Never mind, WHY BOTHER
That all sounds minor to me, except obviously an accident could theoretically be major. When your car runs out of gas and you know what that feels like, there is generally sufficient warning to control the situation and safely pull over.
I’m not saying one should not try to never run out of gas, merely that there is no need to get upset about the very idea of it.
Yet you try to convince your boyfriend that he SHOULD run out of gas – deliberately. Which is flat out stupid.
I hear that most people survive stabbings and shootings too. 
I ran out of gas once, right in the middle of an intersection while I was waiting to make a left turn. Two cars came damn close to hitting me. I was young and poor and not particularly good about my priorities. Odds are I bought some weed instead of a tank of gas.
Never again.
I see now. You’re one of those; a people person. I bet your shopping cart it always blocking the aisle while you stare at the ketchup selection. 
Ex-boyfriend. I’m with someone who would not care about running out of gas now. We can drive in peace with no hysterics.
Running out of gas is nothing like getting stabbed or shot, since those would be painful.
I’m curious AnaMen, how often do you run out of gas?
I’m pretty much the opposite, which is why I like to encounter random acts of kindness.
You must be the one fuming behind the ketchup browser, popping blood pressure meds.
Two or three times a decade probably. Maybe less these days, as I have more time and money than at some other stages of my life.
Keeping your tank filled is an extreme? Avoiding running out of gas seems like the bare minimum one can do.
I feel like you always give us motives we really don’t have. Just because I am annoyed by the ketchup browser does not mean I am popping blood pressure meds. Moreover, just because I pick my ketchup quickly and efficiently doesn’t mean I am, I dunno, anxious about picking ketchup. Just because I make sure to always have gas in my tank doesn’t mean I have any anxiety about it whatsoever. I just like to have gas in my tank.
Not necessarily, although one could take it to that point, insisting on never letting it get below 7/8 full or something–then you’d really be taking up a lot of your time for no good reason. It’s the idea that you personally should NEVER be in anyone’s way ever that is extreme.
But fillups are so much cheaper doing that.
I see now.
So to summarize: You save hours of time a year, make new friends, save the environment, get some exercise, maintain a clean gas tank and practice random acts of kindness simply by running out of gas. While those of us who fill their tank with gas when it gets low are obviously type A anti-social assholes who pop blood pressure meds.
Is that about right, Saint AnaMen?
But…I never let it get below 7/8 of a tank, and it doesn’t take up a lot of my time to fill it up. I mean, our lives are different, you get that, right? The gas station is literally on my way home from work and it takes me less than 5 minutes at all times to fill it up. It is no skin off my back, so I usually fill up once a week - twice if we have used the car to go on a long trip.
It’s a priority for me. That does not make it some kind of anxiety-inducing thing! I just keep it in the back of my head to fill it up approximately once a week.
I didn’t introduce the idea of low-gas anxiety here. If you like keeping your tank over some certain amount, that makes good sense. It’s the stress over the situation–which you may not have at all–that doesn’t.
I get gas efficiently, which means minimizing stops for me. I don’t run out of gas terribly often, because I know when my car really means I need gas and when it’s just nagging prematurely.
Who said that? I certainly didn’t.
I do save hours of time a year, but it’s my time, so nothing saintly about that. I don’t keep in touch with people who have helped me, so no new friends, but I do remember them fondly. I never said I did anything for the environment–obviously I drive a car, so I don’t care about it that much. Yes, my tank is nice and clean. No, running out of gas is not an act of kindness: I pass the favor along to my people when I encounter them by the side of the road. We irresponsible types have to help each other out.
I’m not claiming to be a saint by running out of gas. It’s just a thing that happens from time to time, don’t pop a blood vessel thinking about it.
You said it should be minimized or something to that effect.
If getting gas often is what makes you feel good about yourself, go for it.
Frankly, your situation of having to get gas while driving an ill infant to the hospital sounds pretty irresponsible. I’d keep my tank fuller under that circumstance for sure.
Seriously, that’s an appalling comment for someone who doesn’t mind running out of gas. A child could ge sick at any moment, without advance notice.
Unless you are just claiming that a parent is irresponsible for letting a gas tank go empty, but not you since you don’t have a kid?