Today, I needed to get gas. I found a gas coupon (ten cents off per gallon) that expired today. It was on my way to work this afternoon, but the trouble is I was running late, so I decided to do my other errands -- OK, I was going to look at porn -- then loop around.
One of those errands was going to the library, but I forgot that from the way I was going, I couldn't get to the library, and I found myself going to get a custard from Culver's. On the way to the loop-around, I saw that there was a gas station kitty-corner; it was selling gas for $1.89. Not bad, I thought, but unless the place I'm going to was really out of whack with all the gas stations in the Twin Cities, I'm getting a deal. It's worth it to go!
Even though it was 3:30, I didn't think there was going to be much traffic on the way to the gas station. Wrong. Took me a half-hour to drive 15 miles to get there. Their price: $1.96. Good ... except that I was thinking of another coupon when I used that to get ten cents off. Actually, I clipped a coupon that saved me only five cents per gallon. So instead of just going from Culver's to a gas station that was right there, I drove 15 miles in 30 minutes of stop-and-go traffic just so I could pay two cents more per gallon to fill up my car? Fuck me.
---
My travail today reminded me that to blog about something I teased some time ago.
The last time I tried getting a fill-up I had to try and do it twice. I was approaching this other gas station where I had a coupon. There's a four-way stop just before I take my left onto a very small footprint; there are only four pumps available (one big island with two pumps on each side), and not much asphalt to park or maneuver around.
I don't know how it's done anywhere else, but in Minnesota, if you get to a four-way stop before somebody else, you're the first to leave the stop. None of this "turners yield to cars going straight" crap the rulebook says we have to follow, pish. Anyway, I lost this battle, yielding to a domestic truck to my left making a left, and driving right in front of me. No, no, she's making a left. And she's pulling up to the first of two empty pumps on one side of the gas island. Doesn't this fucker even see me pulling up behind her? Why in the fuck doesn't she drive up to the next empty pump? Not only does it free up the one behind her, it makes it easier to drive away once you're done. But no, this idiot gets to the first pump and just stops. I honk my horn; a little old lady weakly crawls out of her All-American truck and hobbles to the gas nozzle. I don't think she heard me at all. And she made another mistake: From where she was driving from before she got to the intersection, she could've made a left to get to the gas station, too. But for some fucking reason I still can't understand she passed it up and went into the station the long way.
What the fuck could I do? I could barely get around her to take the pump in front of her. But I don't need any confrontation with a little old lady who could, like, whip out a cane and kick my ass. Besides, after I honked my horn at her, sticking around just to get gas would be too fucking awkward. So I just left. I decided to rearrange my schedule that day and just go later.
And I did go later. And a guy with another domestic truck did the same damn thing. The only reasons why I didn't just say fuck it and just get my gas the next day are 1) This guy was far enough ahead of me that I feel it is reasonable to believe that he didn't think I'd be going to the same place as he; and 2) I needed to goddamn fill up my car.
No comments:
Post a Comment