Was told I can't have my firearm in a convenience store

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I've never done anything but lurk here since discovering this place around 6 months ago. Any encounter I've had since aqquiring my permit just seemed a little too trivial and since it usually involved idiotic people, I just never bothered to share it with anyone.

That is until now.....

I live in Dickson, Tennessee. I frequent 3 convenience stores in this town and only 3. They are on my way to and from work and the 3rd is 1 minute from where I live. Every employee knows me on a first name basis and every one of the employees know I carry. Or at least they SHOULD as I have walked up to the counter more times than I can count wearing same said .40 caliber on my side. This time one of the older ladies that I see there in the evening waited on me. As I reached for my wallet (which is on the same side as I carry) her eyes followed and that's when she realized what I had. She suddenly acted as if I had been caught with my hands in the cookie jar or something. She leans forward, and in a hushed tone says, "Ohhhhh...you can't come in here with THAT". Of course I just had to ask, "Why the h#ll not???!". She said something to the effect of, "Because you just can't. Corporate said nobody could come in here with a gun". I told her they need to stick a sign on the door if they want to disarm their patrons. I decided to go without the obligatory statement, "Then I'll take my business elsewhere" simply because I know she is making about 6.45$ an hour and frankly doesn't really care WHERE I go. Also, I really didn't want to escalate any of it any further.

Anyways, I've had worse encounters but for some reason this irritated the living #@$%% out of me. My parting words for her was, "Let me know on that..I would really like to read this no gun policy you mentioned". She agreed and said she would try and find it for me.

And so concludes my first writing to this forum. Sorry for the long winded rant, I believe it was therapeutic for me to tell this and was hoping it would make me feel a little better. I'm going to write to corporate BP and ask where this is coming from. I'll paste the correspondence here if anyone is interested.

Sincerely,



The Johnny Person

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Sounds to me like she was trying to do you a favor; keep you out of trouble.

If she was really opposed, she'd have said it in a huffy, indignant manner, to hell with who might overhear.

In any event, I always recommend a calm, non-confrontational approach to non-government people. Win friends,or at least look polished and poised to anybody else watching.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll certainly respect your employer's property rights. MayI pay for this first?"

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Well even if it is their policy, it's not against the law unless they have a properly posted sign.

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless the post signs or someone with more authority tells you not to come in armed.

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Fallguy wrote:

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless the post signs or someone with more authority tells you not to come in armed.

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I'll bet any agent of the property owner can say it in the eyes of the law.

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Yep, and keep in mind Dickson/Burns Tennessee probably has the only police dept' known where a few of the cops were later discovered to be convicted felons. I probably should move.

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Well, after being informed by the cashier that I had to disarm myself before entering, I wrote to corporate BP.
(see previous post for that)
Their response was simply, "What store and WHAT employee told you this??". From the tone of their letter I kinda had a feeling this was headed for termination of someone's job when in actuality I was only looking for a definite answer as to whether me being armed and walking into their store was a problem as the employee so adamantly insisted there was. So, not wanting to go down that road and thinking that her ignorance didn't mean she should be standing in the unemployment lines, I never replied and I never revealed the store/employee. 2 days later my little brother comes home and informs me that same said employee started in on him. He wasn't carrying a gun or anything else for that matter but she took it upon herself to give him a lecture anyways. This employee knows my little brother and his relationship to me. Apparently, when he approached the counter she looked up, recognized him and that's when she started on her speech. I don't have it all word for word but 3 statements stand out in my mind that he came home and repeated to me. She said, "Your brother has NO reason to be carrying a gun in here". "Your brother came walking in here with a gun and was scaring the customers!". (I found this particularly interesting because when I had my encounter with her to begin with there was NOBODY in the store but me and her) Perhaps I was frightening the twinkies and cupcakes?? Anyways, my little brother couldn't tolerate much more of her lecture and stopped her and TRIED to explain that considering where she worked and the enviroment, risk of robbery, shooting, etc....that perhaps she should feel a little relieved that I frequent the store carrying. According to him however, she would hear NONE of that. And her third remark was something to the effect of, "Look here young man! I'm 60 years old and you are NOT going to change my mind!". I guess at this point he just gave up, paid for his drink and walked out. Corporate BP gave me a phone no# to call so that I could give them the store no# and employee. When he came home and told me all this I hit the roof. At that point I didn't & still no longer care whether she gets fired or not! I am **not** going to have her abusing any member of my family because of her ignorant @ssed phobia or pathological insecurities or whatever the hell is wrong with her. I notified Bp, explained what happened and they in turn thanked me. The next day I got an email from them saying the "problem" was resolved and I should have no more "encounters" with said employee. I have not seen that employee in the store since.
I really don't know what all was solved by this happening. But perhaps, just maybe I saved another Oc'er from having to endure her crap-tastic lunacy, her idiotic, moronic speeches and heaven forbid her 911 - man with gun call. Which, judging by her behavior would be right in line with the rest of her actions she has displayed so far. That's the only shred of a silver lining I can find in all of this.

Sincerely,

The Johnny Person

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I applaud your not taking it laying down. People need to be called to the floor when that start making up bullSH** just so they can harass you. Thank you!

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To the original poster, WELL DONE SIR.

You stood up for all of our rights and you stood tall. Thank you on behalf of all open carryers here in Tennessee.

Mike

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69johnny wrote:

. . . She leans forward, and in a hushed tone says, "Ohhhhh...you can't come in here with THAT". Of course I just had to ask, "Why the h#ll not???!". She said something to the effect of, "Because you just can't. Corporate said nobody could come in here with a gun". I told her they need to stick a sign on the door if they want to disarm their patrons.

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Never never Never ask them to post signs - if you mention this , they will come.

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DIDO TO MIKE!!!! I use to say that to businesses when they hassled me about open carry and not once did they say, "Well I guess you can stay since we forgot to post it."

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Good to know British Petroleum is actually supporting us. I admit, I figured British Petroleum might be anti.

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TO previous poster here. BP is NOT on our side.


UPDATE on the situation as promised:

Effective July 21st the very same store/location has now put up a "no firearms" sign. My little brother just returned from there a few minutes ago and one of the employees who is familiar with the incident that occurred was standing OUTSIDE the store and as soon as he spotted my little brother, he PROUDLY pointed at the newly posted sign and smiled the BIGGEST smile he has ever seen on ANYONE. (according to him) The employee said nothing, just pointed to the sign and grinned. My brother looked at it, looked back at the employee and said, "So? I don't carry a gun" and proceeded to walk past the employeee and on into the store. I guess this was this retard-reject's way of signalling, "We won!", or something to that effect. Other than that, I'm not really sure of the purpose of this man's behavior, but it was fairly bizzarre to say the least. As of yet, I have not learned if the appearance of this sign was a direct result of my so called, "encounter" at that store. But if not, it seems like one hell of a coincidence to me.

Oh and one more thing. It's not a legal sign. And it's not even put in the correct location. It's 10 - 15 feet to the left of the door, and almost at the very bottom of the window.

Sincerely,

The Johnny Person

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69,

Was it corporate BP that had the locals post the sign, or one of the locals? That station doesn't set BP policy. Call the Execs again. They sounded like they were backing you before. Seems like a large change to me.

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>Was it corporate BP that had the locals post
>the sign, or one of the locals?

I have not determined yet. I would like to know as well whether the store is acting on it's own or a directive from the nationwide chain itself. I know at the end of the day I have accomplished nothing here, or so it would seem. I know they are alienating a hell of a lot of people with their gun sign now. If anyone would like to enquire (perhaps more effective if coming from someone not so closely involved) the no# for BP customer relations is: 1.888.bp.help.u
Store no# is #3 (Dickson, Tennessee)
Please let me know what you find out.

Sincerely,

The Johnny Person

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Give the clerk this sign for the convenience store:

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Lean forward and quietly tell the cashier, "They told me I couldn't come in here with out one.......Where is yours?" :lol:

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Any update on this? Is the store in question owned by BP, or is it a franchise?

E-mail sent to BP Consumer Solutions Center regarding their corporate firearms policy and awaiting reply.

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If you get the chance, copy/paste YOUR letter to them. I'd love to see what you wrote exactly. And by all means paste THEIR reply! Anyways... THis is the vague, and completely misleading letter my aunt got from THEM when SHE wrote to complain:
==========================================================
This station is an independently owned and operated. As an independent station, the owner has the privilege to advertise and create promotions for their stations. Some independent dealers may offer cash discounts to cash paying customers to avoid credit card fees and may charge extra for credit card usage.

If you have any further questions please contact BP Arco Consumer Relations at 1-800-333-3991 for further assistance.

Thanks,

BP/ARCO Consumer Relations | USA
Phone: 800-333-3991
FAX: 630-300-5253

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Oh, and by the way, thank you for writing them. The more the merrier. Perhaps a few more people should inquire about this as well.

Store no# 3 - Dickson, Tennessee


There are at least 5 BP's in Burns/Dickson. Not one of them have a gun sign on the window EXCEPT "store no# 3". I'd sure as hell like to know why.

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69johnny wrote:

Oh, and by the way, thank you for writing them. The more the merrier. Perhaps a few more people should inquire about this as well.

Store no# 3 - Dickson, Tennessee


There are at least 5 BP's in Burns/Dickson. Not one of them have a gun sign on the window EXCEPT "store no# 3". I'd sure as hell like to know why.

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Maybe the rest of them don't want to be held up. "Gun Free Zone" signs are open invitations to the BG's.