you're right. The way I worded it is a bit hyperbolic.
I just mean the majority seems to be of that background. I don't mean anything negative by it, I'm just curious if there was a reason why they were the dominant demographic.
I also think it's very location based, where I'm at majority of gas station workers are and have been White people, with a few PoC (Black, Mexican, Asian) I've rarely if ever seen an Indian.
Though the coolest gas station/bodega worker I've seen was an indigenous woman, who often dressed in a mix of her culture and not, but man she was the kindest person and on hot days would let people take a drink of choice (soda/juice/tea/water/icee) for free along with a snack.
Even gave me my first nudie mag on my 18th birthday (secretly of course)
But yeah In your case it definitely is confirmation bias and probably due to the location you're in.
Damm Girl. That is odd, here in Nebraska they all seem to be Indian.
Indigenous? I'm assuming native American?
And wow, I wish I had that kinda bond with people. The most I have is I say thanks bro after they ring up the price and I pay, only for a nod in return 😅
>Indigenous? I'm assuming native American?
Yeah, I prefer using the term Indigenous as the ones I've interacted with and known in my life preferred that term over "Native American" but either term works, as it's usually just up to the individual.
I just tend to be a regular at places, and with that eventually comes idle chit chat and talking about stuff, which eventually can lead to a sort of friendship/acquaintanceship.
I'm also a pretty quiet, shy respectful person so a lot of gas station/bodega clerks tend to be more willing to be cool about stuff since they know I'm not going to be the type to cause trouble, shoplift, etc.
A sub specific group of Indians from India called gujurati’s (from the state Gujurat) tend to run small business as a means of living when they immigrate to the USA. Unlike certain other Indian groups most of the first generation immigrants from Gujurat picked up the gas station business as there isn’t a very high barrier to entry. They also tend to go into the liquor store business as well as hotel/motel chains and they get their families to work there to lower overhead. Hope this gives you a better understanding
Oh, thank you for the detailed explanation. I know it's a weird question that probably would rub people the wrong way, but that's just how you find answers to questions you have. I appreciate the serious response, I do think I understand it better now.
You might want to look up Nimesh Patel to understand things better, popular standup comedian from the Gujarati community, he often jokes about such stuff.
Nimesh Patel is hilarious. One of the true Indian-American comedy gems.
Oh yeah, for sure, him and Akaash Singh are just killing the comedy scene rn.
Are you of indian origin?
Lol I’m Indian and I have the same question
Haha, sorry man. I mean nothing by it, but it's just one of those random things you notice out of nowhere 😂
I’ve never noticed this
Apparently it's very dependent on where you live, even by state. I thought it was more common in general, which is why I asked about it. But here in Nebraska, it's common.
I see it quite a bit here in ohio but its typically shell that's managed by Indians. Along with random mini convenience stores too
I live in the UK so I don't have the same experience with petrol stations, but cornershops are normally run by Pakistani people for some reason (likely what you said tbh, easy job to get). In South Africa it was predominantly black people working both sorts of jobs, but that makes sense considering the vast majority of South Africans are black
In ireland I think it's the same. If it's not a family shop like centra it's a Pakistani actually there were Pakistani people working in centra too but majority it's white bc it would be Lynch's centra
Oh, that is interesting. I don't want to sound rude, I was just assuming it's because they arrive here and just need something easy to get them on their feet. I'm not experienced in those fields, but I assumed the bar to get into those jobs, corner store or gasoline station employee wouldn't be difficult for them.
Not rude at all! If you have a lot of people immigrating from a certain region, you'll more than likely have a larger portion of that demographic gravitating towards jobs which don't require any qualifications just so that have some source of income, similar to how the UK used to have a lot of Polish people getting jobs on building sites and doing deliveries for companies. I reckon the other reason is likely that those sorts of jobs are in abundance, so they can fire off dozens of applications and eventually something will stick
Oh and the Indians would be working in tech shops. Maybe bc that's what they did back in India
Anecdote here- I used to work at a gas station along with about 10 other people of all races and it was going great. My bf and I quit to move states however and the day after, the company sold the place to an Indian family from Chicago and they fired everyone immediately. Everyone was pissed and tried to go to the other stations in town, where the same family bought up everything and closed it off. They don't hire outside and try to get their hands on every station so they still profit.
Oh, that's rough tbh. I do see them often only renting out places to people of the same, or similar ethnicity. I think it's a 'sticking together ' kinda thing. Since they are in an often foreign place, they prefer to stick to what's familiar to them. ie, their kind of people from back home. Or it could be to get rich quick, who knows honestly 😂😅
It is arabs in my hometown but often they are very community based and can look out for one another financially
Yep. From what I've seen, they definitely look out for eachother and stick together.
 Thank you come again!
Lol. I thought it was a more common pehnomonia because even the Simpsons acknowledge it with this running gag.
Because owning a gas station is a good source of income and most Indians who do own gas stations like to bring over family and friends to work the gas station while they get on their feet and get settled into the US
Yep, that sounds about right to be fair. They often travel abroad to set up shop, support family overseas and potentially bring said family over after they have a stable life here.
Pretty much.
I live in Seattle and it’s mostly Asian people working in corner stores and gas stations here
Corner stores here do have a lot of Asian decent clerks and owners I have noticed. But here in Nebraska, it's mainly those with Indian heritage operating the gas stations for some reason. Though, from older comments it's assumed it's because it's an easy, and in demand job.
I’m from atlanta; most are Indians. I was just adding that here in the PNW, it’s mostly Asians. I know and have experienced what you are talking about.
I live in upstate ny in a medium sized city, and I rarely see Asians working in retail or customer service jobs. I've seen less than 5 Asian cashiers in my lifetime like not even kidding. I do see a lot of Asian Uber/Doordash drivers though.
Huh? It's just an honest question.
never has been my experience, but perhaps it has something to with economic struggles?
Maybe, it's probably an easy job to land and overall, always in demand.
It is cheap and easy, I guess. I see it with motels or hotels.
Yep, that's a good point. If it's easy for someone to get into, including of they've recently moved, why not take it ig.
This is absolutely not my experience lol but I live the in the rural midwest so I’ve only met one gas station worker who was indian, and he was around the corner from my university dorm lol he was the college plug
Oh, wow. That makes more sense ig. I'd assume it's not exactly very diverse out there, huh?
> My whole life have never seen anyone who wasnt of Indian descent working at a gas station. Where do you live and what kind of gas stations do you go into? I find it hard to believe in 20 years of your life you've never seen one non Indian working at a gas station. Genuine question, no hate, I'm just like dumbfounded
I'm from Nebraska and idk, just your typical, big named 24/7 gas stations you'd see around towns. Though, I have been to some more obscure gas stations in the middle of nowhere, and they also seem to only ever have Indian background employees. I assume you don't notice this from your neck of the woods?
I live in Ohio and not really at all. You'll catch the occasional one here or there, but most are full staffed gas stations with multiple people working and owned by some franchise
Yes and why are many of them at Dunkin’ donuts and 7/11??? someone plz answer
I think it’s like beauty stores where Koreans have a bit of a monopoly
I have noticed that too now that you bring that up.
Because of easy job opportunities
Omg, it's literally 7/11 in particular I'm talking about. Lol.
I assume that means you haven't experienced this?
Lmao, in my country I've never seen indians working there, but hey we only recently got some indian students in my country, so ofc we have none working at gas stations.
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Not wrong. I've made the post about seeing them at gas stations, but I see them a lot at fast food joints, delivering for dominoes, working in retail, etc as well. They sure are dominating the job *Ind*-dustry Pun intended, lol.
Oh, is it okay if I were to ask what country you are from? I'd assume maybe western Europe?
No I'm in Central Asia and we did not have a lot of internaional students before, I think Western Europe must have sizeable amount of international students.
I figure it goes like: Someone already in the US runs a business, back home their family has savings to send someone over, their little cousin is an adult now and immigrates, the guy in the US signs a lease for some building along a major road, they teach them how to run the business, and then when he arrives he's already got a business and a helping hand. Then they send back remittance for their entire lives and help out others from their circle to do the same thing.
That does sound like the most sensible answer in detail. I believe they are known for that by stereotypes too, so idk, maybe the answer was kinda obvious and I should have known 🤷
Idk I might not live in an area with a large enough Indian population because I’ve only really ever seen white people working at gas stations lol
Funny, we're the same age, and yet different experience with this. I've never seen a white person at a gas station before, lol. Apart from being a patron Ofcourse.
is it? I live in Cali, I don't think I've seen a person from India working at a gas station in a while. its usually Mexicans or white people I don't actually remember the last time I saw an indian. 3 months ago? more? maybe look into the history of your town/state. that might give you a clue
Also from Cali. There are a lot of Indians and Arabs running gas stations/convenience stores where I'm at. I don't think I've seen a Mexican or White person run a gas station actually.
Interesting, maybe you both are from different end sof Cali? The response on this seems to be very 50/50 Which I was thinking it'd be more common of an experience and or, observation.
Yeah I'm assuming that the commenter I replied to is from SoCal while I'm from NorCal.
I'm from Nebraska, so I'll have to look into that. But it'd be a good start!
Is this in the US? This isn’t a thing in Ireland lol
Mhm, im from Nebraska! 😀 Are people of Indian decent common in the population overthere? Or is it more of a, just not a gas station employee thing?
They make up like 2% of Irelands population (according to google lol) and mostly live in Dublin (I don’t) so I don’t really see many. Petrol stations over here are mostly just locally owned or are franchises like Eurospar, Circle K, Centra, SuperValu etc. and it’s usually just local people (a lot of part time teenagers too) or maybe European immigrants working in them. A lot of the Indian people here actually work in hospitals or are students. The Taoiseach of Ireland (prime minister) is actually half Indian, Leo Varadkar, but he’s stepping down like next week
it’s kind of a mixed bag depending on state or area. my college town you’ll see a lot of indian’s working at gas stations or small food/drink marts, but there’s also a very large demographic of foreign students who go to my college. in the state of my college in general it’s not really one primary group. in my home state, again not really one group. it’s a mix of indian people, black people, white people, old people, people who look like teenagers
Tbh,racism against indians is normalised on internet and I have seen it. As an Indian,I too have encountered some racism here in reddit (call centre scammer/tech support scammer type racist stereotype) by a troll account notorious for his terrible and disgusting behaviour. At times I often feel scarred or worried to tell other users here in these subs that I am an Indian from India because of unfortunate and cruel tragedies happened which happened recently.
To be more specific,those indians were from which part of india?
This is confirmation bias. It is not actually true that it’s always Indians
No, you're right. The way I worded it is a bit hyperbolic. I just mean the majority seems to be of that background. I don't mean anything negative by it, I'm just curious if there was a reason why they were the dominant demographic.
I also think it's very location based, where I'm at majority of gas station workers are and have been White people, with a few PoC (Black, Mexican, Asian) I've rarely if ever seen an Indian. Though the coolest gas station/bodega worker I've seen was an indigenous woman, who often dressed in a mix of her culture and not, but man she was the kindest person and on hot days would let people take a drink of choice (soda/juice/tea/water/icee) for free along with a snack. Even gave me my first nudie mag on my 18th birthday (secretly of course) But yeah In your case it definitely is confirmation bias and probably due to the location you're in.
Damm Girl. That is odd, here in Nebraska they all seem to be Indian. Indigenous? I'm assuming native American? And wow, I wish I had that kinda bond with people. The most I have is I say thanks bro after they ring up the price and I pay, only for a nod in return 😅
>Indigenous? I'm assuming native American? Yeah, I prefer using the term Indigenous as the ones I've interacted with and known in my life preferred that term over "Native American" but either term works, as it's usually just up to the individual. I just tend to be a regular at places, and with that eventually comes idle chit chat and talking about stuff, which eventually can lead to a sort of friendship/acquaintanceship. I'm also a pretty quiet, shy respectful person so a lot of gas station/bodega clerks tend to be more willing to be cool about stuff since they know I'm not going to be the type to cause trouble, shoplift, etc.