Posted by: Lisa
Date of Incident: January 11, 2026
Time: Approximately 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)
I’m writing this as a formal incident report, but I want it to be very clear that these are my own words and my own lived experience. I’m sharing this publicly because people deserve to know what is happening in their communities, and because documentation matters.
On January 11, 2026, around 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time, I visited the Dollar General located at 890 49th Street North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33710. The store’s listed phone number is 727-300-2565. I went in for a very simple reason: to pick up a few household grocery items. Nothing complicated. Nothing out of the ordinary.
When I arrived at the checkout area, there were two registers open. One register was being operated by a young man, and the other by a blonde female employee. I was accompanied by another person, and they ended up going to the young man’s register. I want to be very clear about this part: the young man was polite, professional, and attentive. He even noticed an issue with some items and tried to help correct it.
While this was happening, I observed several customers—who appeared to be Caucasian—standing in line at the female employee’s register. She greeted them. They did not respond. They did not say hello, thank you, or anything at all. They placed their items down, acted dismissive, and were frankly rude. Despite this, she continued to serve them without hesitation.
When it became my turn, I stepped forward with only a few items. I was polite. I was calm. I was respectful. At that point, the female employee told me her computer had frozen and asked me to go to the other register. I did so, but the young man then informed me that his system had also frozen. I was instructed to return to her register once it reopened.
When her register finally came back online, something shifted. She suddenly said, in effect, that she did not want to check me out and directed me back to the other register again. At that moment, I was confused and honestly hurt. I had done nothing wrong. I had been kind. I had been patient. I had been more courteous than the customers before me—customers who were openly rude to her.
Yet I was the one who was treated as a problem.
This may sound small to some people, but customer service is not small. How someone treats you when you’ve done nothing but show respect says a lot. I couldn’t help but question why I was being avoided or dismissed when others—who showed no basic decency—were served without issue. As a woman, this experience made me see the world a little differently than I ever had before.
I’m not quick to accuse, but I would be dishonest if I didn’t say that the interaction felt discriminatory. Whether it was bias, discomfort, or something else, the treatment was noticeably different—and deeply unsettling.
There is another serious concern that needs to be documented. While checking out, it was discovered that meat taken from the freezer was bad. If that issue had not been caught, I could have taken spoiled meat home. That raises real concerns about food inspection and safety at this location. Customers need to be extremely careful when purchasing frozen or refrigerated items here.
Florida has changed. Customer service has changed. And experiences like this show how even when you come in peaceful, respectful, and kind, you can still be treated poorly for reasons that are never explained to you.
That’s why platforms like Kingdom Influence Media matter. This space allows people to tell the full story, in their own voice, and keep a public record of what actually happened. This isn’t about drama. It’s about truth, accountability, and awareness.
I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life, and I hope that by sharing this, others will pay closer attention—to how they’re treated, to food safety, and to the importance of speaking up when something isn’t right.
