Dapper Man Pumping Gas While Smoking Cigarette / X Could Be Here, I Hate X

About

Dapper Man Pumping Gas While Smoking Cigarette, also known as X Could Be Here, I Hate X, is an exploitable image macro and phrasal template meme in which a man wearing sunglasses and a suit can be seen pumping gas into his car at a Family Express while smoking a cigarette. The image first circulated in 2018 as part of a Facebook post in which someone complained about the man's recklessness. The photo was subsequently posted to 4chan's /lit/ forum where an anonymous user wrote a short story in which the man is made to be racist toward Black people. The snowclone "X could be here, I hate X" is also labeled as a racist dog whistle against Black people by some online.

Origin

The image of the suited man pumping gas into his gold Honda Civic at a Family Express while smoking a cigarette traces back to a Facebook screenshot in which someone appears to have shared his photo to complain about his recklessness. The Facebook post reads:

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Yes that is a LIT cigarette in his mouth. He then proceeded to get in his car and TAKE A HIT FROM A BONG. IN THE MIDDLE OF A FAMILY EXPRESS WHILE PUMPING GAS.
What the hell is wrong with people?!?! (And his car was running!!)

While the origin of the Facebook post is presently unknown, the earliest known instance of the above screenshot being shared was an April 1st, 2018, post by Facebook user Stoned Meadow of Doom.^[1]

On November 23rd, 2018, an anonymous user posted the image of the man to 4chan's /lit/^[2] board with the prompt, "write a short story about this image." Another anonymous user replied with the following short story:

"N**** could be here" he thought, "I've never been in this neighborhood before. There could be N**** anywhere." The cool wind felt good against his bare chest. "I HATE N****" he thought. Sweet Dreams are Made of These reverberated his entire car, making it pulsate even as the $9 wine circulated through his powerful thick veins and washed away his (merited) fear of minorities after dark. "With a car, you can go anywhere you want" he said to himself, out loud.

Spread

On November 29th, 2020, iFunny^[3] user wubs posted an edited version of the original Facebook post, gathering over 100 smiles in three years (seen below).

On June 13, 2022, X^[4] user @JoshRainerGold posted the image with the caption, "We used to be a proper country" in reference to the catchphrase. The post gathered over 3,000 likes in a year. On September 11th, X^[5] user @desertguerilla used the copypasta from the aforementioned 4chan story, gathering over 900 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below).

On May 21st, 2023, X^[6] user @Babygravy9 (RAW EGG NATIONALIST) used a phrasal template from the original 4chan copypasta to write, "Teens could be here," he thought. "I HATE teens." On May 24th, X^[7] user @SNicotinus posted a redraw of the original image with a caption that started with, "BARBARIANS could be here," gathering over 2,800 likes in three months (seen below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References