MINOCQUA, Wis. - Dozens of drivers made a mad rush for cheap gas after a station employee accidentally changed the price to 33 cents a gallon.
An employee closing Trig's Minocqua Shell for the night mistakenly entered the price of a gallon of gasoline as 32.9 cents instead of $3.299 on Monday night.
He left about 10 p.m., but drivers could still use their credit cards to buy gas.
Word of the bargain spread fast in the rural northern Wisconsin community, with 42 people buying 586 gallons of gas in an hour and 45 minutes. One person had pumped 27 gallons and two purchased 18 gallons.
Local police saw the horde at the station and called store manager Andrea Reuland, who went to the station and pushed the emergency stop.
"There were cars two deep at each of my pumps," said Reuland, who knew many of the drivers and told them they were being dishonest — the main store sign had the correct price.
"I was very upset that there's that many dishonest people," she said. "They knew there was a problem, and they took advantage of an employee's mistake and I think that's terrible."
The employee, who has been there for about six months, had changed the gas prices 25 times in the past six months.
"It was an honest mistake," Reuland said. "I could have done it."
Area residents were still talking about it Friday morning.
"Was it you guys?" a woman in the station asked Reuland. "Why do I always miss the good stuff?"
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Would I have done any differently? Would I have seen this as being dishonest? I would like to think so. I would like to think that I would have said something to the clerk instead of calling everyone I know on my cell phone to "get in on the deal." But in this day of "small lies" it has become more and more difficult to discern the right and wrong of things.
How many times has my second son (now 3) "clepto-ed" something and stashed it in his floppy seat cart cover pockets? How many times have I gotten to the van and had him all buckled up, gotten everything out of the cart, taken that cover off to fold it up and WHAM, there was something in the pocket. It never failed, even after all those times the debate in my brain would begin...it is less than $5 will Wal Mart really miss it?
The other day my MIL gave our newest son a toy and inside the box was a pair of earrings. They clearly did not belong there and she did not purchase them so they didn't end up there from her bags. Again it is less than $5 will Wal Mart really miss it?
The Bible says that he who is faithful in the small things will be trusted with much, but he who is not faithful will not be trusted. I want God to trust me, even if the door greeter at Wal Mart thinks I am nuts for bringing her stuff I have not paid for and did not get caught leaving the store with. They are getting used to it though!
