California gas station manager fired for accidentally selling fuel for 69 cents a gallon

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Gas station manager John Szczecina was fired after accidentally setting the price for fuel to 69 cents a gallon instead of $6.99. (Photos courtesy: KOVR-TV, left/@sac_og_d via Instagram, right)

CALIFORNIA - A gas station manager in California has been fired after he accidentally set the price for a gallon of gas to 69 cents per gallon instead of $6.99.

Drivers flocked to the gas station in Rancho Cordova, when word got around on social media looking to capitalize on the deal.

The station lost $16,000 before the error was corrected.

The price was the cheapest drivers have been able to get at the pump since 1978.

The station's former manager, John, Szczecina, said that the sudden rock-bottom prices were the result of a simple mistake with a decimal point.

More drivers running out of gas

As gas prices soar, drivers are doing all they can to get every drop out of each fill-up at the pump. But it's causing more and more problems on the road, as people get stuck after running out of gas.

"And I thought, ‘this is a nightmare,’" Szczecina told CBS13 Sacramento."I put all three prices on there except the diesel, but the last one kind of didn’t go, you know, right.

According to Szczecina, he was fired on Monday because of the error.

Soaring gas prices across the nation have been putting the squeeze on drivers' wallets, as the national average for a price of gasoline hit $5 for the first time this past weekend.