LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -- One Lafayette gas station is on the Tippecanoe County Health Department's radar this week. A customer is claiming a cashier was not wearing a mask and joking about being Covid-19 positive while ringing up her items.
While it's unclear what exactly was said at that moment, we do know the Tippecanoe County Health Department stepped in and the gas station's management had a quick response.
"I go to that BP maybe twice a week and I've noticed over the last few months that the cashier has not been wearing his mask," said Susan Dyer, a customer of the BP gas station located at the corner of Teal Rd. and 22nd St. in Lafayette.
For Dyer, it was the latest interaction with that cashier that now has her worried about being exposed to Covid-19.
"I was adjusting my mask. I was like 'oh this doesn't fit' and you know so I was with my glasses and I was wearing a headband, you know, it was slipping and he was like, 'oh don't worry I'm positive, it's nothing," said Dyer.
She said she immediately asked for clarity on if he was saying he was positive for Covid-19.
"I backed away about three steps and I asked him 'seriously?' And he laughed and he said 'yeah' and I thought that he was joking because he was laughing," said Dyer.
The manager of that BP gas station, Satwinder Singh said his cashier told him this incident was a case of miscommunication.
"The clerk told me that he was talking to a customer and maybe she misheard him, and he was saying he's positive about the transaction but the customer thought he was positive of Covid," said Singh.
Singh said he got a call from the health department requesting that he make his employee quarantine and get Covid tested before coming back to work. But because the employee was not following the store's required mask mandate, Singh decided to go a step further.
"It's just for safety purposes, just in case if he has Covid, we're not sure so we have to fire him," said Singh. "We don't tolerate not wearing a mask."
Singh said he encourages the community to hold businesses accountable as Covid-19 cases are reaching record-breaking rates. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, Indiana reached its highest Covid-19 confirmed cases in a single day with 3,756 cases. On Thursday, Nov. 5, the day of the incident, 4,714 additional Hoosiers were diagnosed with COVID-19. Tippecanoe County makes up 135 of those cases as of Friday, Nov. 6, according to the county health department.
"If a customer is seeing that employee is not wearing a mask and they're saying that they're positive of Covid, then they can surely go to the health department and complain about the place," said Singh.
Dyer said she's relieved to know the cashier was fired. She said she respects the management's quick response and will continue shopping at that gas station.
