The Gift Of Trust

(I have to leave very early the next morning for a long trip so I decide to go get gas the night before because my car is almost empty. I don’t have any cash on me and plan on using a gift card. When I pull up to the pump the machine is not accepting my rewards card so I go in and wait in the long line of customers to pay inside.)

Me: “Hi, I wanted to put $10 on pump 3 but the machine didn’t accept my rewards card so I figured I’d do it inside.”

Employee: “I’m sorry, but some of our machines are down so we can only accept cash or credit. Rewards cards and debit are not currently working.”

Me: “Oh, well, that explains that. I wanted to pay with a gift card so I’ll just do that here.”

Employee: “No problem and thanks for understanding. For the inconvenience we can give you a dollar’s worth of free gas.”

(As he says this he tries to run my gift card only for it to not go through.)

Employee: “This is the first gift card I’ve seen since our system went down and it appears that they are not working either. Just give me a moment.”

(He then steps off to apparently ask a manager what to do.)

Employee: “Do you have any other form of payment or is there anyway you could come back tomorrow?”

Me: “No. I only have debit and you said that wasn’t working. Also, I really need this gas tonight as the warning light has come on in my car.”

Employee: “Here is what my boss told me. I will pump your gas for you and we will hold onto the gift card and ring it through in the morning. That way you can still get your gas.”

(He then proceeded to follow me out to my car and fill it up with the right amount of gas. When he was done he told me I was good to go and not to worry about it because they would ring it up the next day. I was so appreciative of the employee’s help. He could have just told me to leave, but instead went above and beyond to help me out. Also, I called back the next day to thank him and the store and make sure everything went over well when the systems came on line. They did and I was grateful for the station’s help.)