I have a fond memory of a friend that stuck it to the man in a hugely big-time way as the result of them trying to be cheapskates, coupled with some incredible stupidity, coupled with some liberals running the show, coupled with some incredibly good timing.
He was a gas station manager for a BP in Alexandria, Va. He started when he was 18, worked diligently until he was 22. This was in the mid- 70's. He was probably making about 25k per year.
They called him "management", and paid him based on a 40 hour work week. Thing is, they ran a tight payroll, and when a kid called in sick, etc.--He wasn't allowed to pay anyone else overtime, so would wind up working the sick guy's/girl's shift...for free in his mind, as he was straight salary. Also, they required the managers to work 6-2, 6 days a week.
They screwed up. In their employee manual, it stated that managers were required to work a 40 hour work week. My friend is very, very smart. He kept his mouth completely shut.
You see, at that time, everyone was "anti-big-oil". Imagine that. Maryland passed what is called the "Divestiture" act, which precluded oil companies from running their own gas stations.
BP wanted "Company Men" to run those gas stations in Maryland. They could have sold what is called the "Blue Sky" rights on the open market, but elected not to do so, instead GIVING the stations to faithful managers...Like my friend.
He was awarded a gas station on Aardmore/Aardwick Highway Rt.50, right next to what is now Fed-Ex field.
This is the good part. As soon as the ink was dry on his dealer contract, he sued BP for violation of Federal Labor Law. You can get some of the best Federal courtroom lawyers in the country in DC --and that is what he eventually wound up with after consulting the "regular" lawyers. It was cut and dried, and he was further extremely smart because he by-passed the labor board and filed directly in Federal court. BP wanted to settle with him, because if they lost in court, they were looking at a class-action suit involving over 5000 gas station managers.
Now he (or he and his lawyer..he says "he"--I'd bet lawyer, lol) got brilliant. You pay for your gasoline in what is called "Delivered Tank Wagon, lap-load." You pay for your previous load when the next load arrives, with a check to the driver. He settled with BP by agreeing that they would sell him gasoline for the next three years at cost. BP owned most of the Alaskan oil...this is important to the story.
Gas crisis of 1979 hit. All the other oil companies were importing, BP was not. The federal gov't passed a windfall profits tax. Oil co's were restricted to X amount of profit per gallon, and so were the dealers. As a dealer, you were restricted to .186 per gallon profit. Everyone was maxed out at that figure. BP gasoline DTW price was less than half of all competitors. My friend'd DTW was less than half of that, due to his labor law suit and settlement. . They also had an allocation, based on previous years sales. His allocation, as a high-volume gas station, was 250,000 gallons a month. I believe he was paying .40 a gallon. The other BP's were paying .81 All the other gas stations were paying about 1.60 per gallon.
There was also something called "State Set-aside" This was a provision in the law that would increase the allocation of a particular gasoline station "for the good of the community" actual need of the community, coupled with the price that the dealer sold it for. His was the cheapest gasoline in the state, by far.
As a result, my friend's allocation was the highest in the state of Maryland. They doubled it to 500,000 gallons a month. Do the math. Competitors selling gasoline for 1.799 He is selling gasoline for .579 a gallon. In the middle of a gas crisis in the middle of a major metro area. So he's selling about 17,000 gallons of gasoline a day, making his .186 a gallon, has 4 employees for about two hrs a day (they converted from self-serve to full-serve--sound whack? -- to get them in and out.) plus his former assistant manager in Va. was his manager, she ran the show, she kept the place open for cigarettes after they shut off the gasoline daily, transported the money to an apt. in Landover he set up for just that purpose---cash only back then. Again, they were open for gasoline for less than 2 hours a day. (The lines would form for the next day as soon at they would close...8 am + or -) I think they were "odd" and "even" tags, so the line was NOT the same people that were already "IN" line--These were incredible times... I wish I had a digital camera back then so I could show you this now, lol-- I would see this all on my "cameo" visits home...
The "crunch" eased in 1980, but the laws and the volume remained the same. He pumped at that volume and margin for the full three years.
Now he got INCREDIBLY brilliant. Remember that blue sky I mentioned?
He sold his gas station. He sold the "Blue Sky" for 4 million dollars, and that was well below market value. (Even good news here--I think that station got "moved" when Boy wonder an co. built Fed ex field--BP got a new station, and I think my friend's buyer got his blue sky $$ from Boy Wonder--I think that's what happened)
I should mention that my friend got incredibly lazy during this timeframe. It was difficult to walk into that apartment. His manager would bring the daily receipts from the station and place it in the apt. He was too lazy to count it. She would take cash out of the bags and put a piece of paper in there in order to keep the checking account funded for the gasoline, cigs, and payroll. It was difficult to walk in that apartment, because the pathways were too narrow. The apartment was literally stuffed with cash in paper bags, floor to ceiling, every room.
His rent was $5000.00 a month at the station and about $500 at the apt. His payroll and those cigs were..call it a bag of money...lol...in a sea of it...He was probably net "plus" on all of that, including rent, because they did a high volume in cig sales.
.18 a gallon x 500,000 gallons a month x 12 months x 3 years.
Plus the blue sky sale.
...and he never worked a day. He even ultimately wound up handing the counting chore over to his manager.
And it all started because he opted to keep his mouth shut about some owed overtime pay.
He is without a doubt the most blessed son of a bitch that I have ever known. I hate his guts. (NOT, he's my lifetime best friend, the bastard)