Gasoline Alley: Tales from the Front Lines of the New 1970's

Yesterday I had no trouble putting gas in the Civic at my neighborhood Getty station -- the one owned by the nice man who now services the car, since dealer servicing of two other Civics only yielded me 107,000 miles each, when everyone else I knew was getting 150K out of theirs. No lines, no problem. Price: $2.73/gallon. The kid who pumps gas (we don't have self-serve here in NJ) looked as if he'd been beaten with baseball bats all day, and when I asked him if people had been giving him shit about the price, he nodded.

Think about it. The news has been All Katrina, All the Time, and people are busting a teenaged gas jockey. Fucking idiots.

Today the owner has to raise the price to $3.05 at the behest of his distributor. I shudder to think what's going to happen to him and the kids who work for him in a town where almost everyone has a GMC Yukon or larger.

NJ has no supply problems, largely because we have both ports AND refineries here. But I know both Carolinas are showing shortages already.

Post YOUR gasoline-buying experiences (and the reactions of your gas-guzzler owning neighbors to $3.00 gasoline) in the comments.