Saturday, February 25, 1995

Clerks Fight New Bosses Over Security

Charlotte Observer, The (NC)
1995-02-25
Section: METRO
Edition: FOUR
Page: 5C


CLERKS FIGHT NEW BOSSES OVER SECURITY

   DEBORAH PARKHILL MULLIS, Staff Writer

Convenience store clerk Deborah Walker remembers when business as usual turned scary. An angry customer had smashed two quarts of beer on the counter.

``He'd had enough,'' said Walker, who refused to sell him beer. ``There was glass everywhere - it came up under the security shield where you pass the money. I even had glass in my uniform pockets,'' said Walker, assistant night manager at the Conoco store on East Independence Blvd.

Walker and other Conoco employees at the East Independence store and another in Matthews asked customers to sign a petition on Thursday and Friday to stop the store's security shields from being removed.

Petro Express is purchasing 11 area Conoco stores on Tuesday and the new owners plan to eliminate the thick plastic shields surrounding cash registers at some locations.

``Maybe being a convenience store clerk is more risky than being a librarian,'' said Tom Hall, one of three Petro Express co-owners, ``but the security shield doesn't fit the type of motif we want in those stores. We're going to take them down.''

``It (the shield) is very user unfriendly. It gives you the impression that you're in a bad neighborhood and maybe you don't want to stop at this store. The shields are an affront to a lot of the people that use those stores.''

Walker, 43, has worked in convenience stores for 12 years. It doesn't make sense to take down shields that are in place, she said, because attitudes have changed.

``I'm not a wimp,'' said Walker. But she added that convenience store employees are threatened all the time.

``People are not just out for money these days - they're out for everything - including the person. Shields may be impersonal but sometimes you have to be impersonal this day and age,'' she said.

Nearly 1,000 customers had signed the petitions stating they were not offended by security shields when employees were ordered to stop involving customers in company business yesterday.

``The shield doesn't make the service go any slower,'' said Ernest Morgan, a customer who signed the petition at the East Independence store. ``This store is on the edge of town. It would be an easy target. I support the employees - the shields make them safer. It's too complicated to rob a person behind a window,'' he said.

Conoco spokesman Jim Bailey said Conoco installed the shields when they bought the stores two years ago.

Hall said in nearly 10 years there have only been a handful of robberies at the six Charlotte convenience stores Petro Express owns and he thinks employees at the East Independence and Matthews stores are being ``silly.''

``We've never had an occasion for anyone to hide behind bulletproof glass. The shields are very low-class in my opinion.''

Walker said she believes the security shields are the reason there haven't been more problems at her store. Someone intending to rob the store will think twice after seeing the shield, she said, and security shields prevent kidnappings because employees can lock themselves inside.


``It's a shame you have to have it but you have to put safety first,'' Walker said. ``I think every cashier that works behind that shield would tell you the same thing.'' 

No comments:

Post a Comment