It didn't start with much here in Charleston. A few local gas stations posted signs asking customers to limit fuel purchases to 10 gallons.But it started a short-lived panic Thursday, with talk of $5 gas by late afternoon.
The rationale sounded good, anyway. Fuel suppliers were watching as Hurricane Ike hunted for a spot along the Texas coast to hit, and some refineries shut down in anticipation. Offshore rigs were hanging out in the Gulf with all kinds of potential for damage, and things were just plain uncertain.
It's when times are uncertain that rumors really grow legs. In this case, word went out via phone calls, text messages, email, and mouth to ear.
I heard this rumor shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday while at work, and already my coworkers were in panic mode. Nearly all made plans to stock up on gas as soon as they clocked out (I didn't have to worry about it, being on a bike). One of my youngest crewmates lives a fair distance away, recently got an SUV (which never met a gas station it didn't like), and asked to take off for a few minutes to fuel up. Permission granted.
It turns out my coworker got a phone call from a friend who said her uncle's friend's concubine's dog's boss (or something) got an email warning that gas would go up to $5 or $6 a gallon by 5 p.m. That was the gist anyway.
All of which smelled like misinformation, like urban legend to me, and I expressed my doubts.
On the way home I checked out all the gas stations on Rivers Avenue, which is the main drag in North Charleston. We're talking 4:30 to 5 p.m., the front edge of rush hour. Some of the stations were crowded, a little more than usual, but no gigantic lines. Gas stayed at the area's norm, around $3.50 for unleaded. Nothing unusual there. I stopped at a BP on Rivers and I-526 for provisions, and it was the normal level of business there. The normal clientele. As many folks came in for quart bottles of malt liquor as they did for gallons of gas, making it a fairly typical day at that BP.
In other parts of Charleston, my coworkers reported, the gas stations were pretty well crowded Some long lines and a lot of waiting to get to a pump. At least one popular station in the West Ashley area had run out of unleaded fairly quickly. But the prices held steady throughout, which did surprise me.
I can understand, again, the panic. Gas hit a (then) all-time high while Hurricane Katrina was killing people in New Orleans. For the first time here, it topped $3 a gallon, while it was up to $4 in parts of Georgia during the storm.
And, yeah, some of my more conspiracy-minded friends noticed that this was on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, therefore it meant something. I don't buy that one, though.
This one was, to all intents and purposes, pretty harmless. So folks were in a hurry to fillk their tanks? No problem; they're going to use that gas sometime anyway.
Generally, though, this was instructive in how misinformation starts, is disseminated, grows legs, and eventually fades to black.
Here's another take, from a Realtor in Georga:
The rationale sounded good, anyway. Fuel suppliers were watching as Hurricane Ike hunted for a spot along the Texas coast to hit, and some refineries shut down in anticipation. Offshore rigs were hanging out in the Gulf with all kinds of potential for damage, and things were just plain uncertain.
It's when times are uncertain that rumors really grow legs. In this case, word went out via phone calls, text messages, email, and mouth to ear.
I heard this rumor shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday while at work, and already my coworkers were in panic mode. Nearly all made plans to stock up on gas as soon as they clocked out (I didn't have to worry about it, being on a bike). One of my youngest crewmates lives a fair distance away, recently got an SUV (which never met a gas station it didn't like), and asked to take off for a few minutes to fuel up. Permission granted.
It turns out my coworker got a phone call from a friend who said her uncle's friend's concubine's dog's boss (or something) got an email warning that gas would go up to $5 or $6 a gallon by 5 p.m. That was the gist anyway.
All of which smelled like misinformation, like urban legend to me, and I expressed my doubts.
On the way home I checked out all the gas stations on Rivers Avenue, which is the main drag in North Charleston. We're talking 4:30 to 5 p.m., the front edge of rush hour. Some of the stations were crowded, a little more than usual, but no gigantic lines. Gas stayed at the area's norm, around $3.50 for unleaded. Nothing unusual there. I stopped at a BP on Rivers and I-526 for provisions, and it was the normal level of business there. The normal clientele. As many folks came in for quart bottles of malt liquor as they did for gallons of gas, making it a fairly typical day at that BP.
In other parts of Charleston, my coworkers reported, the gas stations were pretty well crowded Some long lines and a lot of waiting to get to a pump. At least one popular station in the West Ashley area had run out of unleaded fairly quickly. But the prices held steady throughout, which did surprise me.
I can understand, again, the panic. Gas hit a (then) all-time high while Hurricane Katrina was killing people in New Orleans. For the first time here, it topped $3 a gallon, while it was up to $4 in parts of Georgia during the storm.
And, yeah, some of my more conspiracy-minded friends noticed that this was on the seventh anniversary of 9/11, therefore it meant something. I don't buy that one, though.
This one was, to all intents and purposes, pretty harmless. So folks were in a hurry to fillk their tanks? No problem; they're going to use that gas sometime anyway.
Generally, though, this was instructive in how misinformation starts, is disseminated, grows legs, and eventually fades to black.
Here's another take, from a Realtor in Georga:
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