Circle K

I work right beside a Circle K gas station that I often stop by and get energy drinks, cigarettes, or food to and from work regularly. I have used the same exact card for over a month without any problem anywhere. On this occasion I came into the store after work and got the energy drinks and cigarettes and brought it to the counter. I swiped my card. Got ready to press the "excellent" on the touch screen for review of service like I always do when the card reader said "MAG stripe error". I know from retail that this means the machine had an issue with reading the card number. The cashier tried to swipe it twice at her end with the same notification. I was like hmm, I just used this here yesterday. I let the people behind me go ahead of me while I stepped to the side. I decided to wait for the other cashier to come back so hopefully it would work on her register. I really didn't want to have to stop anywhere else after working all day and honestly Im such a patient and chill person it didn't even bother me. Only a minute later the other cashier came up and we swiped my card. Suddenly I got a notification on my phone telling me my purchase was completed. I told the cashier to please hold up and don't swipe it again and I showed her where it said completed. Now I gotta stay here to see what needs to happen, but I don't mind as long as I know it's going to come back to my card. The cashier goes to the back and calls the manager. I step off to the side and start looking at the number on the back of my card to call them, but their customer service was closed and referred me to look for information on the app. Everything was fine in my opinion. I wasn't mad. The cashiers didn't know what to do, but I was fine waiting to see. The cashier comes back from talking to the manager and says to me "my manager says we know you've been to all these gas stations around trying to scam them." I'm literally shocked. I frequent two gas stations. The one by my house and the one by my work. I tell the cashier that I wouldn't know how to scam someone even if I tried. I actually should be mad and frustrated at this point, but I just want to make sure everything is good with my card and get out of there. She goes to back to call the manager again. I step off to the side again. She comes back and shows me a text I guess where the manager says that the charge is pending and should reverse. I say ok cool, can I get a name and number of reference just in case it doesn't get resolved and I have to come back to speak to someone? She goes to the back again for what I assume is to call the manager to get information for me so I step off to the side again. Honestly, I'm thinking that the cashiers are trying to help me but just don't know what to do. I am standing off to the side trying to reset my pin so maybe I can run it at as debit, get the number, and get out of there. While I'm waiting for the cashier to get the number when the line clears I ask if I can try it as debit now. We try it and it doesn't work. So I just decide to forget it, get the number, and leave and stop somewhere else to get what I need. Even at this point I'm not mad, Im not causing a scene, I haven't yelled, I've done nothing but essentially stand and wait even when being accused of scamming. I'm off to the side while the cashiers are checking out people assuming they are waiting for a text response from their manager when two police officers come into the store. Honestly the situation was so calm and I didn't think there was a problem at all so I thought the police officers were stopping through for some snacks or drinks or something. I made no connection that they were there for me until the cashiers pointed my way and I've realized they've called the cops while I've actually been rather nice and patient considering being accused of something. I have never ever been the type to leave a complaint on a business or try to call corporate because I am so chill and let stuff slide off my back. But this was honestly outrageous. I feel like the cashiers didn't know how to handle the situation. The manager had them accuse me of being a scammer. If that had been someone else who might could be violent or cause a big scene, that could have been a bad situation for those two ladies working, one of them being pregnant. They further didn't handle the situation by never asking me to leave, never even made it known my presence there was obviously a problem, and could have just given me a name and number for reference so even I didn't have to be in there longer than I had to. Instead, the police was called to a situation that COULD have been escalated by their accusations, but wasn't. This incidence has to be made known for better training and accountability because I have never had a place of business that treated me so poorly that I refused to go back, up until this. I'd like to speak with someone personally regarding this. This store was in Horn Lake, MS, and the regional manager's name is Phyllis Couch.