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Sometimes stupidity IS painful...or at least expensive

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  • Sometimes stupidity IS painful...or at least expensive

    There was something of an incident at work this morning. Quick BG: One of our pump hoses is currently out of service due to someone driving off with it in their car and pulling off the nozzle. The end of the hose is wrapped in a bright yellow bag that says, "OUT OF SERVICE." The pump itself is still open for people to pump other varieties of fuel.

    So a customer pulled up and inserted his/her credit card to pay at the pump. I'm not sure what the customer's thought process was at this point, but they decided that they needed the type of fuel dispensed from the broken hose. They further decided that the yellow bag was of no consequence, and so lifted the hose and activated the dispenser. Sometime after this occurred, the customer realized that there was, in fact, a good reason for the hose's sunny, springlike fashion statement. Without deactivating the pump, the customer put down the hose and drove away. The pump obediently began releasing the fuel that the customer had requested...and it continued to do so until another customer entered the store and mentioned to the cashier that gas was running all over the parking lot.

    It was a lot of gas. About 30 gallons, in fact, which at current prices comes to over $100. The fire department came, cleaned up the largest part of the spill, then cordoned off that entire half of the parking lot/pumps until the hazmat company could come finish up.

    As of the end of my shift, the MENSA candidate responsible had not yet contacted the store inquiring about the $100+ charge to his/her card. I'm eager to hear what happens when that call comes.
    Last edited by CarcinogenCrunchies; 03-28-2014, 05:55 AM. Reason: tense agreement

  • #2
    This is the best kind of karma: instant AND self inflicted! I can't even begin to guess what this brainiac was thinking. Those out of order signs and bgas are kinda hard to miss.

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    • #3
      I read that story and totally forgot about the credit card til you mentioned it. Can you charge the cleanup to the card also?

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      • #4
        Serves them bloody right! I'm sure they will try and dispute the charges but hopefully no one will cave in.

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        • #5
          Wow! How stupidly dangerous!!! I can't believe they would just lay down a gas hose and drive away (well, I can but I am trying desperately to hold on to my last shred of hope for human kind). Was it a younger kid who may not have known their card was still going to be charged?

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          • #6
            Quoth Evannah View Post
            Serves them bloody right! I'm sure they will try and dispute the charges but hopefully no one will cave in.
            And when they do that, trying to do a charge back, the videotape evidence will work well in court.

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            • #7
              Quoth Shyla View Post
              I read that story and totally forgot about the credit card til you mentioned it. Can you charge the cleanup to the card also?
              They won't be able to do it directly (they don't have the card #), but I hope they do stick the moron with the bill. No reason they should have to pay for that cleanup.
              Life: Reality TV for deities. - dalesys

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              • #8
                Quoth Evannah View Post
                Serves them bloody right! I'm sure they will try and dispute the charges but hopefully no one will cave in.
                Agreed, moron will try to dispute this. At which point you confront them with the tape and ask "do you really want a judge seeing this?"

                Quoth mhkohne View Post
                They won't be able to do it directly (they don't have the card #), but I hope they do stick the moron with the bill. No reason they should have to pay for that cleanup.
                POD! This dry-pool diving member needs to eat this cost in its entirety!

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                • #9
                  I would pull their credit card info off the pump and charge them for the hazmat clean up. >_>

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                  • #10
                    Quoth CarcinogenCrunchies View Post
                    I'm eager to hear what happens when that call comes.
                    So are we. Don't leave us hanging.
                    Labor boards have info on local laws for free
                    HR believes the first person in the door
                    Learn how to go over whackamole bosses' heads safely
                    Document everything
                    CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

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                    • #11
                      I'm off today, so I don't know if there have been any further developments. I'm sure the cleanup can't just be charged to the card, but I would imagine if there's a dispute, contact information will be made known and a bill can be sent. I don't know how the company will decide to handle it. There's an article in the paper about it, so it's possible that the customer will see it, put two and two together and just keep his or her mouth shut. Then again, the level of intelligence previously displayed makes that unlikely. I will update when I find out more.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth HiddenMica View Post
                        I would pull their credit card info off the pump and charge them for the hazmat clean up. >_>
                        That's the sort of thing I hope would not be possible, just on general principles.

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                        • #13
                          I'm pretty stunned by how stupid this was. Seriously, what made this person think that things would turn out OK if they left the running hose on the ground? Gah. At least they were dumb enough to pay by credit card, though I'm sure they're the type to come storming in and demanding payback for the gas they never got. I am glad the karma got them good.

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                          • #14
                            I can just imagine that call: "Well, how was I supposed to know what that bag meant? You should have had a sign!!!!" And other stupid stuff....
                            When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth CarcinogenCrunchies View Post
                              There was something of an incident at work this morning. Quick BG: One of our pump hoses is currently out of service due to someone driving off with it in their car and pulling off the nozzle. The end of the hose is wrapped in a bright yellow bag that says, "OUT OF SERVICE."
                              Was the pump not equipped with one of those breakaway devices used for such an event?

                              Or did it fail and the hose separated at the nozzle instead?
                              "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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