The Northern California man who set the price of gas at the station he managed to 69 cents has been fired.
Customers who went to a Rancho Cordova Shell station on June 9 for a few short hours were rewarded with gas at 90 percent off due to a rounding error by then-manager John Szczecina.
While setting the prices for gasoline that day, he told KOVR, he inadvertently bungled the decimal for the premium gas. What was supposed to be a $6.99 gallon turned out to be a very nice deal for drivers who stopped by that day, and for the legions of drivers who caught wind of the deal on social media.
“I put all three prices on there except the diesel, but the last one kind of didn’t go, you know, right,” he told KOVR in an interview.
In all, his error cost the gas station $16,000 — and his job.
“I just took responsibility for it and I said ‘yeah it’s my fault, and I’m to blame,” he said.
It is unclear if Szczecina has to pay the company back for his mistake. A representative for Shell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from SFGATE.
