Eight Hours at the Gas Station: Mob Lessons for the Business Analyst

Prologue

It was some minutes past 4 am, the first light ray was yet to break the hold of the darkness as I dressed up for a very important outing. This was the first for me but I was not looking forward to it, though I knew thousands of people experience it every day. I was getting ready to go and hunt for a gas (fuel) station in order to join the long queues that have become permanent features on my city’s roads. My estimate for the time I will spend on the queue? Three hours, if all goes according to my expectations!

Background

My car’s fuel gauge signal turned red, and a decision to buy Premium Motor Spirit (popularly known as Petrol) from the black market stared at me in the face. But I decided against it; the risks were too high. Apart from paying over 300% higher than the official rate, there is also the risk of buying adulterated fuel with the attendant risk of damage to the fuel pump. I decided to set out as early as possible to join the long queue, the only other option is to leave the car and pay high fare for the chaotic and unreliable public transport service.

Introduction

This is not the first time that fuel scarcity would happen, but I have never felt the effect like this before. The longest time I have ever spent on a queue before was roughly one hour, and most of the time, many people had been of help in getting this essential commodity in time of scarcity. It will interest you to know that even though Nigeria is the biggest producer of crude oil in Africa and the seventh largest in the world, fuel scarcity is becoming a recurring event here.

The Set Out

Leaving my house by 4:45 am (which I considered too early) I set out for the biggest fuel station in town. I was shocked when I saw 2 to 3 kilometer-long queues (in a double lane format). I saw nothing less than 350 units of vehicles on the queue. I visited another station (also with an unbelievable long queue for such a time of the day) before deciding to join the queue at the third station. I soon realized that many people on the queue passed the night there (in their cars), and that many were spending the second straight day on the queue!

The Community and the Economy

As soon as the first streams of light busted through the dark cloud, many of the drivers on the queue started coming out of their cars, and before long, a topic was being discussed (you will think the men had known themselves for long). My curiosity got the better part of me and I joined a group of two men nearby. We immediately got immersed in discussion about renewable energy and the imminent government transition our country. One of the guys I was talking with has a Masters Degree from Hong Kong University and works with a renewable energy firm. Eventually the group grew to about nine men, and I noticed that kids selling wares ranging from water to snacks started coming around. This queue has a community, and just like any other community it has given birth to many economic activities. By the time it was 7:30 am, it became clear that I would have to readjust not just my estimate but also my schedule for the day. We were informed that the fuel station manager would not start selling until 8:30 am. I was furious but also seemed helpless. I didn’t have enough fuel in the car’s tank to start going elsewhere, and anyway, I was not sure there would be a fuel station without any queue (or a better one) at that time of the day unless such station has no fuel to dispense.

I decided to go and find out what was happening at the fuel station (which was like a kilometer from where my car was), after convincing another man to go with me. What I found surprised me; many people on the queue were still sleeping in their vehicles while some were observing their early morning prayers. It seemed these hopeful petrol buyers were trying hard to maintain a semblance of normality even in the face of acute hardship. My companion on the walk gave me another insight into suffering. According to him, “suffering is not just when you don’t have money to spend, but when you have money but still cannot buy your daily needs”. We met an old man (he should be in his late 60s or early 70s) who told us he also spent the night on the queue! I asked him to join us to go and have a meeting with the station manager; I believed we could convince him to start selling as soon as possible. The old man declined, but offered me his place on the queue because he had decided to go home. My new position meant I moved forward on the queue, beating nothing less than 40 cars in the process. My joy knew no bound, you would have mistaken me for a winner of a multi-million dollar lottery jackpot!

The Mob of the Queue

Eventually the fuel pumps started dispensing some minutes past 10 am (almost 5 hours after I joined the queue), but it was anything but an orderly process. Many people jumped the queue, despite spirited efforts from others to maintain order. I witnessed an angry set of people attempting to push a car out of the line because the driver jumped the queue; many car tires were deflated in an attempt to maintain order. Welcome to the world of the mob of the queue, this is an unusual group. Not the Al-Capone type that was portrayed on the Hollywood blockbuster, The Godfather. This mob consisted of responsible citizen looking for social justice even on the queue. I was amused by what I saw, especially the coordinated actions of people to maintain social order. Several “black market entrepreneurs” were also having a field day. They had a well rehearsed process that ensured they got to buy fuel before every other person on the queue!

The mob I saw at the fuel station reminds me of the “mob” I sometimes encounter during stakeholders engagement. Though stakeholders’ aggression is usually channeled through subtle means, but the message is always loud and clear, “The solution you are proposing is ‘jumping the queue’ here and we are determined to push it out.”

The Mob Lessons

The mob is not always entirely made up of mobsters, nor does it only operate on the street. There are mobs in the boardroom too.
Many gentlemen (and ladies) will join a mob action if they deemed it as a necessary line of action.
Shouting, begging or cajoling the mob is not the best course of action, addressing the causative factor as soon as possible is the only way out.
It’s an exercise in futility to attempt to take on the mob as a whole; the mob is at its weakest state when the members are dispersed and they are acting and making decisions individually.

Conclusion

I eventually got the opportunity to fill my car’s fuel tank by 1:06 pm (8 hours after joining the queue), and it could have been longer if not for the kind old man’s offer. I managed to get a full tank, but not until I had to take on the fuel station attendant that told me he would only be selling half tank to me based on the instruction of the manager!

Epilogue

My initial 3 hours estimate to get fuel was wildly off the mark, I even considered myself fortunate to get a full tank. It’s not impossible for some people on the queue to go back empty handed that day. I hope the fuel situation will improve as soon as possible, because I dread going back to the queues. I was gratified by the fact that I have a full tank of fuel, so much so that I felt like just parking the car in my garage to conserve the fuel. Of course not a logical choice, for why spend 8 hours looking for a fuel I will not use.

Written by Oludayo Awe