Personally I always take my helmet off when going inside a shop or whatever. I've worked in some pretty hostile environments, and had to quite literally choose to put myself in danger before others are harmed on numerous occasions. However, when someone is after money, that's different, they can have it, the money is generally insured, I generally haven't been, nor have those innocent around me.
It takes me a few minutes to avoid the risk of upsetting/scaring someone. They don't know that you're going for the inside of your jacket to get your debit card out after all, and with all the hype about terrorists, I'd imagine quite a lot of staff are like cats on hot bricks. After all, it's only a few minutes, why worry?
I take it your local Tesco doesn't have the 'Pay at pump' facility that mine does. Almost every pump you caan pay for your fuel by putting your card in before you draw fuel. Asda have the same. I prefer them when I'm in a rush, as it means I roll in, fill up, and blat off
