Most people can’t remember when someone pumped your gas for you. It was one of those services that most of us took for granted. Often, I put 50 cents worth of gas in my dad’s car, and the attendant didn’t blink an eye. Then came the rise of self service filling stations in 1971, and I’ve never really gotten used to it. Pumping gas is a smelly business, and often, I spill some on my shoes. That’s why I wait until the very last minute to fill my tank. Yesterday, I was down to about 20 miles worth of gas. That’s when I discovered I was out of luck. Help! Kroger ran out of gas.
In all of the decades I’ve lived on this earth, I’ve never encountered such a situation. There was no warning sign posted anywhere. But the filling station was eerily empty. Plastic traffic cones had been placed beside each pump. Still, I didn’t put everything all together. Thought maybe it was some new policy to keep people from hitting the pumps. Inserted my credit card, which told me it was approved. And yet, it stopped there, and wouldn’t let me start filling up. I looked around in confusion while another car pulled up and stopped. Seeing my dilemma, a gentleman got out of his car and explained that Kroger was out of gas. Then he showed me how to retrieve my credit card by hitting “cancel” then “clear.” . Thank heaven for the kindness of strangers.
Was this situation an anomaly or will it become commonplace in the coming months? There’s a shortage of truck drivers to transport gas from the pipelines, and across the nation. And cyberattacks are hitting the pipelines and shutting them down. Adding insult to injury is the fact that prices are higher than they’ve been for years.
I suspect some people may start hoarding gas by filling up 5 gallon containers and storing them in their garage. All of which won’t help matters at all. Who is to blame? I guess the obvious scapegoat is the Biden administration. Shutting down the Keystone pipeline, cyberattacks, paying people not to work, the Covid -19 pandemic….. Figure it out, based on your political leanings.
All I know is this: I will not wait till I’m almost on empty before filling my gas tank. I won’t complain about having to pump my own gas. And, hopefully, that’s the last time I have to cry, ” Help! Kroger ran out of gas.”