Besides concessions at places like amusement parks / movie theaters / stadiums etc. where you are caged in and expecting to get fleeced, when have you payed an outrageous price for a good or service because you desperately needed or wanted it at that particular moment, and no other option was available?
Cigarettes.
When you’ve smoked your last one what seems like an eternity ago, and it’s 4 A.M. on a Sunday morning, and the streets are long dead but you’re still full of strange mixes of energy drinks, you don’t care that the barman of the one club still open sells his Marlboros 15 bucks a 10-pack. In fact, he’s most probably a saint.
Tampon machines for sure. Some of them are up to 50 cents for ONE TAMPON now! Sure, sure, “carry your own,” but when you vary by up to a week… Grrrrr! The 1/3-size boxes at convenience stores aren’t much better, 'cause they cost the same as a full-size box.
Similarly, a quart of motor oil from a gas station convenience store, when I drove a junker and couldn’t afford to get the massive oil leak fixed.
OK, screw it, everything at gas stations since the beginning of time. :>
Also, I once dropped a cup of coffee on myself between classes and had to go to the university bookstore to buy another shirt.
Ticketmaster.
I have fairly good resistance to $6 hot dogs and $9 beers (typically both of dubious quality) at ballparks. I resent my fellow sports fans’ willingness to support these unconscionable prices.
I’m not quite so good at airports, and I’ll occasionally pay for a beer or glass of wine on a long flight.
Shooting ranges. Always make sure you bring enough ammo because if you run out and have to buy the ammo from the range you are looking at a 25% to 50% mark up.
$3 for a can of Coca-Cola in Charles deGaulle Airport. Doesn’t seem that outrageous now, but this was in 1989. Wow, a gouging I remember 20 years later! This currency calculator says that’s $5.21 now. http://www.measuringworth.com/ppowerus/
Real estate transactions. Buyer or seller, you will get fleeced in one way or another.
24 hour gas stations who are the only business open on a lonely stretch of highway are usually not a source of bargain anything, but on occasion can be an absolute godsend…
Cash. I don’t even look at what the ATM is going to charge me. In the very rare instance that I actually need cash, I need it now. I porbably pay $2 for $20 of my own money at least every eight weeks.
Tires. It was my third car before I got wise and started buying them before I absolutely had to, and thus was able to get a good price.