As a proud reservist in the Army, Collin Brown says he was never looking for publicity, but after walking into a Redmond 7-11 to buy cigarettes and a Slurpee last week, his experience with the clerk compelled him to share his story.
“After asking for the cigarettes, I was asked to produce an ID and I produced my military ID,” Brown said.
He put this standard U.S. military ID — which has his date of birth on the back — on the counter. It serves as legal ID, same as a driver’s license.
“And she said, ‘You’re in the military?’ I said yes. She said. ‘I can’t serve you.'” Brown said. “And honestly, I was at that point just in shock. I asked, ‘Are you serious?’ And she looked at me like she was offended.”
Brown said he asked the clerk why there was a problem, as he pulled out his driver’s license to back up his military ID.
“I asked for her manager’s information and that manager’s information and at that point I was able to make the purchase,” he said.
Friends and relatives posted the incident on Facebook and more than 12,000 people shared it around the country. Many reacted to it.
“I think it’s understandable that people would be upset about it,” Brown said. “I think that anyone in this position would be upset.”
NBC News reached out to 7-11’s corporate offices in Dallas and a representative wrote back saying the report the media heard was distorted.
“7-11 has always promoted military — giving away slurpees and even franchises to people in the service,” the company wrote.
They also wrote this to Brown: “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.”
Brown said that’s not what happened and he wants 7-11 to investigate further.
“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,” he said.
https://youtu.be/vQ8w1wJ2Wu4
Found at WTHR