Soldier Reportedly Denied Service At Washington 7-Eleven, Outrage Ensues

A U.S. Army soldier recently stopped by a convenience store to purchase cigarettes, but to his shock and dismay, he received a relatively surprising response. Apparently, the cashier reportedly refused to fulfill his request. Now, the soldier’s complaint about the controversial encounter has gone viral on social media. According to Opposing Views, Collin Brown, a reservist in the Army, stopped a Redmond, WA, 7-Eleven convenience store to purchase a Slurpee and a pack of cigarettes for his fiance.

Of course, the cashier asked to see his ID when he asked for cigarettes, but things didn’t exactly go as planned when he showed his military ID. It has been reported that his affiliation with the military prompted the cashier to deny his request.

“After asking for the cigarettes, I was asked to produce an ID and I produced my military ID,” Brown told KIRO-TV.

“She said, ‘You’re in the military?’ I said, ‘Yes,'” Brown said. “She said, ‘I can’t serve you.’ And honestly, I was at that point just in shock. I asked, ‘Are you serious?’ And she looked at me like she was offended,” he said.

Brown stated that he also showed the cashier his driver’s license but she reportedly reiterated that she could not sell him cigarettes because he is in the military. Her adamant refusal prompted him to ask for her manager’s contact information. Only then did she sell him the cigarettes. However, the disheartening damage had already been done. Although the cashier eventually sold him the cigarettes, Brown still felt compelled to voice his frustrations on social media.

With the help of family and friends, the story has gone viral with more than 12,000 shares. Needless to say, many social media users have sympathized with Brown and understand his frustration. “I think it’s understandable that people would be upset about it,” he said. “”I think that anyone in this position would be upset.”

However, 7-Eleven has released a statement arguing that the circumstances surrounding the encounter have been fabricated. “7-11 has always promoted military — giving away Slurpees and even franchises to people in the service,” the company wrote. “A customer presented a military ID as a form of identification and the store associate could not clearly read the birth date. In this instance the store associate, by law, asked to see a second form of ID.”

The store’s response has only fueled Brown’s desire for the incident to be further investigated as he argues that their version of the story does not detail what actually occurred. “From moment one, the only thing I was hoping to do by coming forward with this is to get the issue addressed with the employee, because if you don’t know something is wrong, you can’t fix it,” Brown said.

[Image via KIRO Screen Capture]