Former Manager Says Alcohol Sales Training Being Skipped

It may be easier for minors to buy alcohol and cigarettes in some Colorado Springs convenience stores than many believe.

A former manager said she’s angered by a ticket received Tuesday by one of her friends for selling beer to a minor. Ashley Hernandez said her former boss at the 711 on Garden of the Gods Road forced her to take computerized tests on age restricted sales instead of properly training employees.

“I want to shed some light on the manipulation going on behind the scenes because employees are not receiving this training and it’s not being seen by these corporations because these documents are being falsified,” said Hernandez, who said she was fired in December from the convenience store.

According to city liquor license records the store is owned by Kanwal Singh. Nothing in the city’s records indicated any problem with his liquor license at the store since he bought it in 2007. Singh denies the allegations.

“This cannot be true because everyone coming into the store is doing the training (on) their own,” said Singh. “There cannot be any falsified training or anything like that.”

Hernandez said she felt she had to do the training in the name of employees or she would lose her job. She said she took the tests for about 20 employees over the last six months of 2011.

“According to 711 policies each employee is supposed to take this training,” said Hernandez. “He’s telling 711 corporation that each employee is taking this training when in fact that’s a lie. He’s having one or two people certifying everybody.”

Hernandez said she knew what she was doing was wrong at the time but didn’t feel compelled to come forward until her friend was fined $900 fine for selling alcohol to a minor on Tuesday.

“He’s facing legal repercussions and he wasn’t aware that was at stake (when he was) going to work everyday. He thought he was just going to work every day doing his job. He didn’t think he would go to work and leave with a ticket,” said Hernandez.