The Gas Cap Story

Let me tell you all a short story about a simple little locking gas cap. This is actually a true story that I heard on a radio talk show a while back. A young man by the name of Tony was on a road trip through the Mid West one Summer. He would drive just about as far as he possibly could between filling up with gasoline. While Tony was driving down the road on old route 66 he discovered after looking down at the gas gauge on his dashboard that he was once again in dire need of some gasoline.

So Tony pulled into the very next gas station that he came across on the old Route 66. By the time he rolled up to the pumps, the gas tank was so empty that he must have been driving on pure fumes. Tony felt that he was very lucky to have made it into those gas pumps. After all he had run out of gasoline in the past, and had to walk some long distances to get more gasoline at a gas stations, and Tony is well aware that old Route 66 is no road to run out out of fuel on.

When Tony got out of his car he noticed something shinny sitting on top of the gas pumps. After a closer inspection he discovered that it was a locking gas cap, which some poor sole must have accidentally left behind after pumping their gas. He quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking. The locking gas cap was practically brand new, and Tony could hardly believe his lucky stars. He looked down at his old stained factory gas cap, and thought to himself that it would be great to have a new shinny locking gas cap again on his car.

Tony thought that with the increasing cost of gasoline, and all of the reports in the news about people having their gasoline stolen right out of their cars that having a locking gas cap to protect himself from that same fate was a win win situation. Tony had seen locking gas caps in auto parts stores selling for around $20, which would be a wise investment these days. However A free locking gas cap was music to Tony's ears, and he looked all around the service station to see if anyone might be returning to get their locking gas cap.

After Tony was fairly sure that no one was returning to get the locking gas cap, he quickly snatched it up, and held it proudly in his hands like a proud new father. Before he even filled up with gasoline he unscrewed his dirty old factory stained gas cap, and screwed his brand new locking gas cap on until he heard it click several times. He tossed the old cap into the trash can, and stood back and proudly looked at his brand new shinny locking gas cap, when it suddenly dawned on him that he didn't have a key for it.

Tony learned the hard way that sometimes the best deal isn't always a free deal, and that maybe the title to this short story should be changed to "What not to do with a free locking gas cap".