A Rancho Cordova gas station manager says he was fired after accidentally setting the pump price at 69 cents.
Customers filled up at the deep discount for three hours Thursday, Sacramento TV station KOVR reported. The loss to the Shell station was estimated at $16,000.
Former manager John Szczecina told KOVR that he reset prices for three grades of gasoline that day. “The last one kind of didn’t go, you know, right,” he said. He said he misplaced a decimal point on what was intended to be $6.99 a gallon for premium.
He lost his job on Monday because of the error, he said.
Customer Darryl Surita told the TV station that he filled his tank for $14 during the glitch. “I started looking around … and everybody had a big smile and they kinda were not looking at you in your eyes,” he said.
Word spread fast, as customers told family and friends of the unexpected deal. The result was “a circus,” one customer said.
The management at the gas station would not speak publicly about the error.
