I’m a procrastinator by nature and I’m always running late, so when I ran out of gas on Friday, putting me even further behind in my already chaotic schedule, I’ll admit, I was a little peeved. I know most people would think I was to blame for this occurrence, which made me stressed out on an already stressful day, but it’s simply not true. Those who should be held responsible are automobile makers, gas cans and gas stations everywhere.

If I were still on my frivolous lawsuit kick, I would sue all three entities and collect millions of dollars that would be awarded to me for my pain, suffering and mental anguish. However, since I’m sure I’ll be quite cozy living off the settlement that I will no doubt receive from the lawsuit I discussed last week, I guess that won’t be necessary, but it is obvious that I was set up for failure.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the way cars work. No, not the actual mechanics – the little gas gauge thing. For the first half of a tank, the needle barely moves, but by the time you get to that last quarter tank, it’s like someone is siphoning gas out of your car with a hose. So, when I saw a had 1/16 of a tank of gas and realized I needed to get from my house to Georgetown and then back to Norwich, of course, I thought I’d be fine; who wouldn’t?

I’ve always been an overly cautious person, so even though I already had 1/16 of a tank left, I decided I would fill up, but when I pulled into my gas station of choice and pumped for five minutes only to achieve getting one gallon of gas from the pump, I decided not to waste another 70 minutes trying to fill the tank, instead I chanced it and drove home. At my house, I again used caution, and tried to fill the car with the reserve of gas we keep in the can in my garage.