Would you be this dishonest too?

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071208/ap_ ... 3_cent_gas


An employee goofs up putting in the gas price before closing and lot of people got excited over cheap gas so they all went wild and headed to that station and filled their cars knowing full well it was an error.

Nope.

Just yesterday a lady make a mistake when I was buying something, and tried to charge me 23quid when it should've been 38... I corrected her, even when she insisted it was right. If it was a pound or two out I probably wouldn't bother, but that was just too much.

I would've. Gas and oil companys rip us off. Why not return the favor?

mmmm.

I'm a photographer, a wedding photographer, so saying that....

Yes. Cheap gas is cheap gas. If it said "free", I'd still get some, all the better.

That was just an error on someone's part, so it wasn't really dishonest.

Tim

I don't see what would be wrong with using the rules to your advantage.
They do it all the time (or bend and break them if they're not to their advantage)...

No, the store owner is saying the customers were dishonest because they took advantage of the mistake. It happened just after 10pm and whoever discovered, spread the news so that people deliberately lined up and filled up on gas. Some people came to pump 27 gallons of gas at a time. My car only holds 13 gallons.

it would be stupid not to get the gas.

lets say you come from a poor family. Then BAM CHEAP GAS HORRAY!! !! Then your financial troubles will be mildly relieved for a while.

But if you're an idiot you will be like "oh well i have to be honest" or some other crap. Then OOPS no money for groceries this week!

I'll put this in an animal analogy: humans are animals too.

Ok lets say a squirrel makes a mistake and leaves all of his nuts out before he hibernates. Should the other squirrels be "honest" and just leave them... and then probably starve to death. HELL NO!! ! thats just idiotic.

I would also fill up as many times as possible. Sometimes taking care of yourself and your family is more important than thinking of other people.... Im sorry thats the way it is (trust me Im not a selfish person either, it's just the way life is)

I'd rent a tank truck...

The gas isn't free though, somebody has to pay for it. So, while knowing it's a mistake, you think it's still okay to take that gas. What if that loss of income puts the gas store owner out of business, thus all of the employees out of work? Is it okay then?
Generally people think it's okay to steal from businesses because their products are presented in bulk, one thinks that there is plenty and "no one will be hurt". This gas guzzling event happened en masse.

If you are poor, then you are probably already budgeting for food and rent. So, refraining from a surprise, late night sale on gas would NOT deprive you of grocery money. That's like saying that not winning the lottery deprives people of grocery money.

Well, technically, this is not stealing. It's buying.
According to law, you have to sell at the set price, even if it is a mistake.
As for the people working in the gas station, I think they've learned a valuable lesson, don't you think?
As for the big gas companies, they factor losses into the prices and have insurances.
I don't think Shell or whatever is going to crumble and die because of this (although I would be rather amused and pleased if that happened).

Before you go on a tirade about morals, you might consider the morals of stealing the gas from mother earth in the first place, or selling it at astronomic prices, cheating the customers, or burning it and releasing pollution...

That's exactly what I'm illustrating here. An employee makes a mistake. Many, if not most, gas stations are locally owned-like a small store or franchise restaurant. But you're going on about the evils of Corporate America and "big gas companies". That it must be okay to enjoy a clerical error-regardless of the impact it has on people.
If you know something is being mistakenly sold at 10% its normal cost, and you call up all your friends, bring your extra tanks and cars and buy this product at that rate-knowing there is no employee to monitor the sale or inform of the mistake-I would call that stealing.

If you want to derail the discussion and call replies "tirades" and implicate non-related parties (oil drillers, cartels, et al) in this, then I can't stop you. But I don't see the point.

If I were at a store buying a dress for $33.00 and the clerk charged me $3.33, I'd ask her if there was an error. That's fair. I'd hate to knowingly buy something at the wrong price and that clerk be penalized for an honest mistake. Or worse, be accused of fixing the price on purpose (stealing).

It's thievery.

I could make a quip, a very sardonic and sarcastic one, about the evils of taxation on consumers, but I don't think we need another Boston Harbor.

I think we do.