A stranger in US asks for a little of fuel at a gas station
While in US, I found the closest gas station and was ready to fill up the gas. The time was pretty late (around 11pm). There was nobody around, just a stranger at another pump. He approached me and politely asked to pay him a gallon or two. He explained that since there is nobody to accept his cash (he claims that he forgot ZIP and could not pay with his credit card at pump). This claim made me cautious.
My question is: Is it safe to pay for a stranger? Can it be dangerous? What would be the best strategy to be helpful while also cautious?
Best Answer
Actually the whole story sounds too far fetched here is why.
Every time the gas station is unmanned the pumps are usually secured otherwise it's extremely easy to damage it, burn down or the like so normally the pumps are inaccessible when noone is on duty.
So the more likely scenario the person just wanted to bump some gas from you for free. Personally I may have given them some gas but then again probably by paying an attendant $20 to allow them to pump.
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What do you do when someone asks for gas money?
First, offer to help without giving them cash. If a woman asks for money for gas, instead offer to pay to pump a few gallons for her. If the phone is locked in the car, ask who you can call to help them out. Certainly check their story.How do you ask for gas at a gas station?
Pay the clerk inside for the gas before you start pumping.Go inside the gas station and tell the clerk the pump number and the amount of money you want to put in your tank. Give them the cash so they can activate the pump for you. Some gas stations may let you pay after you pump the gas.What is gas station etiquette?
Should there be two open pumps on any given side of the gas station, drive forward that extra five feet of space and use the farthest pump. It'll help streamline the entrance traffic and do a solid for a person behind you in line: it's a win-win! Keep it classy at the gas stations, folks.Can you steal gas from a gas station?
The vast majority are convenience stores that sell fuel. Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron have the most stations in the U.S. Shell is number one with 12,624 stations, with Exxon Mobil slightly behind at 12,168. Mostly, gas thieves were able, on occasion, to steal around $50-60 worth of fuel.Karaoké pompe à essence !
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Answer 2
A variation of this actually happened to me in real life once. I had just moved to another state and one day went to purchase gas. As it does in the USA, you can use your bank ATM card as a credit card and thus avoid having to enter your ATM pin (the pump will ask for your ZIP to confirm it's you). I do this when possible to secure myself against skimmers.
In my case I had not actually forgotten the ZIP, I had merely forgotten whether I had yet informed my bank about my new ZIP. So I entered my old ZIP and of course it was wrong. Consequently the pump locked itself and displayed a message telling me to see the attendant.
Lazy as I am, I decided to wait for a minute to see if the pump would unlock itself so that I could try again with my new ZIP (it did not). In the end I just had to walk to the cashier and my little issue was resolved.
Now of course the station that I was on actually had a cashier inside. It was also not a particularly small station, which means that I might have been able to solve my issue by trying my card at the next available pump. (On the other hand the OP mentions "a stranger at another pump" but it's not clear if in his case the station only had that one other pump).
Since you do not seem to question the mans claim that there was "nobody to accept his cash" it seems unlikely that there was any other option than paying for his gas with your own card.
(Here in America I have also not seen those pumps they have in Europe where people can pay by inserting cash.)
That being said, it's not dangerous in itself to pay in behalf of a stranger, although sometimes questions like these can be a pretext to get you to take out your wallet or to use your card at a machine equipped with a skimmer.
Probably more likely though he was in need of some monetary assistance and buying him gas for $5 (currently this gives at least 2 gallons / 8 liters of "regular" in most states) would have been sufficient.
Answer 3
If the request was for you to use a card and him to give you cash, he may be passing counterfeit. If he wants to give you twenty and get change, even more so. Forgetting zip code? HMM!
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