Is it Stealing if they won't take the Money?

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee related a story today about inadvertently walking out of a store without paying for something and the frustration she experienced trying to right the wrong.

Ironically, I had a similar experience this week when getting gas.

I slide my credit card through. Pumped gas until the pump shut off and the screen came up with “see the cashier”. When I went into ask what was going on, the cashier said that he owed me “22.82”. I tried to explain that since I bought gas, I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but he assured me that he owed me money. In hindsight, perhaps I should have just accepted the money and left, but Little Miss Rule Follower had to persist. The manager then involved himself and decided to show the little lady how to use a gas pump. ( I can’t say that this put him on my good side. ) I will say that the manager was very kind and continued smiling, but he really never offered a solution. I finally insisted that we took each others information. As of four days later, there is no resolution to this. My bank card shows a $1.00 pending charge (which it often does before the real charge comes in) and the gas station shows no sign of the charge ever being made. And ironically nor do they want me to come back and pay for the gas, which I offered.

The question that both of these experiences raise is what is the moral / right thing to do? How far do you go to do the “right” thing? What do you think?