After paying for and pumping his gas, a man is approached by a woman who says she just put money on that pump. He is convinced she’s mistaken—that is, until the gas station attendant shows him the receipt.
TikTok creator KJ (@kjkulik) posted a video about the situation on March 17. “So I was just at the gas station, and I tap my card on the tap-to-pay,” he says to start the video. “It says, ‘Pull the nozzle. Fill up.’ I do.”
That would be the end of the experience on most days, but something else happens as KJ is attempting to leave.
What Happened as He Left the Gas Station?
“And I go to leave, and a woman kind of frantically approaches me, and she’s like, ‘Oh, did you pay with your credit card? Because I just put money on that pump,’” he recalls. “And I was like, ‘No, I paid with my credit card. Don’t worry, no confusion here.’”
The woman accepts his explanation and walks back inside. “So I get in my car, and I’m driving away, and the gas station attendant comes out, stops me, and he’s like, ‘You actually didn’t pay for this. She did. Here’s the receipt. Is this your credit card?’” KJ says. “And it wasn’t.”
KJ isn’t letting this occurrence go by without reflection. “It was a great lesson because I defended my reality in that situation,” he says. “My reality was I tapped to pay. It worked at the perfect timing. What had actually happened, what the actual reality of the situation was, someone had paid for that pump at the exact same time that I had tapped. What were the odds?”
His takeaway is that everyone is living in their own reality, and realizing that can help promote healthy communication in relationships. “And I would’ve bet a lot of money that I was right in that situation and I wasn’t,” he says. “It’s a really good reminder. I think it’s really valuable in relationships when two people have a side of what happened. Lesson learned at the Wilmington, Delaware, gas station.”
Viewers React to the Man’s Gas Station Epiphany
In the comments section of the video, viewers questioned how such a thing could happen in the first place.
“How did she pay for the pump and not have her car in front of it?” asked one viewer.
“What in the LinkedIn post is this,” joked a second person.
A third person wrote, “That’s a very important lesson to hear out other people for additional information 100%.”
Someone else agreed, “Most people would reject the facts and think they are the victim of a scam coordinated by two people with evidence to the contrary. Great way to remind ourselves that being humble is part of being humane.”
When you tap to pay, the system puts out a short-range wireless signal that allows your payment details to transfer over to the merchant and complete the transaction. Of course, that process takes a second to initiate, which could—if timed perfectly like in this situation—result in someone believing they paid for gas when another customer inside paid at the desk.
As several commenters pointed out, this entire situation could’ve been avoided if the woman had prepaid inside at the pump her car was actually pulled up to.
AllHipHop contacted KJ via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We will update this story if he responds.
@kjkulik A great lesson today to constantly be accepting of other people’s realities. It’s pretty easy to look silly defending your own reality when it may be based off assumptions or not having all the information
♬ original sound – KJ