According to new reporting this week from CBS station KOVR, the manager of a California gas station says he was fired from his job over an honest mistake after he reportedly accidentally set the station’s fuel prices at a significantly lower cost per gallon than what they were supposed to be.
John Szczecina, who was formerly employed as the manager at a gas station in Rancho Cordova, tells the local media outlet that he put a decimal in the wrong place while setting fuel prices at the store — a mistake he says was nothing more than an honest accident. John’s accident resulted in the price of gas per gallon at the California station being set at 0.69 cents, rather than the $6.99 per gallon it was supposed to be.
This honest mistake cost Szczecina his job and left him fearful of being sued by the gas station’s owner.
“This is a nightmare,'” John recalled thinking at the time of the massive mishap, according to KOVR. “I put all three prices on there except the diesel, but the last one kind of didn’t go, you know, right.”
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According to the local media outlet, John’s mistake cost the Northern California gas station literal thousands, as people began to share the staggeringly low fuel prices across social media, where the mistake spread like wildfire.
Speaking to KOVR, John said, “o I just took responsibility for it and I said, ‘Yeah it’s my fault, and I’m to blame.'”
All in all, John’s accident ultimately cost the fuel station a whopping total of $20,000, according to the GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign Szczecina’s family has set up on his behalf to help him pay back the staggering sum of his mistake.
John told the local media outlet that he’s truly scared he will be sued by the station’s owner over the $20,000 blunder.
Gas prices have steadily soared across the nation over the last several weeks as inflation and supply chain crises remain on the rise. As it stands, the national average for a gallon of gas in the US is at a whopping $5.00, while average prices in the state of California have soared to a mind-boggling $6.43 per gallon, according to an analysis from AAA.
KOVR reports that Americans haven’t seen a 0.69 cent per gallon price point on gas since 1978.
See CBS Sacramento’s reporting on the matter here:
Featured image via screen capture
