An Open Letter To Circle K

I work nearby, at 3200 W Ray Rd. I've been there five years, and for all that time, every weekday, I have made one and sometimes two visits to that Circle K. On most trips I brought between one and three co-workers with me; we made it a sort of festive break and bought Thirstbusters and roller grill items or donuts or whatever. And that's where I bought my two lottery tickets a week, and usually filled my SUV tank at the same time.

Yesterday my boss and I came together; he got a Thirstbuster and I bought two bottles of flavored water and two cheeseburger dogs from the roller grill—the last two cheeseburger dogs, I might add, which were to serve as a late lunch.

However, when I tried to pay for the items, the guy behind the counter (I know his name as I've seen him almost every day since he was hired, but I don't want to get him in trouble as I'm pretty sure he was following company policy) was unable to run my debit card.

"Is this a prepaid debit card?" he asked, and I told him it was. "I'm sorry, we can't take prepaid debit cards today, there's some sort of problem with the processing company."

"But that's all I have," I said, noting there was no sign anywhere warning about this problem.

"I'm sorry," he said. So I shrugged and began to leave, when my boss came up and asked if there was a problem. I explained what had happened.

"Well, I can loan you the cash, if that will help."

"Cool," I replied, and returned to the counter. "My friend is loaning me the cash," I said.

"I'm sorry," the counter guy said, "but I already threw out the cheeseburger dogs."

My jaw dropped. "You threw them out?"

"They were spoiled," he said. "I couldn't put them back."

"You threw them out rather than justgive them to me, a customer who's been in here at least once a day for five years?"

All he could do was shrug, and I got out of the store before I said or did anything I might regret.

Y'know, I can kind of understand how you can't let just anybody prepare a hot dog and then give it to them if they can't pay for it. But 1) I could pay for it; the problem was Circle K's, not mine; and 2) the counter guy knew me, knew I was a regular and that I'd have been happy to pay him the next day if given the option.

How does Circle K benefit from this policy in any way?

Valero, on the other hand, does benefit, because they have a store right across the street. And they'll be getting my business, and that of my co-workers, from now on.

Regretfully yours,

Paul S. Cilwa