Trending

California gas station manager fired after accidentally selling fuel for 69 cents a gallon

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — The manager of a Shell gasoline station in California whose error allowed customers to buy fuel for 69 cents per gallon has been fired from his job.

>> Read more trending news

John Szczecina was first put on administrative leave. He was then was terminated from his position in Rancho Cordova on Monday, KTXL-TV reported. The price glitch was caused by a “technical error,” and a misplaced decimal point, according to the television station.

Gas that was supposed to be listed at $6.99 per gallon was actually calibrated at 69 cents per gallon. The error went unnoticed by store attendants for nearly three hours, KGO-TV reported.

“So I just took responsibility for it and I said, ‘Yeah, it’s my fault, and I’m to blame,’” Szczecina told KOVR-TV.

On June 9, Szczecina typed “699″ three times into his computer to set the new price. The final step was to confirm the change that was reflected at the pumps, The Washington Post reported. But a truck outside hit a curb, sending the water bottles it was carrying flying across the parking lot.

For the next 20 minutes, Szczecina said he helped the truckers pick up the bottles. After being distracted by other tasks, Szczecina forgot about checking on the numbers.

“I put all three prices on there except the diesel, but the last one kind of didn’t go, you know, right,” he told KTXL.

The mistake was noticed by several motorists who took advantage.

“We got to fight these gas prices somehow,” Darryl Surita wrote in an Instagram post last week, filming the pump showing a price that had not been seen by motorists for more than 40 years. “Sixty-nine cents a gallon, I am loving this!”

“I looked at the numbers and it was 69 cents a gallon,” Surita told KGO. “So you know what I did, I hit that button and it started pumping and the dollar sign just stayed low.”

The last time gas prices on average were 69 cents a gallon was 1978, according to KOVR.

The owners of the gasoline station were not loving it, as the mistake led to a $16,000 loss -- and a visit from the gas station’s district manager the next day.

“I immediately thought we had gotten robbed and was scared that something terrible had happened to the cashiers,” Szczecina told the Post.

It was worse. It cost Szczecina his job.

“And I thought, ‘This is a nightmare,’” Szczecina told KTXL.

A GoFundMe page was set up by Szczecina’s sister, Paula Jackson, to help recover the costs of the gas station’s lost revenue. As of Thursday evening, more than $17,000 has been pledged.

“He doesn’t have to pay it back,” Jackson told the Post. “But just the fact that he is doing it and wants to do it shows a lot of character and honesty and responsibility, and I’m really proud of him for that.”

“It takes guts to say, ‘I made a mistake.’”

Szczecina said he is hoping to find a new job. He has no regrets about owning up to his mistake.

“Even though it cost me my job, it’s fine. Because the truth is, you know, it’s my fault,” Szczecina told the Post. “I know nobody wants to say that anymore, but I felt it was important to own up to my mistake and do everything I can to make it right.”

Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.