Gloriabelle Pikasophtercino

I'm at a quandry. Just today as I put the gas nozzle back in the rectangular holder, I again pressed the "receipt" button to get my receipt, and then I said to myself for probably the thousandth time: "gosh-darnit, I never file these god-for-saken things. I just lose them, so why on earth do I take them?"

It's true! I keep getting gas for my SUV that I take "buyers" for free rides in all the time, and think that I have to get the receipt because if I don't, the gas station owner might rip me off and put a different price on my credit card. I don't know why on earth I take the receipt though if I just lose it! Is this common, or is it just me who does this? Does anyone else think that the gas station owner will rip them off it they don't take the receipt?

I know I'm supposed to save the receipt for tax deductions, but I don't know how to be organized enough to actually save them in one place. Sometimes when I'm rooting around in my nightstand for some chapstsick or a lighter, I find these receipts and they have all kinds of guck on them, so I throw them away. Other times I will get around to windexing my coffee table and various pictures of people on mountaintops (my favorite thing besides cooking is mountain climbing), I find the receipts all crinkled up in a big ball. Last Saturday was my son's 1st birthday and I had a big party. The guests wanted coke instead of champagne punch with sherbert, so I sent them to the den to get some from the fridge there. Well, they didn't see the fridge (duh...it looks like a fridge and is small and under the counter) and so they rooted through my drawers and what did they find? You guessed it! Only the receipts were really stinky from the rotten hard-boiled egg that I hid there 3 years ago when I had a family reunion-Easter party. Can you see that this is a problem? What on earth am I do to?!?!

If you all haven't guessed by now, I'm not the organized type, and I reckon I never will be. So, here's my solution: Ask the customer to pay for the gas. That way the customer can take the receipt and I never have to be bothered with this again! The more I think about this, the more I feel it is the right thing to do. Everytime I meet a potential buyer, they follow me to my car. How about if I say "if we take my car, you need to buy some gas?" Or... maybe I could say: "I'm happy to drive, but I have a rule that the client buys gas and I'm on empty. Is Han-de-hugo okay with you? It's right next door."

What do you think? Times have changed and I think we are ready for this. I'm sick and tired of paying for the gas and not even being able to deduct it because I can't find my receipts! And before you tell me about recording the miles, forget about it. Can't you see that if I can't even keep a receipt in one place, I'm certainly not the type for recording miles? I need a real solution and one that has the customer paying for gas!

The more I think about it, by hook or by crook, the "buyer" should PAY whether by cash, visa or pushing my car!