This gas station used to be on my route home and to work, but let me just say I avoid this place at all costs even if I'm desperate to refill gas. Years later, I'm still moved to copy/paste the complaint I sent to Mobil about my experience there. I'm convinced they have a store policy of following around persons of color and it's actively enforced.
I typically use my credit card at the pump and do not go inside the store. Occasionally, however, when I have gone inside to purchase incidentals, the cashier who is regularly staffing the front counter, Yasmen, has followed me around immediately upon my entering the small store. I have always found this odd and have felt uncomfortable, but have allowed the cashier to do what she needed to do to feel she was doing her job.
Thursday evening, July 7, 2016 around 9 p.m., immediately upon entering the gas station storefront, the cashier asked me to not enter the store because she needed to help another customer outside. When she returned, I asked her why it was necessary for me to wait outside. She explained that if something got stolen, she had to pay for it out of her own pocket.
The combination of her following me around in the past and my observing her not doing it to other customers, coupled with her implying this evening that she could not trust me out of her line of vision for 30 seconds in a small store filled with mostly snacks and beverages, inspired me to ask her for the manager's phone number, but she refused to share the information with me.
She said, "He's not here." I repeated my question again. She raised her voice and asked me what she could have done differently and told me to, "Be reasonable." I explained I did not understand why she was not able to give me her manager's number and asked if she would have asked other customers to wait outside. She said, "Yes."
I also asked if it was a store policy to ask customers to wait outside when no clerk was present because I did not see it posted visibly anywhere. She said, "I remember you. You like to complain a lot."
I have never once had a conversation with any cashier in the store. Even when I have attempted to ask Yasmen a question, she has seemingly ignored me. Months before, my pump wasn't working one morning on my way to work and she hurriedly left the store to help me outside. She seemed visibly perturbed and refused to talk to me when I asked what to do differently the next time so I didn't bother her. I once again found this odd, if not rude, but chalked it up to her being concerned about keeping an eye on the store and my keeping her away from that.
She continued to refuse to give me her manager's contact information after my continuing to request it Thursday evening, July 7th, so I left.
Shortly after, I tried to call the store number hoping to get the manager. The first time, Yasmen picked up the phone, but appeared not to hear me and hung up. The second time, she answered again and I hesitated to speak based on our interaction in the store. Right before hanging up she said, "Ok, I have your number now. I'm calling the police."
Because she is a woman of color and I am also a woman of color, it will be difficult to prove that I am being profiled. However, I have never observed her treating customers from other backgrounds, particularly white customers, this way. In fact, she seems to go out of her way for them. Santa Monica is a predominantly wealthy and white community and I have observed I am an anomaly at this gas station.
At its best, this is very poor customer service. At its worst, this feels like discrimination to me. I do not feel comfortable re-entering the store and do not feel welcome there.
I filed a complaint with Mobil's corporate headquarters that evening and have been told it takes 72 hours to hear back.Years later, still no response.
I'm left wondering if this is similar to the case in Colorado where a store had a "theft mitigation" policy in which cashiers were instructed to profile customers: http://aclu-co.org/court-cases/hot-mama-theft-mitigation-policy/. Please speak up if this has happened to you at this gas station or any other Mobils in the area. read more