How Hard Can It Be?

Today I'm heading to the Boys Ranch with the girls and I have to stop and get gas.

How hard can it be?

I first pull up to the pump and reach in to grab a credit card from my wallet. How hard can it be?

No credit card. I mean, I have Penneys, Sears, Younkers, Kohls, my National Association of Photoshop Users Membership Card, my Sams Card, and 73 Culvers tokens, but no Visa, MC or Discover...

So I decide to just pay cash. How hard can it be?

I go to the pump and pull the pump out to pump the gas. How hard can it be?

Pre-pay Only Pump. So I decide to go in and write a check. How hard can it be?

I get in the truck stop where there is a huge line and a loud speaker saying, "Shower number 247 is now available. Shower number 247 is now available? and I'm thinking to myself I hope they don't have them numbered starting at one.

So I get up to the register and I say, "Pre-pay for pump . . . uh . . . " (how hard can it be)?

I see the car and I see a sign above it saying 2. So I say, "Pump 2."

How much? $25? Are you sure the tank will hold $25 worth becuase if it's a check, I can't give you a refund. (Come on now, I want to say -- our lawn mower practically takes $25 to fill it up with gas prices these days!)

I head out to finally pump the gas. How hard can it be?

Gas pump won't work. Nothing will come out. A voice comes out of nowhere, "your pump is a pre-pay pump only. You must come inside."

I push the call button. How hard can it be?

Call button broken.

I decide that I must have the pump number wrong and that pump #2 must be farther ahead, so as I'm getting in the car to move it. I drop my checkbook. Cash starts flying out of the car. I run to get it all. How hard can it be?

It keeps evading me until I am quite embarrased and the guy across from me gives me a patronizing smile.

Then one of my girls points to Mr. Patronizing and says, That man over there didn't have to pay for his gas!"

I look at his gas flowing freely until "click." He says, "That's weird. It stopped at $25."

You guessed it, he was at pump two, I was at pump one. Fortunately, he was nice enough to pay for my gas.

But again, I ask myself, "You were just getting gas. How hard can it be?