R
Rockslab
Guest
The following situation took place in North Carolina on Friday 9/22. I stopped at a convenience store for gas. When pulling out of the drive, the design of the exit is poor and I dragged the bottom of my car. Without realizing it, the exhaust casings were broken and came off at two different places on the interstate. Also, it appears that something happened to my gas tank, as now my display is acting up and not registering the correct amount of fuel in the tank. My brother-in-law was following so he witnessed the incident. I then returned to the store and asked to speak with the manager. The manager on duty came to the counter and I began explaining the problem. A male clerk then started getting loud and telling me that the state had put in the drive and it wasn't their problem, however, this is a private business and the state had nothing to do with their drive. I told him to be quiet that I was trying to explain the situation to the manager on duty and he continued to interrupt. Again, I told him to keep out of this as it was none of his business and he then said that we could "Take this outside" threatening to assault me. I then just gave the manager my business card and told her to have the owner contact me, that all I was trying to do was to get my car repaired because of their poor construction. After dropping off my daughter's friend, My wife suggested that we get the name of the parent company and owner's name and phone number. She went back into the store with me and took a pen and paper and asked for the manager again. She began to get the necessary information from the manager when the male employee started again. His behavior was very threatening. My wife told the manager that she needed to get the man under control as he was going to create a situation that the company did not want to get into. She said that all we were trying to do was to get our car repaired and his threatening attitude was getting out of hand. He then picked up a knife, opened it and came around the counter toward me and told me to go outside with him. I really did not know what he might do and I certainly did not want to endanger my wife or the other employees in the store. He had the knife opened and holding it in a manner that made me think he was going to attack me. He came toward me with the knife telling me that he was going to "take care of me" and to go outside with him. I went outside the door and kept telling him that he had better stop that he was totally out of line. He was still holding the knife in a manner so that I thought he was going to cut me. A male customer came to the door and told the man he was crazy and didn't know how much trouble he was about to get himself and the company into. I never touched the man and never provoked this situation. The manager called to main manager and she somehow got the man on the phone with her. I assume she fired him as he got his belongings and left. As he was leaving, he said to me "I'll be around", again threatening me. My 16 year old daughter was in my car and when she saw that the clerk had pulled the knife on me, she got out of the car and was very upset that this man was endangering her Father. She then had to calm down my 2 year old niece that was also in the car. The male customer gave me his name and phone number and he stated that he would gladly testify in court if necessary. The other clerks in the store also were shocked at the male clerk's behavior and, in fact, told me that they had other problems with him. They told my wife that when I first came into the store that I could not explain the problem due to the male clerk interrupting the entire time. I feel that there is a major problem here in the endangerment of my life and the fact that my child and wife had to witness a situation like this was totally unnecessary. After the male clerk left, the main manager was on the phone with my wife and asked us to wait at the store until she could get in touch with the owner. She called back a few minutes later and told my wife that the owner was not at home, but took our phone numbers and said he would call. As of 9/24, no one has contacted us.
I would like to know what kind of legal liability the store has for the incident.
[This message has been edited by Rockslab (edited September 24, 2000).]
I would like to know what kind of legal liability the store has for the incident.
[This message has been edited by Rockslab (edited September 24, 2000).]