The Costco Gas Episode...

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We went out for a drive on Saturday to town... our mission would include exchanging some shoes the Easter Bunny bought for "my man" on a buy one get one 1/2 price sale... and of course I couldn't have picked anything he would have really wanted to keep... but it was all good, it got us out of the house together, and we never go shopping together, so it was an experience all in itself.

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The good news... we ended up at Costco, his favorite place to end up around noon on Saturday so he can feed the bottomless pit of a teenager for free and then top him off with a hot dog and soda for $1.50. That thrills him to no end. And I got my non-fat yogurt fix.

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The bad news... We decided to get gas at Costco since it was almost .17 cents cheaper than anywhere else (that is not the bad part). The lines were long, but they always seem to move pretty quickly. As we sat in line we watched the line next to us and the events that unfolded were comical, but we analyzed each movement and decided upon our own set of procedures for the fuel lines a Costco, that seemed to be the most efficient way to get the most cars through.

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There are 2 pumps in each line, and if by some reason the 1st car should leave the pump before the 2nd car, if the 3rd car pulls around the 2nd car to take the 1st pump, he has to maneuver and jockey around (more opportunity for fender benders in our opinion) and he kind of blocks in the 2nd car.

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So we decided it was better to wait the 145 seconds for the 2nd car to move clear out of the pumps, then cars 3 AND 4 can pull up to the pumps at the same time!

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So we followed this pattern when it came our turn... and the lady behind us got out of her car and made a comment, she asked why we would sit there and not go around to the 1st pump when ALL these cars were in line. So my husband says to her in a pretty nice tone, we weren't in a big hurry, if you were in such a big hurry why didn't you go around?

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So I felt the need to give her some kind of explanation, since we had sat there discussing it for some time while we were waiting and it wasn't that we weren't in a hurry, we had really thought it through.... so I simply said, Mamm, we had seen that going around caused some confusion and problems that didn't seem worth the time it took to wait for the cars to move out of the way.

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Then some lady in an entire different lane, not even related to our issues, blurts out that she was with the lady behind us, and we were just holding EVERYONE up!! And not in a nice tone.... so I looked at my husband, and whispered, I guess the people in this town are not as nice as I had always thought them to be. And he yells out in a very loud voice "Yeah, they are LOUD FAT PIGS"!!!

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Well dying a thousand deaths... I just wanted to leave before someone doused us with fuel and lit a match to us! I couldn't believe he would say that!! Here I am carrying WAYYYYY more weight than I ever care to admit, standing next to him, and he blurts out something rude about fat!!! What was he thinking???

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So we had a very long conversation about....

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Name calling, because that was one of the 1st rules we made when we got married "NO NAME CALLING" (he explained what he meant and apparently pig analogies have a different meaning to skinny people, the explanation included something about pigs rooting, and this lady rooting her nose where it didn't belong... hmmm questionable explanation, but he came up with it pretty quickly, so it seemed believable)...

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and Thumper (if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all)...

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and the example we could have set for the 1st lady who made the comment, avoiding ALL the other comments...

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not to mention the example we were setting to the teenager in the back seat of our car who is about to posses a drivers license...

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and most of all being more Christlike in our words and actions.

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We both felt very badly about the entire situation! And trust me we are repenting!!

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The real kicker was at church on Sunday as we perched ourselves on the 2nd bench in the front... and much to our surprise on Easter Sunday instead of being taught about the resurrection... we were taught the entire service about being slow to anger, and holding your tongue when you want to say hurtful things to others... and they even referenced "Thumper" and his famous saying! I about fell off the bench!

Guess we needed it and God knew!!!

He is always watching us!

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What do you think the procedures should be at the Costco gas pumps?

Are those lanes in-between the pumps there for moving forward to the front pump?

Do you think it takes longer to jockey around the 2nd car than it does to just wait 145 secs?

Should we have paid .17cents more and gone to a station where it wasn't crowded?

Would you have been able to keep your mouth shut at others comments in this situation?