Warning: The gas in this pump may be hazardous to your wallet.
Gas prices are high, not much news there anymore. But the high prices are starting to hit in some unexpected places. Indie bands, for one, who have to play gigs to survive but have to pay for gas to get to their next gig. Greg Kot, the music critic for the Chicago Tribune, wrote about one band, Cursive:
"We drove from Omaha to Madison to play a show and it cost us $240," said Matt Maginn, bassist for the Omaha indie-rock band Cursive. "My jaw just about hit the floor. That's double what it cost us before. If you're a new band driving cross-country in a van pulling a trailer of equipment that's getting 6 miles a gallon, and you're getting paid 50 or 75 bucks to play a gig, I don't know how you survive."
Of course not all of us can be rock stars, but gas prices are changing the way many of us cubicle dwellers work, too.
Escalating gas prices are prodding businesses and local governments to take a drastic step to curb costs: Many are cutting back to four-day workweeks, with employees generally working four 10-hour days instead of five eight-hour days.
That's the first line from Stephanie Armour's piece in today's USA Today. Most of the employers cited are government agencies, but she cites a poll of businesses that shows 26% offer employees a flexible schedule, and some are turning to telecommuting.
We've all read the stories about people driving less, biking to work, taking public transportation, but are the high gas prices changing your routine in any unusual ways? Surprise us!
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