Price Gouging

On the way home from work today, I filled up the Maxima for tomorrow's trip to visit Stacie's mother in South Carolina. We had already been warned that prices were hitting over $5 / gallon in some areas due to hysteria. I try to fill up at Kroger since we bought some gift cards earlier, but today it wasn't going to happen because of the long lines. I stopped by my favorite BP on the way home, but 75% of their pumps were closed and the lines were 5-7 cars deep for the pumps that were working. I tried one more place across the street because they still had gas at a reasonable (HA!) $3.99 for mid-grade. As I pulled in, a guy was pulling down the 3 and replacing it with a 4. You've gotta be shittin' me! I asked the lady in front of me if gas really just went up $1 a gallon while I am next in line. She said she was still paying the lower price so I turned the car around and pulled in to the pump next to her. The pump still showed $3.99 for 89 octane so I swiped my credit card and filled up the tank. When I was done, the receipt did not print so I went inside to get one and make sure of the rate I was paying. It correctly showed what the pump had reflected, but I noticed when I got in the car the pumps now showed $4.99 / gallon. It went up a fucking dollar a gallon in the time it took for me to get my duplicate receipt! If that is not price gouging, I don't know what is. Although we can make it up to Greenville and back on a tank, we will have to fill up on Sunday so we have gas for the week. We were worried that we either won't be able to fill up or it would be over $5 / gallon. We decided it would be best to cancel our trip and ride out our existing gas supply for a while. I only have 1/4 tank in the G, but that will have to last until this stupidity passes. I expect by the end of next week it will be back below $4 / gallon. It's a good thing we carpool as much as we do and have a short commute. Good luck to everyone that needs to fill up this weekend.