THE NEW UPPER CRUST

KL Nichols

As I pulled up to the gas pump and prepared to download (cringe) $50+ dollars worth of gas, a guy in a Dually, you know, one of those pickups that are as wide as they are long with 40 or 50 tires on them? Anyway, this guy pops out and plugs two gas pumps into two gas tank filler tubes on his side and comes around to my side and says, "Hey buddy, when are you going to be done with that pump?" Apparantly, he had two more filler spouts for an additional two tanks on my side. I quickly finshed and as I relinkished the pump to him, I asked him how much gas his rig held, he said, "240 gallons, 60 to a tank."

My next question brought a big smile to his, "What kind of mileage do you get with your truck?" He said proudly, "8 mpg around town and 5 mpg on the highway." I was so stunned that I couldn't talk so he went on, "Unless, of course, I am pulling the trailer with the dragster in it." "Then It goes down to a couple of miles per gallon highway."

I just sat there in my car and watched as he drove off. I got out and looked at the four pumps he had used and by mental addition, his 4 pumps totaled $700 and change. It was at this moment, I realized that sometime in the middle of the recent national financial crisis, I may have dropped a notch to lower class. Here to fore, I had considered myself middleclass.

Copyright K&L Enterprises 2008