A grandmother was forced to use the bathroom outside in 90-degree weather after a gas station attendant prohibited her from using the store’s restroom.
Evelyn Redic of Charlotte, North Carolina was driving back from a church trip when her vehicle caught a flat tire. The group pulled in at the nearby Shell/Circle K gas station and waited for roadside assistance to arrive, WBTV reported. Redic asked to use the bathroom and the cashier told her “no”. He added that only “employees” were allowed to use the store restroom.
“I have never been so embarrassed,” Redic’s granddaughter Katossa Glover told the news source of how her grandmother felt. “She says she was outraged.”
After the woman was forced to urinate in the grass beside the station in dire heat, she checked into the hospital due to the situation taking a toll on her.
“She is still very weak,” said Glover. “She’s resting.”
Prior to the incident, Redic had just left the hospital after suffering a stroke. Vilma Leake, the County Commissioner spoke with the gas station and said she was extremely upset with what happened.
“She’s a human being and they are human,” Leake expressed. “That is out of the ordinary to say no to somebody that age.”
The County Commissioner said the Shell’s attendant couldn’t “say anything” and directed her to the corporate office.
Mecklenburg County officials explained that no code violations were violated and the owner has the right to deny anyone he wants to.
Glover posted the incident on her Facebook page which immediately went viral. She and other family members said they understand the rules, but her grandmother is owed an apology.
#MyGrandmother ❤ I ask that you share with as many as you will… #NotMyEvelyn #CircleK Gas Station- 605 Clanton Rd…
Posted by Katossa R Glover on Wednesday, June 27, 2018
“I feel like we need some type of public apology,” Glover stated.
She continued, “People are tired of being mistreated,” she said to the news station, “and a woman who has been here since 1929, who has gone through that, will not experience that in 2018 without the community fighting.”
Redic’s family along with other community members plan on protesting the gas station until a public apology is made.
“I think if you are making money here in this community, you need to be taking care of your community,” Glover added.
