I Ran Out of Gas, Can I Have Yours?

Man Busted Siphoning Gas with Hose in Mouth

Caught siphoning gas from a court house parking lot. Really? Couldn't you have picked a place that didn't have a lot of cops hanging around?

I'm surprised I haven't seen this at my store. Since we really don't have drive-offs anymore due to our 'Pay First' policy, I thought I'd see people trying to steal gas in other ways.

Instead, what I usually see are people hanging around outside asking customers for money. These people will come up with some sob story about how they ran out of gas and need to get to the hospital to pick up their grandma.

These people probably make a good living every day by claiming they need gas money.

Usually when I see people do this, I will go outside and tell them to leave, because I know it makes our regular customers uncomfortable.

If someone was outside of a store asking me for money, I probably wouldn't go back to that store if there were many others like it around. Would you?

Drive-Offs

I don't know why people feel the need to steal gas. If you need to drive that badly, get a job. If you can't find a job, then you shouldn't own a car or be driving. It's that simple. What? You still need to be able to drive your kids around? Hmm, maybe you shouldn't have any kids since you can't afford to pay for your own gas.

We used to have tons of drive-offs back in the day. This was before the whole 'pay before you pump' mantra was invented. Even today, people still get pissed off that they have to pay the cashier inside first before they pump their gas.

One time, I turned the pump on for this guy early on a Sunday morning, around 7am. I figured no one would steal on a Sunday in the morning, too easy to get caught. Well, after awhile, the register binged to let me know the person was done pumping. I look up and see the guy pumping jump into the passenger window just as the car starts to speed off. And with the direction they took to drive off, it was on an angle where I couldn't see their license plate. All I could do was stare and watch as these assholes drove away taking $30.00 in gas. I was so pissed that I didn't sleep that night.

So now, we have rules for turning on the pumps. You have to be a regular customer and if you aren't, you sure as hell better be old and wrinkly enough for me to feel bad and turn the pump on.

If you don't have a front license plate, then you're screwed. If you are wearing a hood and I can't see your face, then pay inside.

The worst is when they take advantage of our mistakes. One time we had a customer come in and give us $10 for gas. We turned on the pump without presetting it. By the time we realized what had happened, he had driven off pumping over $40 in gas. Never came in, never said a word. Just took that good fortune and ran with it.

Yeah, everyone thinks it's a big corporation and they can write it off or something. But you are forgetting that many owners are independent and pay for the use of a big gas name company. So really, you are stealing from the little guy.