Souped Up Golf Cart Alludes Authorities and 35 Cents Per Gallon Gasoline

[BNaylor]

Here is a good one for some humor. A souped up golf cart?

Source: AP
Oct. 19, 2008

Suspect in golf cart eludes Utah sheriff cruisers
He used his souped-up getaway cart to jump irrigation ditches

MORGAN, Utah - A Utah sheriff's office has found that it shouldn't underestimate the golf cart as a getaway car.

A suspect in a souped-up cart managed to elude officers who pursued him last month through an alfalfa field — but only for a while. He was arrested the next day at his grandmother's house.

Officers started pursuing the driver after he was spotted spinning out in a city park in Morgan. He took off into an alfalfa field and jumped irrigation ditches that the sheriff's cruisers couldn't cross.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27269705/?GT1=43001

Here is another good one. Whoops! I wonder if the gas station attendant still has a job.

Source: AP
Oct. 15, 2008

Oops! Gas station charges 35 cents per gallon
Accidental pump discount sparks 90-minute frenzy in Wisconsin

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27193071/

[blazee]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

Here is another good one. Whoops! I wonder if the gas station attendant still has a job.

What a bunch of assholes. If I was the owner I would go back through all the receipts, and charge the people full price. The correct price was displayed, they were well aware of what the price was, the rest is a simple billing mistake. These people are thieves and should be treated as such. It disgusts me that these people are proud of themselves for exploiting an error and stealing from someone.

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by blazee

What a bunch of assholes. If I was the owner I would go back through all the receipts, and charge the people full price. The correct price was displayed, they were well aware of what the price was, the rest is a simple billing mistake. These people are thieves and should be treated as such. It disgusts me that these people are proud of themselves for exploiting an error and stealing from someone.

Well said. It's like if the clerk had given you back an extra 1 or 5 and you took it knowingly. It's just wrong.

[2strokebloke]

Originally Posted by blazee

What a bunch of assholes. If I was the owner I would go back through all the receipts, and charge the people full price. The correct price was displayed, they were well aware of what the price was, the rest is a simple billing mistake. These people are thieves and should be treated as such. It disgusts me that these people are proud of themselves for exploiting an error and stealing from someone.

You get what you give. Maybe this makes up for all the gouging (although in the scheme of things, 200-300 gallons is nothing at all)
You could say that the customers were not acting respectably given the circumstances, but the bottom line is the gas station screwed up.

[ericn1300]

Originally Posted by 2strokebloke

You get what you give. Maybe this makes up for all the gouging (although in the scheme of things, 200-300 gallons is nothing at all)
You could say that the customers were not acting respectably given the circumstances, but the bottom line is the gas station screwed up.

You are totally wrong on this one Bloke. Taking advantage of a clerical error, when you know it's wrong, is immoral.

[BNaylor]

I'm surprised it took the clerks or owner so long to realize there was something obviously wrong. Especially since it turned into a circus. I wonder how many of the people that took advantage of the situation will come clean?

The root of the problem was a computer glitch. The media did not help matters either with the theme of price relief at the pumps.

J.P. Ravel owns the Citgo and a few other gas stations in the area. He says the mix-up will cost his business thousands of dollars. “We gave up so much gas”, he said. He attributes the price to a computer glitch, which somehow changed the price of premium gasoline from $3.43 to $0.349 per gallon. “It was going fine all day, but in the evening, something happened with my register”, he said.

http://www.wsaw.com/home/headlines/30970959.html

As a side note gas in my area is now $2.80/gal or less for regular unleaded.

[2strokebloke]

Originally Posted by ericn1300

You are totally wrong on this one Bloke. Taking advantage of a clerical error, when you know it's wrong, is immoral.

If I leave my bike unlocked and somebody steals it - I can only blame myself. Sure that doesn't justify the thieve stealing it, but I can't say it's only their fault, when the largest part of the problem is my own irresponsibility.
Here the fault lays with the station. You can call the customers opportunistic, but not thieves.

[blazee]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

I'm surprised it took the clerks or owner so long to realize there was something obviously wrong. Especially since it turned into a circus. I wonder how many of the people that took advantage of the situation will come clean?

The root of the problem was a computer glitch. The media did not help matters either with the theme of price relief at the pumps.

[/i]

As a side note gas in my area is now $2.80/gal or less for regular unleaded.

Not to turn this into a gas prices around world thread, but gas in my area has come way down, its odd though. There's no order to it, there will be a group of stations with prices ranging from 2.36-2.40, and then just a few miles down the road you'll run into a group charging 2.80-2.99.

[Airjer_]

Originally Posted by 2strokebloke

If I leave my bike unlocked and somebody steals it - I can only blame myself. Sure that doesn't justify the thieve stealing it, but I can't say it's only their fault, when the largest part of the problem is my own irresponsibility.
Here the fault lays with the station. You can call the customers opportunistic, but not thieves.

I agree! Theres way to many that can't accept responsibility for there actions. It always somebody else's fault! If I pay a $5 dollar tab with a $20 and the person gives me back a $10 and two $5's tough shit! My only obligation was to pay my debt, which I did. If I was the person giving the change I would accept the fact that I screwed up and take the responsibility and consequences of my actions!! Morally/ethically if I caught the error I would correct them but If I didn't realize it until much later I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

As far as the gas prices its no different than a store having to honor a misprinted price in a printed add. There are people that are responsible for proofing the adds and if something gets buy them then they screwed up. Plain and simple. It has nothing to do with a greedy consumer swindling anything!!

[blazee]

Originally Posted by 2strokebloke

If I leave my bike unlocked and somebody steals it - I can only blame myself. Sure that doesn't justify the thieve stealing it, but I can't say it's only their fault, when the largest part of the problem is my own irresponsibility.
Here the fault lays with the station. You can call the customers opportunistic, but not thieves.

Your comparison is inaccurate, we're not talking about leaving personal property unattended, we're talking about a computer problem at a place intended to sell merchandise, a place where customers know that they are suppose to pay for things and in this case where the price was clearly marked and they knew what they should be paying. Your logic suggests that if I'm in FYE and notice that the security cameras are down and no one's around the register, I can steal a DVD, and not only am I just being "opportunistic", but it's the store fault.

Bottom line IMO it's a billing error, and they should have to pay. If my Phone, Internet or Sat bill has a problem due to a computer error, they fix it when they catch it, and I have to pay. To use the excuse that I'm not going to pay because I'm opportunistic, and it's their fault would just be ridiculous.

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by blazee

Not to turn this into a gas prices around world thread, but gas in my area has come way down, its odd though.

As far as I'm concerned it is technically on topic or relevant. We should discuss the differences in gas prices locally and in different regions of the US. For example what we pay in West Texas is much higher than what they pay in Central/East Texas by as much as 50 cents per gallon.

[mudslinger88]

I used to work at a gas station and I had something like this happen to me as well. My boss reset the pumps but forgot to reboot the computer. He went out and cahnged the price on the sign and left. Somebody came in, prepaid $20.00 and filled up. He came back in and asked for his change back. I was confused as hell. He drove a full size 2003 Ford F-250 four door. Gasoline mind you, not deisel. I printed up a reciept to look at it and I asked him how much gas he got. He was confused to. I had to call my boss and have him come back out, a half hour drive for him to do so, and fix the error. The poor customer had to pay for the remaining $70 of gas that he put in his tank. My boss felt like an idiot and I did to for not catching it. He remained a loyal customer to our small station in our small town and, as far as I know still is. It is not a fun situation to make one person pay for a mistake you made. Especially when they catch the mistake and don't want to say something. But, I mean really, it's a small community. As soon as you say something to one person it's all across town and in the next town by lunch. I encourage all who read this that if they find a mistake or are given the incorect change at any place of business to let the cashier/server/attendant know about it. It keeps you and the place of business out of trouble. Thanks y'all.

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by BNaylor

As far as I'm concerned it is technically on topic or relevant. We should discuss the differences in gas prices locally and in different regions of the US. For example what we pay in West Texas is much higher than what they pay in Central/East Texas by as much as 50 cents per gallon.

We are experiencing the same issue here in NY. Usually Syracuse has some of the highest prices (outside of NYC) but lately we've had the cheapest in the state, Recently that price has dropped below $2.00 /gal a price many, including myself had thought we'd never see again. What is strange though is why the price can vary as much as .60+ cents a gallon over a small of a distance of 20 miles in our area. There have been some media reports investigating this including this one:http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/stor...bd9f99&rss=112
We also had an incident a couple months back in a small community where the price was inadvertently set at .19/gal . The clerks knew about it and called their friends and family to come over and fill up. The "mistake" was discovered by an honest customer a few hours later, after an estimated $700 to $800 was already lost.