# I got a free half-tank of gas last night!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 2, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733 "2010-12-02T23:57:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/1 "2010-12-02T23:57:26Z")
But I have no idea why …
Backstory: stopped for gas (duh) on the way home at a station I rarely use. Walked up to the pump, credit card in hand … only to be instructed to Remove Nozzle And Select Grade.
😕
Ummm … okaaaaaaayyyy, but, please, Mr. Machine, I really do prefer to put this on the plastic. I hit “Cancel.” It beeps at me, insisting I select a grade and remove the nozzle. I hit “Cancel” a couple more times. Get beeped at a couple more times.
I look around, thinking vaguely that perhaps this is some university student’s idea of a sociology experiment. (I often think this when weird shit happens.) Everyone else I see is quietly going about their own business, no one’s watching me and taking notes or anything. I hesitantly pulled out the nozzle, selected the cheap shit … and lo and behold, gas flows into my car. I figure, “Okay, I’ll tank up and then go in and talk to the clerk. No sense getting arrested for theft or something.”
I never did tank up, though - the thing shut off at precisely $15. Hmm. I look around again - no one is running out of the cashier’s booth waving their arms at me or anything. The gas station is in a not-so-rich part of town. I figure, perhaps someone did one of those random acts of kindness I hear so much about and pre-paid for whoever came up to the pump next. How lovely! I put the nozzle away and got back in my car at the slowest possible speed, fiddled around for a moment, just in case this is all some kind of practical joke or something and, eventually, drove off: tank precisely half-full, heart brimming and overfilled with joy.
We are THOUSANDS of dollars in debt from being unemployed for so long, so fifteen bucks’ worth of gas was an amazing gift from the cosmos. Thank you, cosmos!
It wasn’t until I was halfway home that I :smack: and figured someone else was paying for their own gas and the clerk made a mistake. Oh, well. Thank you anyway, universe - I needed a little break.
(Anyone else interested in visting the Magical Gas Station of Cosmic Blessings: it’s the Texaco at the corner of Abrams and NW Hwy in East Dallas.)
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/2 "2010-12-03T00:55:03Z")
Usually that means somebody wanted to prepay, but gave the clerk the wrong pump number.
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### Author:  [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/3 "2010-12-03T02:14:46Z")
Good for you.
One of my weird, Santa-like behaviors is to randomly buy someone a tank of gas. Sometimes I see someone who looks like they could use the help at the pumps, and I’ll just swipe my credit card and tell 'em to go ahead and fill 'er up. With a family’s worth of cars, and multiple teenagers on my credit card, one more tank isn’t even noticed.
Maybe it was someone like me? 😉
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/4 "2010-12-03T02:21:18Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> But I have no idea why …
Why is because you stole $15 from either another customer or the gas station. Why didn’t you go in and talk to the clerk?
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### Author:  [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/5 "2010-12-03T03:31:36Z")
Apparently, Dec. 1 is “Pay it Forward” day.
[Article.](http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16752120?nclick_check=1)
I saw something about it on Facebook yesterday or the day before.
If you get in line at a drive-thru, you pay for the guy behind you as a friendly gesture. Pay an extra dollar at the tolls for the guy behind you. Put up an extra $15 at the gas station for the next person who uses the pump.
Someone was nice and put up the $15.00.
Either way, you should’ve gone and talked to the clerk, just in case. Otherwise, you might get an unpleasant surprise the next time a cop runs your license plate through the computer.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/6 "2010-12-03T04:06:30Z")
The cosmos didn’t pay for your gas.
I would never risk that this was a random act of kindness when really it could be a clerical error which may potentially result in an arrest or jail time down the road for felony theft. Which bars you from many lucrative professions and employers.
Especially if you were caught on tape looking as shifty-eyed as you describe yourself here.
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### Author:  [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/7 "2010-12-03T12:55:04Z")
Felony theft? :rolleyes: $15 is felony theft now? I’m glad I don’t live in your police state. Good lord some people are wound too tight. Even if the clerk saw his mistake, he’s paid minimum wage honestly couldn’t give two shits if he hit the wrong pump or not. **purplehorseshoe** , enjoy your gift, no matter who it came from. It sounds like you really needed it.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/8 "2010-12-03T13:59:05Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Why is because you stole $15 from either another customer or the gas station. Why didn’t you go in and talk to the clerk?
People really throw that word around a lot around here. It is not stealing to take something that has been left out for you. Yes, it’s a nice thing to do to see if there was a mistake, and save the clerk from potential problems. (I would even consider it the moral thing to do.) But stealing requires intent, and we have no indication that the OP intended to get the gas for free. As far as he knows, he took a gift that was offered him.
If you left a $20 dollar bill on the ground, do you really think some stranger who finds it five minutes later stole it from you?
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### Author:  [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/9 "2010-12-03T14:46:13Z")
I think it was the pay it forward thing, not that you took someone else’s gas money. If it had been for someone else’s gas money I’m sure they wouldn’t have been standing around with their thumb up their butt for 15 minutes while you used that pump. They probably would have paid, walked to their pump, seen it wasn’t working and gone back inside to tell the clerk it wasn’t working and noticed you at the active pump.
I love when stuff like this happens! It happens to me all the time lately, in fact. I have apparently become a money magnet. I find money on the ground all the time. In the last month or two I think I’ve found $25 on the ground and I always look around to see if I can find the person who dropped it but I never do. Usually I find a homeless person to give it to so that someone who needs it more than I do can have it or if I can’t find a homeless person I will go to a local business in the area and spend it there so the money is supporting that community.
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/10 "2010-12-03T15:38:36Z")
I don’t know if it was stealing or accepting a gift, but talking to the clerk would have been the easy way to answer that question. I have no problem with the “pay if forward” idea but I’d want to make sure first. Without making that effort to check I think in this case it’s a dicey course of action.
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### Author:  [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/11 "2010-12-03T16:08:51Z")
> [@Telemark](#):
>
> I don’t know if it was stealing or accepting a gift, but talking to the clerk would have been the easy way to answer that question. I have no problem with the “pay if forward” idea but I’d want to make sure first. Without making that effort to check I think in this case it’s a dicey course of action.
I agree. It may have been a gift, but there is no way I would pull away before checking. Heck, I would have found another pump or checked with the attendant before even grabbing the nozzle.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/12 "2010-12-03T16:30:36Z")
That’s really cool! I’m guessing it’s the Pay-It-Forward Day thing. Just remember when you have a little something extra to do the same for someone.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/13 "2010-12-03T16:37:03Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#):
>
> Felony theft? :rolleyes: $15 is felony theft now? I’m glad I don’t live in your police state. Good lord some people are wound too tight. Even if the clerk saw his mistake, he’s paid minimum wage honestly couldn’t give two shits if he hit the wrong pump or not. **purplehorseshoe** , enjoy your gift, no matter who it came from. It sounds like you really needed it.
Not a felony for that amount in my state, but definitely a misdemeanor. OP, you stole gas and now you’ve posted a confession to a misdemeanor offense on a public forum. Neither is a good or wise thing to do.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/14 "2010-12-03T16:43:31Z")
Just call the station, tell them what happened and that while you assume it was a kind gesture on a recognized "pay-it-forward’ day, if that’s not the case that you’d like to come by and repay the $15.
I hope it was a PIF. Would do wonders for my faith in humanity.
ETA: What would be really cool? That it happened to someone that was unemployed and really needed it.
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### Author:  [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/15 "2010-12-03T16:43:52Z")
> [@Oakminster](#):
>
> Not a felony for that amount in my state, but definitely a misdemeanor. OP, you stole gas and now you’ve posted a confession to a misdemeanor offense on a public forum. Neither is a good or wise thing to do.
I did not know about Pay It Forward Day, but if that was indeed the case - let’s say **Pullin** had just been there and done the Santa thing - am I still on the hook for misdemeanor charges? Are people like **Pullin** going around getting people in trouble?
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/16 "2010-12-03T17:03:28Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> I did not know about Pay It Forward Day, but if that was indeed the case - let’s say **Pullin** had just been there and done the Santa thing - am I still on the hook for misdemeanor charges? Are people like **Pullin** going around getting people in trouble?
The whole “pay it forward day” thing is news to me…I never heard of it. Really don’t think it matters on the facts presented, which as I understand them are:
1. You pumped gas into your car
2. You left without paying for the gas
That’s a crime, at least in my state. There’s nothing in our criminal code about somebody else “paying it forward”. If you pump, you pay…or you have committed a crime that carries a fine, possible jail time, and a license suspension.
Maybe in your mind what you were doing is more analogous to using a metered parking space where someone else left some time on the meter. This is not the same thing in my view.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/17 "2010-12-03T17:36:08Z")
Not to paint with too broad a brush but …
Many clerks at minimum wage would quickly tell you is was the stations $$ and they made a mistake.
If you look back as you walk away you will see them putting the $$ in their pocket.
But that is only the dishonest ones.
Humm, I also pump and not pay a lot when riding in groups, we take turns paying for the gas. Sometimes I even take it on faith that even though I do not know who is actually paying and I do not see it, that it was actually paid. But of course the video in the black & white world never is wrong… In my gray world I can take a person from a black & white world calling me a thief. Don’t bother me a bit…
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/18 "2010-12-03T18:25:59Z")
Sorry, OP, but I think you stole $15 of gas from someone else or the station.
When I first started driving back in the 1980s, the pumps were never locked out. You pulled up, pumped your gas, and went up to the window to pay.
Just because stations almost always lock pumps out now (until you insert a card or prepay) doesn’t mean that it’s OK to drive off without paying.
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### Author:  [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/19 "2010-12-03T18:50:42Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#):
>
> Felony theft? :rolleyes: $15 is felony theft now? I’m glad I don’t live in your police state. Good lord some people are wound too tight. Even if the clerk saw his mistake, he’s paid minimum wage honestly couldn’t give two shits if he hit the wrong pump or not. **purplehorseshoe** , enjoy your gift, no matter who it came from. It sounds like you really needed it.
He might give two shits if he has to pay the difference when his drawer doesn’t cash out with the pump meters. In which case the guy paying in this scenario may be the lowest wage earner involved.
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### Author:  [@amily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amily)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-got-a-free-half-tank-of-gas-last-night/562733/20 "2010-12-03T18:53:29Z")
In my former life I managed a convenience store. One of my clerks had a customer come into the store with this exact same scenario. Apparently an early customer had come in and prepaid, got to talking with someone in the parking lot and totally forgot to pump his gas. Not long after the phone rang. It was the forgetful customer calling from a different gas station twelve miles away. All of this happened in a very small town where the vast majority of customers were regulars. We were able to charge the second customer’s card and when the forgetful guy showed up the next morning his cash was waiting for him. Yes, people do nice things, but people also make mistakes. I hope for everyone’s sake in this case it was the former.
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