The White Board

59 and pouring rain

Another slice of life as seen from the convenience store.....

Recipe for a Full Blown Panic

Take one Hurricane aiming dead on for the nation's largest oil refineries.
Stir in a healthy dose of media madness screaming about prices jumping to 5 or 6 dollars a gallon..
Fold in two local gas stations (not mine) experiencing some sort of internal confusion resulting in an EIGHTY-FIVE CENT jump in their gas prices over mine.
Simmer in a Friday night pressure cooker and BAM!

Instant FULL BLOWN PANIC!

It took two cashiers, me, my other half and two police officers to control round-the-block lines of people screaming and yelling and punching and, generally, acting like two year olds. Then came dessert. I had to raise our prices. Not, mind you, to the extreme of $4.69 down the street, but a more reasonable $4.21.

*That's MY spot. I was here first. No, I was here first!!! Well, my car is bigger than yours! I'm blocked in. I want in. I can't get out, move your car! No, I'll lose my spot. I need gas. I didn't know my gas tank was on that side! I must have moved. (!!!) I NEED gas. OMG, they will run out before I get MY gas. Raising the price? You can't do that! Look! The station down the street is out of gas! I will not move my car until I get gas!*

Strains of Chicken Little....the sky is falling...the sky is falling!

$30,000 dollars later we are exhausted. Everyone got their gas....we didn't run out until midway through day 2 of the mob mentality. Today our gas is on sale for $4.17. It is teeming rain as the last dregs of TS Ike blow out over Michigan. And no one wants to admit that they were a part of the screaming, panic driven mob that descended on my station. Folks say they 'drove by and saw it.' They comment about the mayhem, but, no, they didn't 'need' gas that night. Uh huh...sure.

Panic is a most interesting phenomenon. All it took was someone telling someone else that their sister's girlfriend's mother-in-law saw gas for some exorbitant price and people go nuts! They seem to cease having rational thoughts. They revert to two-year old screaming and pushing. In short...they panic.

These are everyday customers in tiny town America. Not people trying to evacuate from a hurricane. Just everyday people. And friday night they showed a side of themselves that, I expect, come Saturday morning, were a bit embarrassed about. Least I hope they were!