Civilization: a thin veneer over barbarianism. ~John M. Shanahan, The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time (In Two Lines or Less)
Although I could not recall the exact phrase or the authors name, this line was running through my head on Friday night as I watched two men get into a fight at a gas pump in East Cobb.
It was about 9:30 pm and I'd been to three stations during the course of the day, South Cobb, Bankhead Highway and finally on my way home from Happy Hour at the 120 loop. At this point my tank was at empty, so I didn't have much choice but to wait in the 4 deep line at the only 2 (of 20) pumps with fuel still in them. The scene was a bit surreal folks would coming winging into the station and then realize that they had to line up. I got in one line and turned off my car so save what little I had left and inched up as folks finished.
At pump 19 I notice that one guy had pulled in the wrong way, and so in order to not lose his space he got out of the car and stood in what would have been his spot. His car had a woman and little girl. Well as soon as the car ahead of him pulled out and he went to get the gas nozzle, the giant SUV behind him pulled up like it was going to run him down. The woman and the little girl were pulling up to the pump and the SUV just keep coming at them.
Finally they both stopped and the car door flew open from the SUV and that driver ( Anger management candidate guy #1) started screaming at the guy with the nozzle in his hand, they engaged in a angry shouting match until AMGuy1 shoved the other dude, nozzle man having been shoved takes a swing at AMGuy1 with the nozzle. It's at this point the rest of the SUV unloads and it's 4 women all who head for snacks inside ( I got the distinct impression they'd seen AMGuy1 behavior in the past, and Doritos and a slurpee was a better plan than trying to stop him.
The little girl is crying, and her Mother is trying to reason with the knuckleheads. The QT guy finally comes out, and he's all of 18- and I'm not sure- but I don't think even he thought he'd get these two knuckleheads to calm down. I have no idea what was being said, as it was in a language I don't speak but clearly the little white car could have filled it's tank in the time it took those yahoo's to have their testosterone fueled shouting match
I make a call to the po-po man. Frankly the situation was getting a bit ugly with folks arriving and the lines were getting long, and I figured a squad car really wasn't going to hurt and might chill a few folks out.
It's at about 5 minutes, before the Cobb County Cops arrive, and sure enough the blue flashing lights "encourage some behavior modification" and Anger guy "allows" nozzle guy to fill his car. The cops chat with the Q-T guy and don't engage the knuckleheads. In all the excitement, it's now my turn to fill up. They only have the regular unleaded, and I consider getting only half a tank so the rest might last for the others on line, but just then the QT tanker arrives and I fill the whole tank.
As I head home, I realize many things, one if I had run out of gas, it was going to be a long walk home 5 miles, two I was wearing some really stupid shoes to try that in, three I need to never let the tank get below 1/4 from now on( like my father taught me), four the situation will get far worse before it gets better and five I've been living in a bubble.
As soon as I got home, I put a pair of sneakers in the car ( hell I can at least do that much) I rethought my plans for the weekend to reduce the amount of driving I would do since I really wasn't sure I could fill up again. The living in a bubble thing,however, I'm still working on.
It was pretty scary to see how quickly a situation could devolve to violence, that reasonable solutions like everyone waits their turn, that this guys friends wouldn't just say-hey just let them go and we'll all be outta here before you finished screaming at each other.. and I had to call in the cops since reason wasn't on the table.
Over the weekend, I pass 4 other stations with no gas, and long lines at the one that had some. My mother said there wasn't a lot in Roswell and several folks on Facebook commented the same on their status.
Did you try to fill up this weekend? How was everyone behaving? Did you change any of your plans because of the shortage?
One Response to “Veneer”
This was going on all over the Atl this weekend. It happened to me on Sunday coming back from the 'For the People rally' in Gainsville. First Fulton, then Cobb and then Bartow Co. just had no stations open or with gas. It was amazing. Then this morning we all saw what part of the issue was. The Price Per Barrel shot up. That's essentially what they were all waiting on and betting on.
I finally found some gas in Cartersville, but it was way up US41. At the Old price too. So when they don't want to have to sell you the gas at the old (cheaper price) somehow they conveniently run out of gas. (And yes, at least some of them actually did).
I usually don't let my tank get that low, but evidently we've got to fill up at every available opportunity or be 'caught short' by the market gamers who run the Big Oil Co's. They're playing us like chumps. All the time!
But another thing to be thankful about living in ga., is that we're now a 'right to carry' state. This means we can safely predict more gun play at the pumps as people get more testy. Which could easily mean more explosions too. So don't look now, you're living in an action movie set. Everyday. On the roads. Cheers, JMP