MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A fired Dollar General employee is calling on the state to inspect her former place of work.
“You shouldn’t do nobody like that,” said Brianna Johnson, a former employee of the Dollar General on Ramill Road in Raleigh.
She shared videos of rodents dead in their traps, rats scurrying up the wall and animal feces in the same room as food.
“Seeing rats running up the wall and they look like puppies? That’s a problem,” she said.
Johnson told FOX13 that she was fired after warning a customer about the sugar.
“I yelled at her from the register, ‘Just go buy it from somewhere else,'” she recalled. “They was telling me, ‘You can’t do that.’ Yes, I can. Somebody can. And I’m going to be the one that do it.”
Johnson said the food inside the refrigerator was safe, but she worried about the paper products in the back room.
“Them selling that sugar knowing the rats done urinated on it and everything? Like you shouldn’t do that,” she said.
FOX13 did not see any signs of rats on Thursday in the public part of the store, but there was a strong smell by the back room.
FOX13 also saw trash and food surrounding the dumpster next to where they received products in the back room.
Company’s response
FOX13 approached a manager, but he declined to comment. Associates directed FOX13 to contact the corporation.
The company sent this statement:
“At Dollar General, the health and safety of our employees is of the highest priority, and we are committed to providing a clean and pleasant environment for employees and customers. When we learn of maintenance or repair needs in or around our stores, we take prompt action to directly, or in partnership with landlord partners, address concerns in a timely manner.”
In that statement, the company spokesperson said Dollar General has relationships with pest control services to provide routine services to source and help mitigate any issues that arise.
The corporation disagreed with Johnson’s claims, but chose not to comment on personnel matters.
Who inspects the stores?
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspecting the store every eighteen months, a spokeswoman said.
She told FOX13 there are no pending complaints for the Dollar General on Ramill Road, but the state would send an inspector to the location within 48 hours.
“If they go in there and look in that back room, they’re going to close the store down right there, today,” Johnson said. “In one minute, that store’s going to be closed down. I most definitely believe that.”
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