Today I stopped in at this Mobile/Circle K to put gas in my car. I went inside and paid $50 on my pump with a debit card. I took my receipt and went out to the pump, which did not work. I went back into the store to let the clerk (Sumi) know and she explained that if the pump doesn't work, the money would be refunded to debit card and I could pay again. That seemed understandable to me, so I requested that she print my refund receipt so I could see that the card had been refunded and go try a different pump.
Sumi printed a receipt that did not match the one I had been originally given and that did not even show that a refund had been processed. She tried again, and again have me a receipt that did not match mine or the previous one and also did not reflect a return. At this point, I asked her contact a manager because it seemed as if they were having some kind of system error.
At this point, a male employee named Carl came into the store. Sumi explained to him the situation and asked him to help her print the receipt. He also could not come up with a receipt to show that my money was being refunded. He suggested that I come back tomorrow to speak with a manager. I let him know that without a receipt to show what had occurred, I had nothing to prove my story, which could end up costing me $50. I asked him to contact someone who could help (having worked behind a register for 7 years myself, I knew there were people to call when there are system errors like this).
Carl called a manager who was not on site and began explaining the situation, but explained it in a way that painted me out to be someone who was trying to scam them. Again, I was only asking for a receipt. He began reading off information from the incorrect receipts, and when I tried to show him that the correct receipt was actually in my hand, turned his back on me and started suggesting that I was yelling at him. I asked him if there was any way I could give her the correct information, but he refused and hung up the phone to tell me she couldn't help me.
He asked me next to call my bank, which I did, and I asked them to continue trying because we all know how long you can wait on hold for a debit card call. At this point, a customer (and apparently an employee who was not working that day) named April walked in. Sumi asked April if she could take a look at what was happening. April (who again was not working, but was there as a customer) went behind the counter and asked me what happened.
I explained the situation, and Sumi explained that she usually has no problem printing the refund receipt. April asked to see the receipt and I handed it to her. She said she was going to go outside to look at the pump and set my receipt down in the pile of other receipts they had printed while I was there. I asked if before she left, if she could hang me back my receipt (which had "customer copy" accross the top, making it my property). To this, she responded that she didn't really have to do anything because she was off the clock.
I explained that everything felt a bit chaotic right now and that I would prefer to hold onto the receipt than have it left unattended since it was the only proof I had that I had paid for the gas. At this point, April started yelling at me and threw the receipt in my face before she stormed out of the store to continue her day off.
Sumi attempted to continue to try to treat me with respect and help me, but Carl asked her to help other customers, and then refused to help me anymore himself. When my bank representative came back on the line, she explained that the charge had in fact gone through and that there was no refund pending on the account. I tried to let Carl know that his request had paid off and we now had information from the bank that no refund was issued. He chose to ignore, taking over my head at people behind me and trying to really up the line to join him in his decision to make me feel bad for expecting to receive the product I had paid for.
The bank representative heard him, thankfully, and issued a stop payment on the transaction so that the money would be refunded back to my account. When I hung up, I attempted to let the clerks know what had occurred so they could inform their manager what the outcome had been. Sumi tried to listen and respond, but Carl started laughing loudly in my face. He let me know that none of this was all that serious to him anyway and that he really didn't care of I got my money back or not. He told me that to him, this is just a little job and he doesn't need to be concerned with how his customers feel or what they lose.
I thanked him and left. When I got out to my car, one of the women who had been behind me in line was waiting at the next pump and had paid $50 so I could get my gas. I am thankful to this woman
After a long day of work, this was a heartbreaking experience to have, and this stranger too the time to remind me that not everyone in this world is heartless. read more