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Old 06-06-2006, 02:03 PM  
SilentKnight
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Join Date: Oct 2005
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Gas prices - an innovative solution!

Years ago I worked for a short while as an assistant manager for a Petro-Canada gas station (one of their flagship locations - often photographed for promos and TV commercials because of its pristine condition).

At the time, my boss (the station owner) had hired some young punk to work the night shift - against my better advice. I just had a sixth sense about this kid that he would be a problem employee. I was right. Time and time again he proved himself to be an unreliable idiot, but no matter how many times I pointed out the ongoing problems to the owner...still he wouldn't fire the clown. I was rather baffled.

So one night my wife and I decided on a plan. I supplied her with a little technical information - and she placed a call just after midnight to the station...posing as the Petro Can employee at head office who notifies the stations of new gas price changes. I knew all the proper authorization codes and verifications to supply her with to get things rolling.

The gas price at the time was around $0.88/litre - so she instructed the punk over the phone that the new adjusted price would be $0.62 cents per litre. I could hear the kid exclaim, "Whoa!!!" through the phone as she supplied him with the authorization codes. She told him it had come to head office's attention that there was an imminent gas war in the region, and the new prices would reflect Petro's competitive marketing strategy (she ad-libbed it beautifully).

The kid promised to immediately put the price change through the register and pump systems and change it on the big roadsigns. My wife hung up the phone and we nearly wet ourselves laughing for the next few minutes.

We couldn't resist the temptation to hop in the car and casually drive by the station to see the 'new price' in action on the sign. But unfortunately, the kid had somehow managed to make his brain function after the call, decided the price reduction was just too drastic, and called the station owner at home to relate what was happening. The manager informed him immediately the call had to be a fake and to disregard it.

Morning commuters came ( ) this close to enjoying a good discount that morning on the drive into work.
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