In other news (apolitical thread)...

[jgvol]

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

They are morons.  Not much to understand.

[OrangeAfroMan]

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

the unwashed masses

Okay, if we're going to admit this is a % of the population, what do we do with that?  Why do they do what they do?  And they don't consider themselves as such, right?  They don't know they're on that 'team.'

[FearlessF]

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.

space AND tax payers $$$$

[utee94]

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.

Yup you're 100% correct.  I plan my routes ahead of time and if there's going to be an easily accessible Buccee's along the way then that's where I'll stop.  But if it would force my out of my way, then I'll stop elsewhere.  Truck stops like Flying J's are also really good for folks towing large trailers.

And I totally agree with you about freaking out over a grand opening of a gas station, though I don't consider freaking out over the grand opening of a restaurant or donut shop to be any different.

I'm just saying that some people freak out over gas stations and some people freak out over sports and I don't think one is any more or less healthy than the other. I wouldn't spend even a fracton of a second waiting in a line or fighting huge crowds at a gas station, but I do it regularly for sporting events.

[jgvol]

Okay, if we're going to admit this is a % of the population, what do we do with that?  Why do they do what they do?  And they don't consider themselves as such, right?  They don't know they're on that 'team.'

Marketing, branding, materialism, keeping up with the Jones's, the "in crowd, collectivism.

They are programmed -- that's why they do what they do.

They would be insulted if you told them they were lemmings.  Totally unaware.

[FearlessF]

Okay, if we're going to admit this is a % of the population, what do we do with that?  Why do they do what they do?  And they don't consider themselves as such, right?  They don't know they're on that 'team.'

it's a larger percentage than is healthy

what the rich & powerful do with that is to control and take money from they

they do what they do because of lack of intelligence and education and awareness
they don't cornsider themselves as such because of lack of intelligence and education and awareness
correct, they have no idear they're on that team

[FearlessF]

Marketing, branding, materialism, keeping up with the Jones's, the "in crowd, collectivism.

They are programmed -- that's why they do what they do.

They would be insulted if you told them they were lemmings.  Totally unaware.

Ed Zachery!

[utee94]

Okay, if we're going to admit this is a % of the population, what do we do with that?  Why do they do what they do?  And they don't consider themselves as such, right?  They don't know they're on that 'team.'

And I'm sure some of them view stadia full of college football fans as lemmings, NPCs, unwashed masses.

Everybody likes to think their own quirks are superior to others'.  If you really want to deep-dive a question, then try to figure out what to do with that.  

[FearlessF]

NASCAR fans just love Bucees 

[OrangeAfroMan]

Another part of it, for many, is that they have to work more.  Have their head down, in a sense. 
So maybe any little opportunity to 'let loose' is something they're going to take part in. 
Maybe. 

The grand opening (I even have to laugh at that moniker) for a fast-food place is the same as the gas station, imo.  Mundane. 

Also, a difference between a hobby/football fandom and the Buccees thing is the former is a want and the getting gas or eating something is a need.  And yes, if you own a car and live in the US and can afford it, getting gas is a need.

Does that difference change anything for you guys?  Enjoying something for leisure vs enjoying something I have to do anyway.  Idk if that is a meaningful slant to it, but maybe.

[Cincydawg]

When I first started working, we were subjected to various "training courses" in various fields, not really a terrible idea, one of the fields was marketing.  I asked why we spent so much on what I view(ed) as boring commercials for a product everyone knows about.  Why does Coke advertise?

The marketing folks said if Coke stopped ads their brand would falter badly within a couple of years, same product, same availability, just no ads --> disappearing brand.  And we had some really boring ads, the term "soap opera" came from that place.  And I believe them.

Why pay $X million for a 30 second slot in the Super Bowl to advertize Coke?  Makes zero sense, except it makes Cents.

Not everyone is as smart as Brad (BTW, thanks for the tip on BB ....)...

[OrangeAfroMan]

And I'm sure some of them view stadia full of college football fans as lemmings, NPCs, unwashed masses.

Everybody likes to think their own quirks are superior to others'.  If you really want to deep-dive a question, then try to figure out what to do with that. 

I'm really trying not to do that.  I'm trying to understand something I don't understand.  But a few here seem to chalk it up to this, so we're exploring that as well.

[MikeDeTiger]

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. 

You reminded me that back in my senior year of high school, a McDonald's came to the small town I lived in at that time.  Not like I'd never seen a McDonald's before, but it was a big deal for that little town.  It was kind of a sign that maybe we were moving up to being a one-horse town instead of a half-a-horse town.  

Me and a buddy decided we wanted to be the first people served there and we stayed up all night so we could be the first in line at the 5 am opening time.  Unfortunately we fell asleep sometime in the 4 o'clock hour (and wound up missing the first few hours of school to boot).  

Why was that important to us?  Well, as I recall....it wasn't.  We just thought it'd be cool to look back and remember that we were the first-ever customers there.  

[jgvol]

And I'm sure some of them view stadia full of college football fans as lemmings, NPCs, unwashed masses.

Everybody likes to think their own quirks are superior to others'.  If you really want to deep-dive a question, then try to figure out what to do with that. 

I have no delusions of grandeur, personally.   And we are all lemmings in some form or fashion, that is true.

I *think* the difference between "us" and the kooks I am referring too is ---- awareness.  Many really do not have a clue that they are programmed via marketing, advertising, and propaganda.  I think the folks on this forum are generally aware of the game.