This is to enlighten the Nigerian populace about the truth of filling station cheats and to set straight the falsified truths, so as to ensure good customer and attendants relationship and also to see them in a positive perspectives.

Some years ago after serving and due to job palava in our beloved country I worked for two years as a teacher, before I got a bank job which I resumed as a marketer in Apapa while I reside in Ikotun, two weeks after, I got an invite from one of the numerous job applications I sent as a filling station supervisor which I honoured.
I looked into both options as the stress and money spent on transport is much with little left on the bank job while the filling station is just #200 transport to my house with a day on and off option and I opted for it.
Both are same pay but one is Monday to Friday while the other is 3 and 4 days a week alternatively.
Prior to this, I have no filling station experience, even fuel used at home is bought by my dad on his way home from work, any other experience was while I was in school when I have to buy kerosene for my personal use and it's done once in a month as I buy full keg for keeps.
During the course of the interview with the MD, he said he does not need my experience as he would train me himself as to all I need to know and all he needs from me is my Integrity to him and to the customers, he was also a retired bank manager and he for that reason took interest in me as I was coming from a bank job.
My reason for this brief info is that prior to me working as a supervisor in a filling station, the kind of things I heard about fuel attendants were all about them stealing from people especially with the way they go about it just like the ways @chatinent stated in his thread.
It is a known fact they cheat customers but not all, though everyone has the tendency to if the chance presents itself, but that is left for the management to curtail.
Furthermore, not all of those actions can be possibly carried out by the attendants, some are outright fallacy.

As some of them are as a result of the deep corruption ingrained in the officials of the Nigerian system setup.

Some is as a result of faulty machine, which does not even occur every time and does not favour the attendants if the customer noticed it and decide to want to get the amount read by the machine without dispensing.

As a customer in a filling station, the only two things you need to do to prevent you from been cheated is to:

- Pay maximum attention/concentration
- Just be observant

This is all you need, after you must have been educated on how these things work in a filling station..

One other thing you must do is to totally avoid the filling station that under dispence for you and this can only be done if you go with a keg and buy a specified amount from several filling station to determine the highest quantity dispensed by a particular filling station. That is the only way you can avoid this as they are backed by those who are supposed to checkmate them, and it's the only way the management can make considerable profit after putting all monthly expenses into consideration...
Other points will be made as I counter chatinent's claims points by points and give kudos to where he is right and spot on while also sharing experiences from both side of the divide. i.e from both customers and attendants, for you to know that people make mistakes and some customers are not truthful also due to the various comments made by other members on POS and bank transfers...
Last last we are all humans and everyone is on survival mode but made worse as citizens of Nigeria...

1. The unnecessary joviality
This is not always true, but attendants are required to be friendly. Some customers appreciate it and some don't, while some customers have that mindset of the attendants doing it just to cheat them and reply attendants in condescending manners.
I just have to advice the attendants to just greet and go straight to the point as the management will not be there on the forecourt to know their pains.
Above all, the mood of the customers determines the feedback you get from the customer as some customers you know so well and joke with sometimes act like you don't mean well for them.

The meter
Watch out for registered fuel stations. Many fuel stations reset their meters!

This is perfectly true but it has nothing to do with the attendants but the management and they have their reasons for doing that.
Are they justified? This can be prevented but the agencies that ought to checkmate this are DPR and Weight And Measure of the NNPC, but all they do is go to every fuel station monthly and collect 50k each whether the station reset their meters or not.
Also from the depot, same thing happens and the customers are to bear the brunt. DPR also collect money from depots to look away. Now imagine the millions those people make monthly in bribe just to rip off ordinary Nigerians.

The oh-sorry trick
The fraudulent ones can use it to defraud you!
They can recall to an old purchase, say ₦2000, and begin from there to serve you for a deal of ₦5000. You'll only get ₦3000 worth of fuel but pay ₦5000.
If you understand the function of recall button you won't say this, the pump has to stop before you can recall so that is out of it.
They actually do this but not at such a huge amount as the customer will definitely detect if the fuel gauge did not rise. And for the attendants to do this successfully the customer must be known to be absent minded.

Always observe the nozzle (fuel dispenser)
When the nozzle is hung properly, it resets to the default; zero. But when not hung properly, they reserve your fuel there to use to sell to others. Also, please note this, longer nozzles automatically reserves your fuel and it goes back to the engine -- enough fuel for them! E shock you?
This is never possible, no matter how long the nozzle is, as the meter starts reading immediately the fuel leaves the nozzle and not the pumping engine. And even if the engine is running, as long as you do not press the release handle on the nozzle, fuel will never leave the nozzle even if you turn it upside down, so this is a blatant lie.

The please-fill-up people
Taking advantage of people requesting for a fill up is very easy for a fraudulent attendant. They may just pump air of ₦3000 for you and fuel of ₦10000. You'll hadly notice if you aren't smart!
I understand this post came as a shocker but you can outsmart them if you come down from your car and watch everything. Even when you are buying in a gallon, don't be carried away by anything.

It is not possible to pump air at all, even if there is no fuel in the underground tank, the meter would rather not read.
But I will not deny the fact that some meters read without dispensing fuel but not to the extent of #3000, it could be in the range of #1 to less than #100 and its not a fault of the attendants but as a result of faulty machines. This is an advantage to the owners and a disadvantage to the attendants if the customer detects and wants you to restart it.

Having said all these, some customers are also out to defraud attendants especially during rush hours, they buy and they knowingly won't pay because the attendant is attending to too many people and could be absent minded. Some customers genuinely forgot to pay also and they come back, we had one who brought back #13000.
POS fraud, this is possible but some times it's just innocent mistake, we have had situations whereby attendants typed 200k instead of 20k,36k instead of #3600 and so may other instances, and once customers detect they come back ranting and shouting fraud. We've also had situations whereby attendants typed #3500, instead of 35k, #200 instead of 2k, #2500 instead of 25k, 4k instead of 40k and guess what, many of them don't come back to return the deficit while some do.

On your next visit to the fuel station, just be calm, pay attention and be observant and I assure that the chances of you been defrauded will be very low, except that of dispensing as a result of reset meters duly supported by the agencies(DPR and WEIGHT AND MEASURE) who are meant to checkmate it.
And there was a guy who always bring an atm card that is always declined and goes to bank to complain that his money was deducted but declined and he paid with cash which he never did and the money will be reversed to his account before it was detected and management reports to the bank and stopped them from reversing failed transactions again without their consent.
cc. chatinent
Note: I no longer work in a filling station for now.