In other news (apolitical thread)...

[utee94]

Forget the opening.  I've been saying for years I don't understand people's infatuations with regular Buccees that have been open already.

They have a lot of lanes, so you don't usually have to wait in line at the pump.  They have clean bathrooms. 

Cool.

Still didn't explain how some people look forward to going.  It's a gas station that hijacked some of Walmart's more worthless aisles. 

I've stated before that I prefer Buccee's on roadtrips where I'm towing my RV camper trailer, because the gas pumps are plentiful, and the area around them is generally huge and easily maneuverable for a truck towing a large trailer.  And my i s c & a aggie wife appreciates the clean restrooms.  Oh, and the cheap ice is good, especially when we're headed down to the national seashore where we'll be boondocking off-grid for a week at a time.

As for the merch and the mania, I don't really pay any attention to all that.

[betarhoalphadelta]

So Arizona has a Buccees open out west of Phoenix.  It's on the news.  Okay.
People camped out for hours before it opened. 
Why?
The news cameras are showing the avalanche of people going in.  Okay, black Friday vibes.  Whatever.  Novelty.  Okay.

But the looks on their faces. 
Madness.
Manic faces.  Orgasmic faces. 

I can't help but chalk this up as evidence that our society is broken. 
Manic, obsessive behaviors at a gas station to buy shit they don't need and at least some can't afford.
A certain % of our people are unwell.  They have a job, they make kids (a lot more kids than the well), they obey some traffic laws.  But they are unwell.

----------

I know you guys will just roll your eyes at this, and I honestly didn't think much of it - stupid people obsessing over a fucking gas station, blah blah.
But the looks on their faces as they entered concerned me, genuinely.

I heard it was like this when the first White Castle opened around here. 
Who is this population of zealots who obsessively value literally anything novel to them?  What is that mindset? 
I wish I hadn't seen the footage, to be honest. 

Humans are social animals. Some have overdeveloped and some have underdeveloped that aspect of their brains, but ultimately this sort of behavior is prevalent enough that I don't think you can claim it's evidence that our society is "broken". 

The truth is that we are all, to a greater or lesser degree, drawn to communal experiences. For some, that's church. For others, it's sports. For others, it's things like raves or nightclubs. For others, it's Star Trek or Comic Con conventions. For many of these things, the value is not just their inherent nature, the value is experiencing them communally. 

Even sports, watching your team on your own TV at home is not the same as being in the stadium. But for you as a Florida fan or me as a Purdue fan on the opposite side of the country from where our teams are is still a communal experience. Because even if we're not physically connected to it, we feel that connection to the fan community. We have left it, but it hasn't left us. 

This is built into our biology. 

"Grand openings" are things I largely find to be stupid... I generally like to wait until the hype and the crowds die down before I go someplace.  

But I understand that for some people, wanting to be "part of something", even something as trivial as a gas station grand opening, is a natural thing. Maybe they're just people who grew up with Bucees and moved to a place where it doesn't exist, and this is nostalgia.

I remember the first Chick-fil-A opening in CA (which was in Irvine where I lived at the time) was a HUGE thing... I find it silly, but other people found it meaningful. There are so many transplants here in CA that I think mobbing the grand opening was a way for people who aren't from here to commune with other people who aren't from here around a shared experience. Yeah, it's just a damn chicken sandwich. But that doesn't matter. It was something that they grew up with and was therefore a [minor but extant] part of their identity.

[Cincydawg]

Yup, I think many humans strive to be "ahead of the herd", so to speak.  I recall when I was about 16 going to the major mall in ATL on Black Friday.  I didn't have anything to buy really, it was just to experience it I guess.  It was a total madhouse of course.  Maybe I learned then to avoid such things.  People like to go to any number of things that attract crowds.  I guess they get some sense of "being", and with some grand opening, a sense they "were there!!!".  Anyone not there lacks bragging rights.

I think some of this relates to travel as well, folks like to brag about the cool place they visited or saw.  "Have you been on an Alaskan Cruise?"  "Oh, OK, which cruise line?"  "Oh, we were on "X" cruise line, I hear they are much better than "Y"."


A good thing about getting old is that more and more stuff falls under IDGAS.

[Cincydawg]

As for Bucky's, I've been to one, got gas, went inside with my wife, who forbids me from stopping there even to get gas.

I was kidding her on our drive back by pointing to every Waffle House we passed.  "We COULD eat there....".

Same thing with RVs.  "That COULD be us."

"That COULD be YOU, not me."

[FearlessF]

as long as people aren't hurting each other, let em do stoopid things
as long as their foolishness has no negative affect on me, I don't care enough to pay attention

someone wants to pay that much money and stand in a crowd to watch Taylor Swift or a female drummer with Rush........ do what you enjoy

I'll stick with much more logical things such as Red sports cars, golf, and Husker football

[OrangeAfroMan]

I guess I just have 'gas station' in a different box as just about everything else I can fathom.

I totally get utee's prudent, specific reasons for preferring Buccees.  But it is just a preference.  I doubt he'd go 30 miles out of his way to seek one out if he needs gas and his wife needs to pee.  

And as far as the opening being an event - a communal thing where being there checks an instinctual box...I guess I feel like I grew out of that in adolescence.
If it's a maturity thing, okay.  But maybe it isn't.  I worry that these people lack more meaningful (if only slightly more) group events in their lives.  
Maybe its convenience.  Don't have to nerd out over the content of a thing, don't have to have any knowledge of a hobby, etc.  Just show up and go ballistic for some jerky and caramel corn.  

Idk.  
I hope they lead fulfilling lives.

[FearlessF]

they don't

[jgvol]

I guess I just have 'gas station' in a different box as just about everything else I can fathom.

I totally get utee's prudent, specific reasons for preferring Buccees.  But it is just a preference.  I doubt he'd go 30 miles out of his way to seek one out if he needs gas and his wife needs to pee. 

And as far as the opening being an event - a communal thing where being there checks an instinctual box...I guess I feel like I grew out of that in adolescence.
If it's a maturity thing, okay.  But maybe it isn't.  I worry that these people lack more meaningful (if only slightly more) group events in their lives. 
Maybe its convenience.  Don't have to nerd out over the content of a thing, don't have to have any knowledge of a hobby, etc.  Just show up and go ballistic for some jerky and caramel corn. 

Idk. 
I hope they lead fulfilling lives.

These people are affectionately referred to as:  NPC's....or sheep.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Yup, I think many humans strive to be "ahead of the herd", so to speak.  I recall when I was about 16 going to the major mall in ATL on Black Friday.  I didn't have anything to buy really, it was just to experience it I guess.  It was a total madhouse of course.  Maybe I learned then to avoid such things.  People like to go to any number of things that attract crowds.  I guess they get some sense of "being", and with some grand opening, a sense they "were there!!!".  Anyone not there lacks bragging rights.

I think some of this relates to travel as well, folks like to brag about the cool place they visited or saw.  "Have you been on an Alaskan Cruise?"  "Oh, OK, which cruise line?"  "Oh, we were on "X" cruise line, I hear they are much better than "Y"."


A good thing about getting old is that more and more stuff falls under IDGAS.

Yeah, one year I went out early on Black Friday just to see the madness.  Morbid curiosity.  But I also recall going out to help my aunt obtain things for her 3 daughters' Christmas gifts, just to be helpful.  But even as a teen, finding it all bizarre and a poor reflection of our society's ravenous need for STUFF.  

Everything doesn't have to be deep and meaningful, there's plenty of room for frivolous things like college football, soccer?, and I guess, gas station openings.  
If i had been there, I'd just want to interview them and I'm pretty sure none of their answers would help me understand it any better.

[Cincydawg]

I think all of us here have some ... oddities, many would view us as very eccentric indeed, just as we view others.

Humans indeed are very social animals, we tend to think "our kind" is smarter, better looking, more savvy, with better habits ... than "their kind".

I have cousins who think people from say South Carolina are all WEIRD.  They'd never live in SC etc.  I'm sure this is quite common, overgeneralizations, all of which I'm against.

[Cincydawg]

As I noted, I was on the UGA campus yesterday across from this fairly large sports stadium basically used a few times a year.  Just about any European would view it as ... astonishing.  My wife is used to it now, but I know she doesn't really understand it, maybe she does.  She leaves me be on fall Saturdays at least.

[FearlessF]

These people are affectionately referred to as:  NPC's....or sheep.

the unwashed masses

[OrangeAfroMan]

I'd love to understand the kind, but I'm not having much luck.

[OrangeAfroMan]

As I noted, I was on the UGA campus yesterday across from this fairly large sports stadium basically used a few times a year.  Just about any European would view it as ... astonishing.  My wife is used to it now, but I know she doesn't really understand it, maybe she does.  She leaves me be on fall Saturdays at least.

It is truly amazing how massive our stadia are and only used a handful of times each year.  Even if you add concerts, events, monster truck rallies, etc.
We can waste space like nobody's business.