Today while I was running errands I stopped at the gas station to get gas because I had to..  :)..

When I pulled up to the first pump and got out there was a note that said that the credit card reader was not working- please prepay inside.  Nope, I don’t want to do that!  I never know how much to prepay and it is just easier to pull to another pump.

Finding another working pump I waited and thought about the easiness of modern technology.  It made me think of the days when I first started driving and I HAD to go in to prepay.  And it made me think of the time where I had a mishap after prepaying..

I was in high school and my parents bought my sisters and I a car.  They would give us $10 a week to fill up the car  (gotta love $0.99 a gallon) to get to school and our local job and any other gas we would need we would have to pay for.  So I headed out on Sunday night to fill up our gas tank.

I went in and prepaid and when I got to the pump I saw that the $10 was added.  While I was getting the gas nozzle all set to fill up my car I heard someone shout out and say hello to me.  It was a very cute boy (I remember his name was Jack) that I knew from school, who was a Senior, so I got my car all set to be filled up and excitedly walked over to hi, to probably try to be all girly and sweet and flirty and 16ish with him.

A few minutes later his car was filled up so we said goodbye and I walked back to my car still all giddy after my chat with Jack.  I took the nozzle out and put everything back and screwed on the top and closed the gas pump door and merrily went on my way thinking about how I was going to call my 2 girlfriends and tell them how I talked to Jack at the gas station!  I was almost home when I looked down and my gas light went on!

WHAT!!!??  I just filled it up!  What happened! I pulled over and tried to figure out how I could have used up 10 gallons of gas going like 3 miles!  I started replaying the gas station activities in my mind when I realized what had happened!

I was so caught up and excited that Jack talked to me that in my hurriedness to make sure I had a few minutes to talk to him I set up my car to be filled with gas but I NEVER pulled the trigger on the gas nozzle to start filling up the car.  And when I came back from my chat I was so excited I just assumed that the nozzle shut off automatically like it does when it is filled.  So basically I paid and left without filling up my car!

I was out $10..  $10 that I was given to fill up my tank..  $10 that my parents would not give me more of for being so dumb so I didn’t even ask..  $10 that I needed to use to fill up my tank… $10 that was a lot of $$ to a 16 year old!

I went back to the gas station and of course the money was spent- someone got $10 of free gas.  I scrounged up my own $10 and MADE SURE that I filled up my tank this time..

Lesson learned..  Pay attention to what you’re doing when talking to cute boys at the gas station..