Truck stop won't accept bills over $20 for gas?

On Aug 3, 7:13 am, "NotMe" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> Just drove my neighbor's RV to the tuck stop to full up.  Bill was $295+.  I
> handed the clerk three $100 bills and was informed that they did not accept
> anything bigger than $20.

After you've already pumped the gas it's a bit too late for them to tell you what kind of payment they will accept.   What, are they going to ask you to give it back?.

Also, it's a pretty stupid policy if they are a truck stop catering to large vehicles that almost always will take more than $100 to fill up.   Maybe both you, and the clerk, misunderstood the policy which the boss intended to mean, they wouldn't make change in any amount larger than a $20 because they wouldn't keep more than that in the change drawer at any one time.  There's no sensible business reason the clerk couldn't have accepted your 3 C-bills, stuck them directly in the safe (which often has a slot on top for that purpose, allowing deposits but not withdrawals by the low-level clerks) and given you $5 change.

Assuming hypothetically that you wouldn't have had any other acceptable way to pay on hand, you were lucky that the tab came to just under exact change for your 3 large.  If I were you (this is NOT legal advice, just a curmudgeonly, ornery self-serv customer shooting from the hip) I would have laid my $300 on the counter (making sure the clerk knew it was there), picked up slightly less than $5 worth of Slim Jims or Slurpees or whatever to make up the difference, showed those to the clerk, said "this makes it an even $300" and walked out.   Or just give up the change and walk out, but I think my way makes for a better movie scene.

On a more sober note, was this one of those pay-at-the-pump and then pump-it-yourself places?  If so, how did you start the pump without getting prior authorization by going inside and talking to the clerk, if you intended to pay by cash?  Virtually every self-service place these days requires you to pay first (one way or another, inside or outside) before you can start pumping.  And if you were able to start the pump without going inside, how did it manage to pump in $295 worth of gas?  I thought those things were set to shut themselves off when they reached their pre-set automatic $50 (or whatever) pay-outside limit and there was nothing you could do about it unless you went inside and paid in advance and got authorization first.   I'm not asking you to explain, just pointing out that some of the facts in your scenario don't seem to make sense when taken together.

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Mike Jacobs
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