Fuel to the fire

If it's not appalling enough how high gas prices are getting, now you need to fill up twice. I've discovered that most gas stations have a limit of $50 that you can charge on a single credit card transaction. Maybe it's always been that way, but nothing you ever had to deal with when gas was $1.50 per gallon. One Mobil station last week had a little posted sign saying that it was for my protection from fraud and theft. All I needed to do, it said, was initiate a second transaction if the pump shut off before my tank was full.

It's been costing about $62 to fill my tank. My repulsion is only intensified by having to insert my credit card twice, enter my zip code twice, and stuff two little receipts into my wallet. Frankly, if I was a thief filling my ride using my newly-stolen credit card, and I got the first tank to work, why couldn't I just do it again? Just like the guy I stole the card from has to. How is this crap for my protection? Do they think it's a stalling technique? Like in the tense moment the thief is forced to reswipe the stolen card, Citibank is on the horn with the cashier saying, "Just keep him busy, Sanjiv, we're on our way."

At a deeper level, even though I am disgusted by the price of gas, I am secretly hopeful and kind of excited. Maybe this will be the catalyst to obsolete gasoline in favor of hydrogen. My desire to turn every oil-rich, terrorist-harboring, Middle East country back into a blowing wasteland of penniless nomads is enough for me to consider alternative fuels. If it takes Jack and Jill Middleclass paying $5 a gallon to finally bury the sheiks, I say, "gimme four credit card receipts." Let's get 'er done.