A Charlotte, North Carolina grandmother was denied to use a gas station bathroom when a worker told her it was only for employees, WBTV reports.
Evelyn Redic, 89, was on her way home from church on Sunday when the van’s tire got a flat near the gas station. As the tire was getting fixed, Redic went inside to the use the bathroom when she was told “no.”
Katossa Glover, Redic’s granddaughter, told the station that her grandmother was “outraged” when she was denied service and ended up having to “relieve herself” on the grass nearby.
“She said ‘I have never been so embarrassed,'” Glover said.
Glover added that her grandmother has been through periods of her life where she was denied certain services and that it shouldn’t be the case in 2018.
“People are tired of being mistreated,” she said, “and a woman who has been here since 1929, who has gone through that, will not experience that in 2018 without the community-fighting.”
The manager of the Circle K gas station reportedly told County Commissioner Vilma Leake that she can’t talk about the incident and that she should call the corporate office.
Leake said on Thursday that she was angry about the incident and that no one that age should be treated that way.
“She’s a human being and they are human,” she told WBTV. “That is out of the ordinary to say no to somebody that age.”
There were no code violations, Mecklenburg County officials told the station the family thinks an exception should have been made for the 89-year-old.
“I think if you are making money here in this community, you need to be taking care of your community,” Glover said. “I feel like we need some type of public apology.”
Redic’s family said that she was taken to the hospital following the incident, but that “she’s resting.”
