Three cent cost me $46. I should have known better than to put off for tomorrow what I could have done today. That was my thought as I stood there in the cold, waiting beside the gas pump, work clothes, thin sweater, wet head….waiting on Pop-A-Lock to make their way to me.
Let me back it up so you can get the full picture. Yesterday on the way home from work, I decided I was too lazy to stop and get gas. The quarter tank was plenty to get me home. ‘Maybe I’ll go later when traffic has died down,’ I thought to myself. I got home and the husband had dinner cooking, the dogs P&P’d and my favorite lounge clothes all laid out and washed. He said since I had such a long, busy weekend and was sick and still went back to work while trying to recuperate, he was trying to make my evening easier. I was so thankful that I gave in to it and lay down to rest before dinner. All thoughts of going out (or even telling him I needed gas) went away with the stress of the day. It was a good night.
Fast forward to this morning. Still feeling groggy when the 5am alarm went off. No peep from the puppies so I lay back down. The hubs was awake and we had our ‘snuggle’ time (bad breath and all) and then he up and made me a good breakfast. Yeah…I’m spoiled. Before I knew it 7am was on me and I was due to be out the door. Of course I waited until this morning to get my lunch together. That took a few minutes away from me. I was leaving the house by 7:15 (way too late for a Thursday). I had just hit the first school crossing when I realized I was at less than a quarter tank. No way that was going to get me there. There was a gas station right there but unleaded was $3.15. I’m the frugal sort so I remembered I still had a Walmart gift card with money on it and I could save three cents/gallon. It was further away but it shouldn’t take that much time. I could make it. I kept going and finally hit Walmart and quickly jumped out to pump. Took me less than 3 minutes. I went to get back in and see the lock is lower than it should be. I check and of course it’s locked. Keys in the ignition, lights still on, phone in the car. Dang it!
The clerk said maybe I would be lucky because tow trucks and cabs get gas there early and they can always pop a lock. I was not so lucky. She called Pop-A-Lock and after a ridiculous amount of time telling them where we were located, they said it would take 30 minutes to get there. I used her phone to call my work phone because I couldn’t remember anyone else’s number. Good thing the policy is to pick up the phone when that person is not there. Told my co-worker I would be late due to laziness. She said, ‘Huh?’ I had to explain. Forty-six bucks and 45 minutes later, I made it to work. Still got a good parking space though!
Had I not put off fueling up yesterday, I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry. Had I not been so cheap, I would have just stopped where I was and not been in a rush. So many ‘Had I’s….’
Either way, it was a good day. Looking at the positive, I had the money to pay so I wasn’t stressing as much as I would have thought. Also since I'm in the habit of allowing a 30 minute window for the commute, I was only about 15 minutes late. So the day started up then went down. I figure that means the day can only get better!
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