It never fails. People are once again upset about the price of gas with nobody to blame.
Maybe that’s why we get so upset. We’re frustrated and we haven’t got one thing or person to put the finger on.
Every time there’s a sudden increase at pump we…well….lose it a bit. Scream and yell to whoever will listen. I’ve even seen an otherwise sane looking person unload on a poor Shell clerk because it cost him over $100 to fill up and last time it was under $80 and SCREW YOU KID!!!
When that was over I asked the kid, “How often do you get that sort of thing?” He said, “Pretty often.” Didn’t look shaken at all. I suppose he was actually use to it.
I was surprised but then again I wasn’t. It’s the old blame the messenger thing. We all know it’s not that kids fault gas prices went screaming up overnight. I’m sure the guy who yelled at the kid knew that too.
Nonetheless, we have to have somebody to take it out on, so why not the kid the works behind the counter making minimum wage? Makes perfect sense right?
I hope that guy felt like a jerk after that episode.
You don’t really see that kind of anger about price increases with much else. The price of food goes up, people just go, “Well it must be a tough year for the farmers.” The price of milk goes up, the price of bread goes up, the price of chocolate goes up.
No outrage. No angry facebook posts about how Nestle is screwing the little guy.
But gas prices go up and we all turn into Yosemite Sam after getting fooled by Bugs Bunny one more time.
READ MORE: Gas prices spiking in Winnipeg, rising to $1.18 per litre
Amazingly I haven’t been able to find any kind of psychology article on this phenomenon anywhere so I’ve come up with my own little theory.
Sure a gas price spike will cost us more but I believe there is more to it. We love our cars. We find them necessary. They’re like our second homes, as a matter of fact, some of us spend more time in our vehicles than we do anywhere else. Our vehicle becomes part of us, part of who we are.
We define ourselves by that vehicle. We have many memories attached to that vehicle and that’s one of the reasons many of us find it so difficult to part with them and move on to something newer.
I’ve had that issue myself recently.
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When we’re faced with paying more for gasoline it becomes almost like a personal insult from some mysterious villain we can never really single out. It’s almost like we can hear his evil laugh off in the distance and there simply isn’t anything we can do to stop it. We’re helpless. We get upset.
And yet, back to the pumps we go.
What do you think?
No?
Ok, let’s just say it’s because we’re paying more and leave it at that.
Have a great weekend!
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