News flash: Gas Shortage Worsened by Douchebags

I got to work yesterday with a little more than a quarter tank of gas left.  I told the manager that if I didn't get gas, I was not going to be able to come to work today.  They sent one of "the guys" out to pour a gallon of gas into my tank, then sent me out - at 4PM - to fill up.  The manager was very excited about telling me which gas station currently had fuel for sale.  I nodded, sighed, got in my truck, and headed out to find exactly what I knew I would find.

Every human in the world had been let out of work early to find gas, and every gas station that was currently pumping had a line literally hundreds of cars long.  I could have gotten in line, used up the entire eight hour shift, all my gas, and celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday and I still wouldn't have gas, because they'd have run out before I reached the station.

I drove to as many gas stations as I could without burning more than the measly gallon they added to my tank (which would be beyond pointless), then went back to work and told them "no dice".  This morning, I went out to look for gas again.  Same story.  As I drove back up the lines, more than one station was just at that moment sending a representative out to stand in the street and make the universal throat-cutting sign, indicating they had just run out of fuel... and there were so many cars in line that most of them couldn't actually see the person making the signal.

It's ridiculous.  I refuse to run my vehicle dry, to not have enough gas to get myself or my husband or my cats to a doctor in an emergency.  To not have enough gas to go to the grocery store if we run out of food.  I'm just not doing it.  On top of everything else, people are driving like assholes, being aggressive to everyone else, as if by causing an accident or getting in a fist fight they're helping to solve the gas shortage.

Just now I read a news article that reported one of the major issues making the shortage worse are people who are getting in the lines who have THREE QUARTERS OF A TANK OF GAS IN THEIR VEHICLE!  These gobshites are also bringing two and three gas containers with them.

Seriously?  People, if you have enough gas to get you through three or four days, STAY HOME.  Let the people who are running on fumes get some gas.  If the jerkwads who had enough gas to last until things normalize would stay out of the dingity-dang lines, there wouldn't BE such long lines, and the people who really need it could get to it before their vehicles die on the side of the road.

If I was in charge, I'd tell all the cops currently directing traffic at gas stations (oh yes, they're being assigned gas stations for crowd control - it's like a war zone out there) to go down each gas line and oust and ticket anyone who had more than half a tank of gas. 

Another puzzling thing is that some stations are rationing the gas, only letting people buy a small amount, after they've waited for hours and hours and hours just to get to the damn pump.  That doesn't make any sense, either.  If you just fill up the tanks of the cars that come in, those people will not have to come back and get in line again in a day and a half.  If someone has to drive two hours to get to work, a quarter tank of gas isn't going to do bupkus.

This is another reason I am not getting in one of those ridiculous lines.  I can just see myself, after nine hours on some godforsaken side street, being told I can only buy enough gas to sit in another nine hour long line to buy another few gallons, and having to pull someone's head off with my bare hands to express my displeasure.

Egads, I hope things get back to normal soon.  This shit is stressing me out.