Wisconsin Store Clerk Error Leads to Rush At Pump

MSNBC is reporting how a gas station clerk's error cost a business owner 1,734.56 in less than two hours. When changing the gas pump prices, the clerk mistakenly left of the final number '9' in the price (3.299) so the pump read the price as .33/gallon). The error went unnoticed by the clerks, but not by customers. And word spread quickly. No one bothered to let the store employees know, and in fact, even after the store was closed, people were lining up at the pump two cars deep to use their credit cards on this great deal.

The police noticed the commotion and called the store owner who came and pushed the emergency stop button. She couldn't believe how many dishonest people were taking advantage of the mistake.

So what do you think? Were these people dishonest and greedy? What should they have done? What would you have done?

I have a good friend who owns a convenience store and she has told me how little she makes off of a gallon of gas. So basically that 1734.56 is going to come out of the pocket of the store owner unless there is some kind of insurance that covers human error. Can you imagine if you lost that kind of money in less than 2 hours because of a mistake?

The first person who noticed their good fortune (and maybe they didn't notice it until they were done pumping and pay up time came), should have gone to the clerk and said...hey, something's not right here. Just like everyone else, I struggle with the rising gas prices, but as a good citizen, when I note an honest mistake, the thing to do is to tell someone in charge, not phone a few of my friends. And perhaps, that first person would have been given their gas at the incorrect price as a reward for pointing out the error, perhaps not, but the reward isn't the point, doing the right thing is.

Since most of these people seem to have paid with credit cards, I can't help but wonder if the law won't be catching up with them. There will be a record of their purchases after all. But then that was the price on the pump, so there may be nothing that can be done. Maybe some will have a bout of guilty conscience and come in and offer to make it right to the store owner. One can only hope.