Pumped-Up

When it comes to activities I would rather not be doing, standing in lines ranks somewhere between water torture and seeing any of the "Twilight" films. (For those of you keeping track, the "Twilight" films are the most painful of those three options.) So, as you can imagine, this has not been a particularly good week for me. But, I understand it is a necessary evil when it comes to this time of year and I frankly have no one to blame but myself for it. I could just have easily gone shopping earlier and avoided the crowds, or shopped online and avoided human contact all together. But, I procrastinated and wanted to actually check out the things I was buying in person, so I stood in lines and I managed to make it through relatively unscathed. However, I would hardly say I enjoyed the experience and I don't know of anyone who would, which makes the fact that some people choose to form a line when there doesn't need to be one all the more puzzling.

I was gassing up my truck yesterday at one of the bigger gas stations on the highway. It had 12 pumps to choose from (I know this because I was at pump 12), only two of which were occupied when I pulled in. So you can imagine my surprise when I go in to pay and come out to find another car sitting behind my truck, waiting for me to leave. I tried to convey to this person that I just got there and hadn't gotten my gas yet, but they didn't seem particularly interested in what I was trying to say and just sat there. I was confused by this because, like I said, there were 9 other pumps they could have used. I could see that their gas tank was on the same side as it is on my truck, but they could have very easily gone around to a pump on the other side without much trouble. It wasn't as if I was blocking them from getting by. And if you're too lazy to drive to another pump I'm left to wonder how you made it to the car in the morning. Apparently, this guy just wanted to hang out behind me.

I was content to simply chalk it up to the driver being weird. Maybe he's superstitious and 12 is his lucky number or he's just a huge Tom Brady fan? Perhaps this particular pump has the sentimental meaning to him or he has a theory about the pump being furthest from the station having the freshest gas? It could be that he likes the view of the road from here or thinks that because the pump is closest to the tank it has the most pressure behind it, so you get a little more gas than you would at any of the other pumps? All of these theories ran through my mind as I watch the dial count off my 10 gallons of gas. But what caused this encounter to go from mildly interesting to worthy of a blog post was when I went back in to grab a soda (last-second decision) and the guy threw up his arms in frustration and annoyance. Oh, I'm sorry, am I making you wait longer than you never had to?

I have very few hard-and-fast rules in my life, but one of them is that you can't get mad at someone if they inconvenience you and it is your fault. If you have some strange hang-up which only bothers you then you can't get pissed at a total stranger who doesn't know the rules. I told this guy I just started pumping my gas. As far as I'm concerned, that was the end of our social contract. If you choose to still wait for this one particular machine to come open, you will wait as long as I damn well feel like making you wait. While picking out my drink I had a quick thought about washing my windows, just to be an extra bit of a jerk. Of course I didn't because I'm non-confrontational by nature, it's the week of Christmas so why be a jerk and I've seen the movie "Duel". Instead I just got into my truck and drove away, thoroughly confused by the entire episode. I can only hope the guy's gas was worth the wait.