“Nice day,” says the guy on the other side of the pump at what these days I’ve come to think of as the pain station.

What’s he so cheerful about? His landscaping truck has got to eat up a lot more gas than my car, but, nonetheless, he’s standing there pumping with a broad smile on his face making conversation.

“Well, the weather is nice,” I reply. “But there’s nothing nice about these prices.”

I don’t usually like to complain, especially to a complete stranger, but what can I say? All my strategies for coping with our addiction to fossil fuel, like not looking at the meter while I’m pumping or only filling the tank halfway, are no longer working. Maybe a little commiserating will help.

“Yeah, the $4-dollar-a-gallon thing is hard to take,” he says as he puts the hose back on the hook and screws the cover on his tank. All the while, he keeps smiling, smiling, smiling.

And then, just before he hops in his truck, this is what he says: “I just pass the cost along to my customers.”

I JUST PASS THE COST ALONG TO MY CUSTOMERS.

He’s not alone.

The electric company is asking for another rate hike. The airlines are raising their fares, some are even charging for baggage. No question, when companies have to pay more for fuel, what else can they do?

That’s right. They just pass the cost along to their customers.

It’s much the same at the grocery store; although we’ve got a double whammy there since a lot of farmers these days are growing corn to make ethanol, instead of to feed cows, pigs, and humans. Food costs are rising at a shocking pace. How else to explain charging $6 for a box of cereal?

They just pass the cost along to their customers.

You’d think that our lawmakers who were busy last week grilling oil company executives over the rising prices would find a way to give us a break. After all, 31 cents of every gallon we pump goes to Rhode Island and another 18.4 cents goes to the federal government.

And the oil executives — including the one who apparently is making so much money he isn’t even sure how much — blame supply, blame demand, blame restrictions on drilling, blame the lack of conservation, blame everything and everybody but themselves. And the reason, again, for their record-breaking profits would be?

So here we are, standing at the pain station and what are we supposed to do? Who do you and I pass our costs on to? We, who are bearing the brunt of all the landscapers, the painters, the plumbers, the electric companies, the natural gas companies, the grocery stores, the buses, the trains, the airplanes, the state and federal government and everyone else who’s putting their load on our backs.

Well, for starters, we can and should drive less, get more fuel-efficient cars, walk, take public transportation, carpool. These are good ideas as far as they go, but they won’t solve the bigger problem.

So if you’re feeling pressured like I’m feeling pressured and you’d like to do something besides stand there next to the guy at the pump with the big grin on his face, I suggest you call (401-453-5294) or e-mail (http://whitehouse.

senate.gov/contact.cfm) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that met with the oil executives last week, I’d like to hear more from him than just that they had a good discussion about the problem. Wouldn’t you?

Unlike so many others, maybe we can’t pass along our costs. But that doesn’t mean we can’t pass along the pressure.

Rita Lussier can be reached at ReetsAL@aol.com or by mail c/o Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain Street, Providence, RI 02902.