I am doing the same as your bartender example, I just wont put in any more than $30 even though my vehicle holds much more. I find that I actually do not fill up more often, but rather watch the gas level closely, and make decisions to pair up errands with other trips to get things in one area done all at once. Even if it means that the library book is one day overdue -a .10cent fine, I wait until i am doing something else nearby.
I think it is all psychlogical. I think people are already frustrated by the insidious rise in the price of EVERYTHING the past few years not in sync with normal inflation… first healthcare, then water, then gas & electric, next mortgages…now gasoline… The increases have been quite shocking…
Sometimes it takes awhile to feel it when you are getting screwed from so many different angles (while the corporations/CEO’s CFO’s, continue to post record profits/incomes – except the airlines – but that’s another story we have suffered through personally – nightmare is a better word for it…).
