Gas prices are rising, jaws are dropping, and although consumers say they feel helpless, they're adjusting their behavior - and trying any trick they can, logical or not - in an attempt to deal with those crazy, rolling numbers at the pump.
They are driving less, taking public transit, fueling up early and often, buying in dribs and drabs or - dreading the price tag - waiting until the gas gauge is well past empty to face the inevitable.
"We've been busy all week - I guess people are afraid prices are going to go up more," said Joan Cullison, the cashier at Carroll Independent Fuel, which was selling the cheapest fuel ($2.95 a gallon) at the gas-buying hot spot at Cold Spring Lane and Falls Road yesterday.
In particular, Cullison has noticed an early morning rush: Fifteen cars swinging by around 5:30 a.m., compared with the tiny smattering she sees that early on a typical weekday.
"People are getting in before they go to work because they're worried when they come out it's going to go up again. It's getting very scary now, isn't it?" she said. The early birds, she added, have a point: Prices recently went up two times in one day, she said.
Kenneth Marshall saw prices rise before his eyes.
He didn't need gas yesterday afternoon, but the retired bus driver couldn't pass up the Royal Farms on Joppa Road in Loch Raven, where Enroy regular was selling for $2.93 per gallon. As he and his wife waited in line at the crowded station, two men in bright blue polo shirts emerged with a ladder and a pile of oversized letters to post a 6-cent mark-up. He jogged to the cashier to pay for his $10 of gas, just squeaking in at the lower price.
"I think this is the last time we'll see $2.93," he said. "Maybe ever."
Yvette Roy, 38, of Perry Hall made it to within 10 feet of the gas pump when her Ford Explorer sputtered and completely ran out of gas yesterday. She blamed her displeasure with gas prices - and her bad habit of ignoring that pesky little fuel light.
"I haven't wanted to fill it all the way up because it's so expensive," she said. "So I've been getting $20 here and $25 there, every two days. And the price keeps going up."
Roy works two jobs: one with the Social Security Administration and a part-time gig at Blockbuster. The money from her second job, she says, covers just gas and car insurance.
