Preaching to the choir

The other day I had to stop for gas before heading home from several hours away. I had already driven 3 hours that day to present at a seminar. I had not really yet eaten anything substantive that day.

At the gas pump, I swiped my credit card and let the gas flow (at $2.27 a gallon! Yay!). Then one of the women in the car on the other side of the pump approached me and asked me for a few dollars to buy gas. Of course she had a story of woe, how her car's gas gauge was broken so she'd had no way of realizing how close to out of gas she was, how she was trying to get home to her babies. I always hate that part of the encounter when they try really hard to sell me on the reality of their need. The truth is I don't really need to be sold; I'm the sort that will try to give someone a few bucks if I can. I didn't really care why she'd run out of gas or had no money or credit card to buy a few dollars worth of gas. I had no reason to doubt her that she really was out of gas. Her friend or sister was in the car, clearly trying to call someone to come help them out.

Here's where my real dilemma came in: I had a 10, a 20, and about 2 bucks in quarters. I also had the credit card I had just used on my own pump still in my pocket. So how much should I give this woman? My first thought was that I wished I still had that 5 dollar bill that I had just used to pay the parking garage. Obviously I didn't want to give her 20. I may be nice and all, but that seemed too much. But the $2 in quarters didn't seem like enough. I think it was actually $2.25, so it was enough to buy her almost exactly one gallon. If they were within about a 25 or 30 mile radius, that would get them home.

This has been bugging me for a few days. Should I have given the 10? Why was I so reluctant to use my credit card to put about 6 or 7 dollars worth of gas in their car? In the end, I gave them the quarters and felt bad as I drove away. They were still there even after I pulled out of the neighboring fast food restaurant where I stopped to get a drink for the ride home. $2.25 doesn't buy as much gas as it used to. So what would you have done? Is it silly that it's still bugging me whether I was too stingy?