I know I used a Britishism there, but the alliteration doesn’t work if I say “gas”.
I speak of the insanity that is waiting in line to buy gasoline. Our commander-in-chief’s unhinged attacks on apparently everything that sparks his ire has extended to Iran. Confused as to why, and not believing anything I’m being told, I’ve concluded that it’s simply a vendetta against a Muslim country that has steadfastly refused to fall under western – Christian – foreign control.
Whatever the reason, attacking a founding OPEC nation has surprisingly impacted petroleum prices!
So people swarm out of their suburban garages the moment a hot tip on low gasoline prices hits the web. Costco has always been a bastion of bad behavior, but then our local UDF announced a “sale”! 40 cents off per gallon on one day only! Cue the old men excited to get a good deal.
And to this I ask…who cares?
I ask this because it hardly justifies the offset cost of insanity. Say I top off and buy 10 gallons of gas. I then save $4. Money is money, but by waiting until after the sale, I was able to pull into an empty lot and fill my car without threat of bodily injury or vehicular damage, and complete my transaction within a couple minutes.
Maybe having not lived through the 70’s, I didn’t get to experience that generational freakout firsthand that gas might not be available at all.
Or maybe I just have an economic privilege that $4 doesn’t outweigh the experience.
–Simon