Came in to buy a fountain soda and left with proprietor threatening to call the police :(
I have visited this store a handful of times, and while it's a basic, small, working class gas station, I've appreciated the level of cleanliness and have even complimented the staff about that.
This visit I entered to find the proprietor (who I do not believe is the owner/operator, but perhaps a younger relative or perhaps just a regular worker) in a heated argument with the older gentlemen who runs the attached Krispy Krunchy Chicken location, an argument which continued despite my presence in the store.
In any case, I filled my soda at the fountain, ordered my chicken (chicken stand reviewed separately, 5 stars), and went to pay at the register. The register setup is atypical due to COVID mitigations, with a plexiglass panel attached to the customer-side end of the counter forcing customers to reach under the panel to manipulate merchandise or payments, like at a bank. Of course everyone has to determine what COVID adjustments are necessary for their own comfort, but I'll note the panel is surprising given 1) the second register, also in use, has no protective panel; 2) the proprietor wasn't wearing a mask; and 3) there is no signage requesting customers wear masks and no other customer in the store had a mask on.
In any case while reaching under the panel to grab my cup my finger penetrated the thin Styrofoam causing the soda to begin leaking out. I immediately apologized, grabbed the cup and threw it away to mitigate the spill as much as possible, and tried to gather napkins or paper towels to help clean it up (unfortunately neither item is available to customers).
I said something to the effect of "I'm sorry, I can't find any paper towels to help clean up," and the proprietor began to scold me for being in "too much of a hurry" and "running around his store." I was taken aback by this and protested that while I was again sorry for the spill, I had certainly not been running in the store. The proprietor redoubled his claims and insisted he could show me the 'running' on his security feed behind the counter. I told him to by all means run back the tape and show it to me, at which point he walked to the second register (sans protective panel) and said "next customer." I waited for that customer to finish with their purchase and then asked if the proprietor was saying he no longer wanted my business. He accused me of 'spoiling' cigarettes he had for sale under the counter (unclear if true), and when I told him I was again sorry for the spill but that I didn't control how he set up his counter or stored his merchandise he ordered me from his store.
While walking to my car, the Krispy Krunchy Chicken worker said he was sorry for what I had experienced. I told him, truthfully, that I had visited before and had good/neutral experiences, and that perhaps the proprietor was having a bad day. The older gentlemen's response was telling: "he's always having a bad day." At that point, perhaps upset at our conversation, the proprietor burst out the front doors and shouted at me that if I didn't leave immediately he was calling the police. I told him he could call whoever he wanted (I was causing no disruption of any kind outside and was already planning to not return) and thankfully left without further incident.
In the end I made a clumsy error to spill my soda (contributed to by the questionable counter setup, but still ultimately my fault). I would have been happy to pay for the spilled cup, and would have accepted a request to be more careful in the future without complaint. But the increasingly aggressive and even unhinged behavior of the proprietor make this a "do not patronize" location for me going forward. read more
