A former Northern California gas station manager is on the job hunt after being fired for mistakenly selling cheap gas to customers.
Yesterday (June 14), ABC News reported that a Shell gas station manager in Rancho Cordova named John Szczecina accidentally put a decimal point in the wrong spot, causing fuel that should have been $6.99 per gallon to read as 69 cents per gallon.
“I put all three prices on there, except the diesel. The last one kind of didn’t go. So, I just took responsibility for it and said, ‘Yeah, it’s my fault,'” Szczecina told ABC affiliate KFSN in Fresno.
As drivers saw the bargain and word began to spread, more and more customers took advantage of the sweet deal and filled up their tanks. Szczecina’s mistake cost the gas station $16,000.
The former manager now fears he will be sued for lost revenue and has created a GoFundMe for safety.
Gas prices have recently reached historic highs. According to AAA, for the first time, fuel has reached $5 per gallon nationwide, with California drivers paying just under $7 per gallon.
Many have been feeling the pain at the pump. Just last week, a police department in Mount Pleasant, Michigan reportedly announced it would be cutting back on in-person 911 call responses after the Isabella County sheriff said they ran out of gas money.
“We have exhausted what funds were budgeted for fuel with several months to go before the budget reset,” the sheriff’s department wrote on their official Facebook page in a since-deleted post, according to sources.
In April, rapper Rod Wave helped drivers in need by donating $25,000 worth of gas to people in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. That same month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also helped by approving a program to offer gas and public transit cards to low-income residents.