RaceTrac

My name is Jeffrey Bennett. I am a behavior specialist for the Lee County school district in Florida. I live about a mile away from the racetrac at this location.

8971 Cody Lee Rd
Fort Myers, FL 33912
United States

I have been going to this gas station for almost the last four years. Every day. I get coffee and my kids get donuts. I have no doubt spent thousands of dollars of this specific location. I have made friends with several of the employees in the past. Some are Facebook friends now.

This morning I went to the store and up to the register where I told a gentleman named Mateo that I needed to be charged for a doughnut, a banana, and a medium coffee. I have done this many times. The gentleman asked me what kind of donut. I told him a regular donut with a hole in the middle. Sometimes my kids get glazed and sometimes they get chocolate. Mateo stated that "all the donuts have holes in the middle". This is not true. I pointed out to him that they have bear claw style and filled donuts. At this point I had no idea what he was trying to ask me. So I again stated that I just needed a regular donut. Again he asked me what kind? I repeated just a regular round donut with a hole in the middle. It was then when Mateo became visibly agitated. He raised his voice and said chocolate or glazed? At this point I told him that I had been coming to the store for years and that I never had to specify what type of donut to anyone over those years. I could not see what type of donut my son had chosen because he was standing by the coffee. I asked him why it mattered, to this he replied that there is a ".50 difference in the price". This was absolutely shocking as I had purchased glazed donuts and chocolate donuts for years and had always been charged the same price. So if this is true I would like a credit or refund for the over charging in the past. I believe he realized what he said was not accurate and quickly stated that he needed to know for inventory purposes. I also did not understand this as counting would be a more appropriate way of taking inventory. At this point Mateo said out loud and very clearly that "I didn't realize it was such a difficult question". As a behavior specialist I am well equipped to pick up on sarcastic, passive aggressive, rude comments. This is the point where I asked to speak with his boss. Mateo then informed me that he was the boss. I asked him again to speak with his boss. He again said that he is the boss. I inquired if he was the owner of the company and he didn't have anyone above him. He did not respond. At this point my son was watching what was going on so I decided to end the conversation.

I am a reasonable man. I don't usually complain about employees to upper management. I will not be satisfied until I have a response from someone above Mateo that this has been addressed and handled. I would also recommend that you don't put overly aggressive individuals completely covered with tattoos in managerial positions. He appeared as someone who is angry and recently out of incarceration.