Gas Station Manager Who Set Price at 69 Cents Fired

Update: The manager who accidentally rolled gas prices way back at a Northern California gas station has been fired. "I just took responsibility for it and I said ‘yeah it’s my fault, and I’m to blame,'" John Szczecina tells CBS Sacramento of the misplaced decimal point that cost the station $16,000. His family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money to repay the Shell station, and the fundraising goal has nearly been reached. Our original story from Sunday follows:

Word spread quickly once a driver in Northern California realized the gas he was pumping into his car was costing him just 69 cents a gallon—for premium, even. "I hit that button and it started pumping and the dollar sign just stayed low," says Darryl Surita, KOVR reports. He put up an Instagram post about the bargain, at a Shell station in Rancho Cordova. Other customers quickly recognized their luck and called friends and family. "I started looking around and everybody had a smile, like everybody had a big smile," Surita said, "and they kinda were not looking at you in your eyes."

Business boomed. "It was crazy, it turned into a circus within a matter of minutes," says Eddie Surita. A technical error deserved the credit—or blame. Gas was supposed to be priced at $6.99 per gallon, but a misplaced decimal point put the actual price at 69 cents. It took about three hours for the station to fix the problem, per KRON. Gas prices in the area range from $5.81 to $6.89, per gasbuddy.com. "I've never seen gas this price in my lifetime, could you imagine that?" said Darryl Surita, who filled his empty tank for $14. "This is history right here." (More gas prices stories.)