Crazy people driving on fumes!

Granted, times are tough and people are having a hard time making ends meet. It's difficult to fill up your car when gas is $4.00 a gallon. Almost everyone is suffering these days to put food on the table and gasoline in a vehicle.

At 12:45 in the morning, I woke up because my outside dogs were barking up a storm. I get out of bed to see what the noise is about and realize the doorbell is ringing.

I peek out the window, and see a woman about 35 years of age standing there. Mind you, no lights are on outside, and she had to get past my large outside dogs guarding the yard.

We live in a very rural area of farms. My boyfriend owns a small country store with one gas pump.

The lady proceeds to ask if Mr. Sam is awake. Duh! The house and yard are dark and she is asking if he is awake?

She then tells me she is out of gas, and would he please open the store for her so she can get some gas. She flashes me a $20.00 saying, "look, I have money!"

I go wake Sam up and tell him what she wants. He gets out of bed and gets dressed.

This dingbat of a woman has literally run out of gas in the store parking lot. He has to fill up a gas can to put some gas in her car so she can drive to the pump to put more gas in her car.

Now this is the part of the story that really had my blood pressure up. In the back seat of her car, is a little boy about age 4, asleep!

What kind of idiot goes driving around in the country at a quarter to 1:00 in the morning, driving on fumes with a small child in the car?

She had money, there was no reason for her car to be on empty!

Times are getting tough. This is the 2nd time in two weeks that somebody has come knocking on the door after hours for gas. Not only that, the other day a guy pulls up to the pump, pays for $4.00 worth of gas, proceeds to pump $10.00, and then tries to leave! This guy has been a customer for years!

I don't appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night with this crap! I had to get dressed and follow my boyfriend out the door, watching while he got this woman gas last night from the porch, with a gun, to make sure this was not some sort of set up to knock him over the head and rob him!

This situation with gas is going to really bring out the worst in people.
Drive-offs will be a frequent thing this summer once the price nears $5.

My Dad had a gas station for years and a couple of weeks ago we were talking about this. I told him how nowadays you cannot pump first then pay inside, and how that destroys the impulse buy that used to be such a big sell. Just recently I went to Shell and figured I'd fill up first then go in to buy some drinks and an ice cream for my boy. The intercom blared at me to pay first. I asked myself, do I really want to pay at the pump then go inside to make a second purchase? I said no thanks, filled up and went on my way.

I hope that your bf doesn't suffer too badly with sales.

reply to post by shadow watcher


He has already noticed the sale of other items going down with people purchasing gas lately.

The one pump he has needs to be turned on before anyone can pump gas.

People are coming in to ask that the pump be turned on prior to purchases, but the pump is old and will not shut off if it has passed the amount they pay.

People are getting tricky and working in pairs. The other day he had a woman in the store shopping for other items. Her husband was outside right behind a person who had just used the pump. Since Sam was in the store attending to the woman, the guy put $10.00 in his car thinking nobody would notice. When he came into the store his wife said, "oh yeah, don't forget to put $20.00 of gas in the car."

They tried to rip off for another $10.00.

It was a good thing Sam knew how much the person before this guy had purchased!

only time i ever ran out of gas:

i was low, but not on E. i figured i would get gas after work which was about 25 miles away. i ended up working late and all of the gas stations were closed. i ran out of gas after getting about half-way home. luckily i managed to coast it into an applebee's parking lot and call for help. lowsy friend didn't want to leave is 13 yr old daughter alone (with his wife) to come help. i had to call my wife to bug the neighbor to help.

I've never ran out of gas ever.

However...

In California they started a neat little trick. People would run out of gas, call whatever like AAA, they would come out put in a gallon so the person could get to a gas station.

Only problem was the person wouldn't go to a gas station. They'd just run out again, call again, and get another gallon.

So finally the agency caught on and just said they'd tow you to the next gas station.

People finally quit the little scam.

Anyways, most gas pumps I know of are prepay. And they are newer so they stop when supposed to.

As for your one pump and stuff... I'd hire someone to stand guard and make sure they put in what they are supposed to put in. Maybe have a walkie talkie. "He payed for 10 dollars if he goes over slash his tires so he can't leave before paying for more."

Ok, maybe not slash tires but write down the license plate in case he tries to drive off.