Sherwood Shell Gas Station Jeff Johnston-Owner Forgot to put on fuel cap to Semi Truck, causing lost wages, loss of fuel, cap replacement. Sherwood Oregon

I pulled into one of many local gas stations where I fill my semi truck with diesel fuel. The local gas attendant (who sees me regularly) activated the pump and began fueling my truck with diesel. Evidently they forgot to put the fuel cap back on my fuel tank and I drove away, spilling several gallons of fuel before pulling off the road and realizing that there was no cap on my tank. This episode caused me to have to cancel my truck from the job where it was supposed to work. This also causes lost wages for the whole day, as my truck had to be taken out of service. As an owner-operator, this also affects my reputation, as no contractor in their right mind would believe anyone that used that situation for an excuse to "no show" to a trucking job that a contractor hired them to do. This also puts a strain on the Contractor that had hired my truck, as he would have to try and find another independent operator available on the spot to perform the work that had been awarded to me-which is almost impossible to find a free truck this time of year. It also dissuades that same Contractor from hiring me to do any future work. So, as you can see there is a ridiculously gigantic trickle affect going on here. 

I contacted the owner of the Sherwood Shell gas station Jeff Johnston to discuss how he was going to compensate me for my loss. Loss of my fuel that had just purchased from his station, my lost wages at $80.00 Hr. because I could not work my truck (without a fuel cap and slosh fuel everywhere and risk contaminating my fuel tank with dirt and debris), and a $140.00 Peterbilt fuel cap that his staff forgot to put back on my truck. He then informed me that I had activated the pump and therefore he was not liable. That is an outright LIE!

I informed him that he should view the recorded video of that transaction to determine that in fact I was no where near that pump when it was activated. The attendant activated that pump, and somehow they were trying to blame me for their mistake. 

It is simply bad business to not have integrity. You should not have to lie your way out of a situation just because you want to be right. A paying customer tells 5 people about a positive experience-that same customer will tell 100 people of a negative experience. With social media these numbers are astronomical, and will affect your business either way....

If you own a business you should have some integrity and try to make it right with a regular paying customer (or any customer for that matter) to avoid blemishing your reputation as an honest human being. Instead, he wants to pass the buck, and not pay my losses for the day. Had I frequented any other gas station that morning, I would have made it to work 45 minutes early (as I normally do), had 88 gallons of fuel in my truck to burn(which I had when I left hois sation), and made $80.00 an hour doing what I do for a living. It's really hard to make a living out there, especially when you run across crooked people that don't want to be held accountable for their actions.