After a petrol attendant mistakenly punched the wrong amount for fuel into the card machine and the customer drove off, he was left in a pickle and had to pay the mistake that cost him R1000 out of pocket. But, members of a Facebook Moms’ Group soon came to his rescue!
Cape Town, South Africa (10 May 2024) — What began as an unfortunate mistake, turned into a heartwarming happy ending for a petrol attendant who found himself in a pickle, thanks to a Facebook moms’ group!
Earlier this week, a mom part of the Durbanville/Northern Suburbs Mammas/Moms community group went to a local petrol station to fill up her car.
“The pump attendant proceeded to ask her if she perhaps came for a fill-up the week before, as there was a similar car the previous week and that mommy also filled up. Her bill came to R1200, but the attendant, Gabriel, accidentally punched only R200 into the card machine. The mommy paid the R200 and off she went. Unknowingly, Gabriel was then left with a shortfall of R1000 at the end of that day,” explains group member Diané Van der Merwe.
Diané adds that Gabriel’s employer was adamant that he must pay the R1000 difference himself—a big chunk of money to fork out for most South Africans.
“This led Gabriel to asking everyone with a similar vehicle if they were perhaps the ones who filled up the week before,” Diané adds of Gabriel’s search for Mommy Anonymous.
The woman who learned of his story at the petrol station decided that she wanted to help right the mistake, and so turned to the Facebook Moms’ group in hopes that she might find the original R200 spender to pay the rest of the bill.
The search proved unsuccessful. However, that did not mean that all hope was lost.
“A whole community of Moms came together! Suddenly, moms were offering to pay towards Gabriel’s R1000 from as far away as Plettenberg Bay!” remarks Diané of the extraordinarily kind community action.
“Complete strangers—coming together—to ease the financial stress of a complete stranger. Even offering to give him whatever money was left after his ‘debt’ was settled. It was a complete outpouring of love!”
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The mom who had shared Gabriel’s story with the group returned to the petrol station to let him know the good news, but when she arrived, Gabriel was already beaming.
The original anonymous mom who owed him the money had stopped by to settle the full amount!
“Gabriel’s appreciation and joy was infectious and you could clearly see that a weight had been lifted from his shoulders,” says Diané.
The petrol attendant thanked the mom who had gone out of her way for him and all the other mothers who were willing to step up for him.
“I wanted to share this story with you as it has just proved, once again, that strangers can come together and make a difference. There is still so much good in this world.”—Diané Van der Merwe.
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