The Tales of Two Murphys
Two true stories
These are two true stories about Murphy USA gas stations. Most of these gas stations reside in the parking lot outside of Walmart. I did see one in an area on the beach where the gas station was across the street from Walmart.
First Story
The first story takes us to the Murphy gas station close to the Walmart in the city south of where I live. This was, and I stress WAS, my go-to gas station. It is no more.
The clerks were always nice to me. There was always a woman who was the sweetest person calling me sweetie all the time. Then she just disappeared. A gentlemen replaced her. He was always there. He was okay and somewhat friendly. Then he disappeared. Where did they go?
Then another woman took over. And everything went downhill from there.
The first time I encountered her, it was not good. In late 2024, I had purchased a few scratch-off tickets hoping to strike it rich. I didn’t. All I won was $20. I had held onto the ticket and hadn’t cashed it in a few months. It was still valid because the game had not ended. And it still hasn’t ended. I chose a day in early 2025 to go cash it. I didn’t need gas, so I parked off to the side. Everyone parks on the side when they just want to get drinks, food, or lottery tickets. I followed a man whom I parked behind to the cash register. I heard the lady say something to him and he turned away looking disgusted. I approached the window and told her I had a ticket to cash. She told me that she was working on the machine, so we couldn’t cash them. The guy in front had a winner too.
We both got back into our cars and headed out the same direction. He went west, while I turned north. I’m sure he was as frustrated as I was not being able to cash our tickets.
Fast forward a couple weeks and I came back. Same woman. She took the ticket and said she didn’t know where the code was to redeem the ticket. The clerk usually uses a coin to scratch off the area where the redeeming numbers are located. I do not do this myself because I never know if this voids it or not. I always want to be on the safe side. Then they put it under the scanner and the amount owed comes up on the cash register.
This woman sells scratch-offs on a daily basis and redeems them for people every day. Why wouldn’t she have known how to do it?
I haven’t been back there since.
Second Story
The second story pertains to a Murphy gas station in the city I used to live. This was my go-to station when I lived there. I can’t tell you how many times I visited it. It was probably in the hundreds.
I had to take my Mom to a doctor’s appointment. I was low on gas. I decided to stop there. Big mistake!
I did what I have done every single time I have been there. I hit the button that says “Pay Attendant”. I lift the pump and place it into the car. I hit the “grade”. I wait for the attendant to hit the button to start pumping and then I start pumping.
The numbers went back to $0.00. It came “alive” and I started pumping. All of the sudden it stops. And it says 14 cents. I walked over to the window and I told her something happened, it just stopped. Then she starts yelling at me that I’m supposed to pay before I pump because people drive off without paying and stuff.
If I was to have paid before I pump, then why did she turn it on?
Note: I have never had to pay before pumping at this location. Ten years ago you did, but only if you were at the pumps that were far away from where the clerk was at.
I will never visit this location again.
Conclusion
You’re probably wondering if I ever got that ticket cashed. The answer is Yes. I went to another gas station and paid for my gas with the ticket. I told the clerk that I wanted to redeem my money to pay for it. He said, “Great!”. At least he knew how to find the redemption code. And it was NOT a Murphy.
I have a regular gas station I visit now. It is not a Murphy and even though I pay on average about 10 cents more, it is well worth it. I am satisfied.
Do you have any strange or interesting stories related to gas stations?
If you do, let me know in the comments section.
Until next time, happy reading!
Matt
Customer service costs nothing. People are strange!
I remember being in a hurry to get somewhere, and I needed to fill up with diesel on the way. I pulled into the local place and the only available pump was one I hadn't used before, and I was surprised when the nozzle didn't seem to fit into where it needed to go. 'Oh well', I thought, 'it's close enough', and hit the trigger.
BIG mistake. Diesel went EVERYWHERE - on my boots, my gloves, my coat, all over everything. I have no idea how a) I hadn't noticed that I was at the truck pump and that b) I thought it was a good idea to try to get the diesel to fly out of the extra-large nozzle across fresh air and assume that it would somehow make it into the fuel tank of my small car.
I never did get to where I was going. I apologised to the staff for what felt like hours, and never did make it to where I'd been trying to get to. Instead I drove the short distance home and threw most of my clothes away. I'm still too embarrassed to go back there, even though I now have a different car so they probably wouldn't recognise me anyway!