so anyway...
tonight, while i was doing night shift...we were robbed at gunpoint.
cynthia and i were doing our closing routine-plus she was working on the kitchen order for truck, so she was going from the kitchen to the cooler and freezers, and she had just left the main area of the store. i hadnt been paying too much attention because i was just doing my stuff. it was a little early to start our closing routine, but it had been a slow night.
i was by the pizza phone and glanced up and saw two kids come in wearing ski masks. one was a spiderman design-the kids looked like they were around 16, and frankly i thought it was going to be some kind of joke. they looked around, saw no one at register than came over to me, i was still in the kitchen. the kid in the spidey mask pointed the gun at me and said "give me the cash from your cash register", i came slowly from the kitchen and told them, i cant get the cash from the register, and that i would need to get the register person. (of course i could get the cash-but they didnt question me on it.) i told them this, because i had no idea where cynthia was and i was hoping she had seen what was going on and was hiding or was maybe trying to get out the back door. i was also hoping that if she had seen what was going on, that she had her cell phone on her and was calling the police. right after i said the bit about the cash register, and wondering how i could further stall things so that maybe cynthia would be safe, cynthia came out of the backroom area. she had no clue what was going on. she too, thought it might be some kind of joke, when she saw them, until the kids pointed their guns and demanded cash. i was still standing by my kitchen door, so thinking they were going to follow her to the register, i stepped back into the kitchen, out of the way. but instead of following cynthia to the register, they went back and to the main counter, and told her to give them the cash. meanwhile, i'm standing in the kitchen realising that they have pretty much forgotten me. i was standing right by the phone, mentally debating whether i could quickly dial 911, (you can see into the kichen from the counter), when they finally remembered me. (it had probably been about a minute or less.) the kid in the spidey mask seemed to be the leader, and he ordered me out of the kitchen. i came out slowly and he looked at me and told me to kneel on the floor, so i did so, again slowly. i wasnt sure i should maintain eye contact or not, so i kind of lowered my gaze directing it away from them. meanwhile, they were fumbling with the bag they had, and telling cynthia to give them the cash, and to hurry up. she did so, and they left. the minute they left i said to her, "watch and see what they were driving", while she was telling me to call 911. when i was first confronted by the kids i immediately looked into the spider-masked kids eyes. they were blue, intense, and he was very serious. i glanced at the gun, it was a handgun, but i wasnt sure if it was real or not. i kind of saw more the top of the gun, rather than staring into the barrel, it was two-toned with kind of a greyish blue tint and to be honest, i havent looked at any weapons in ages, but common sense told me to act like it was real gun, since it very well might have been. oddly, even having a gun shoved at me and knowing the other kid had a gun didnt phase me. i hate to say this, but i didnt feel afraid or angry, in fact, i pretty much took an "i'm just doing this to humor you" stance. and i genuinely felt that way, i simply did not care, a child was threatening me with a gun. i wasnt going to take any unnecessary risks, but i also didnt feel in any imminent danger either. i expected to at least be a little shaky, because when my adrenaline surges that happens...but...nothing. i was kind of amused, i didnt even have the whole life flashing before your eyes thing, nor did i think my last goodbyes to my loved ones. no panic, no emotional shutting down-just amused tolerance.
anyway, i called the police, both cynthia and i began trying to call jerrad, and our superviser. right as we're doing all this, a customer pulls up wanting gas and we had to tell him that we were robbed, and had to close down. another customer pulled up, but he just took off. we had to shut down the gas pumps and lock the doors. cynthia also told me to call touch 'n' go and warn them the robbers might still be in the area-they hadnt been robbed over there. touch 'n' go is both our compettitor and our neighbor. several police units came questioned us and searched the area then began reviewing our security tapes-our system is new and not even a month old. we told the officers what we could and they continued to investigate. we filled out reports. jerrad called us and we filled him in, cynthia filled candace in, and they both eventually arrived at the store. i think cynthia was more keyed up than i was. she said she hadnt felt scared and that she was more angry. but from what i could tell, she was also kind of shaken and doing the laughing instead crying thing-plus she desperately wanted a cigarette. after a point, when i was done adding what i could, and yess joking about the whole thing, i just finished closing clean-up of my kitchen. meanwhile candace, jerrad, and cynthia were going over register stuff to determine the exact amount of cash taken, and burning a disc of the robbery for the police. at first cynthia thought it was around $200, but later it seemed more like $376. because of the large amount, cynthia now fears corporate may fire her. the cops were doing their jobs but, heh, at one point were really interested in having coffee-we still had donuts but no one went for them.:) candace eventually asked the cops if they were done with us so we could log out and go home. when she went back into the office i turned to jerrad and said, "even during a robbery corporate is going to begrudge us overtime?" this all started around 9:51-we left at 11:40. our usual sign-out time is 11:15. the boys were anywhere from 16-18 years old-probably 16. one, like i said had blue eyes-cynthis said the other had brownish eyes. they were both dressed in standard midwestern teen-style hoodies and jeans. they wore gloves too. they were both white. they were less than 6 feet tall, in fact they were probably the same height cynthia and i are-about 5' 5", they were, well, scrawny too. candace advised jerrad to provide us with the number of counsellors, in case we had issues after this. heh before she had gotten there i attempted to try to claim emotional trauma but i couldnt even make it through my attempted speech without giggling, and i tried it twice, heh. :) i am not scheduled for work tomorrow but cynthia is, i have the night off because i had to work saturday night. otherwise, i too, would have to work. cynthia and i also talked to coworkers about what had happened since mary drove by and saw cop cars and sheryl saw them too, i called jamie and left her a message. cynthia had ryan her boyfriend, pick us up. otherwise i was just going to walk home-i seriously doubt the robbers were still lurking behind caseys and no it wouldnt have bothered me to walk home alone down a semi-dark alley.
you know, i have wondered how i would handle being robbed during night shift and how i would react having a (potentially) loaded gun pointed at me, its nice to know i could handle it. :)
ah...and jokes on them...they didnt take the charity jar that had cash in it. they didnt think to ask cynthia for the cash in the safe, and they didnt ask us for our personal cash and valuables...and i had $386 on me... :)
yeah-i'm doing my obnoxious "i won" routine-it always happens when i feel ive triumphed, i dont give a damn that the store lost cash. :)
cynthia and i were doing our closing routine-plus she was working on the kitchen order for truck, so she was going from the kitchen to the cooler and freezers, and she had just left the main area of the store. i hadnt been paying too much attention because i was just doing my stuff. it was a little early to start our closing routine, but it had been a slow night.
i was by the pizza phone and glanced up and saw two kids come in wearing ski masks. one was a spiderman design-the kids looked like they were around 16, and frankly i thought it was going to be some kind of joke. they looked around, saw no one at register than came over to me, i was still in the kitchen. the kid in the spidey mask pointed the gun at me and said "give me the cash from your cash register", i came slowly from the kitchen and told them, i cant get the cash from the register, and that i would need to get the register person. (of course i could get the cash-but they didnt question me on it.) i told them this, because i had no idea where cynthia was and i was hoping she had seen what was going on and was hiding or was maybe trying to get out the back door. i was also hoping that if she had seen what was going on, that she had her cell phone on her and was calling the police. right after i said the bit about the cash register, and wondering how i could further stall things so that maybe cynthia would be safe, cynthia came out of the backroom area. she had no clue what was going on. she too, thought it might be some kind of joke, when she saw them, until the kids pointed their guns and demanded cash. i was still standing by my kitchen door, so thinking they were going to follow her to the register, i stepped back into the kitchen, out of the way. but instead of following cynthia to the register, they went back and to the main counter, and told her to give them the cash. meanwhile, i'm standing in the kitchen realising that they have pretty much forgotten me. i was standing right by the phone, mentally debating whether i could quickly dial 911, (you can see into the kichen from the counter), when they finally remembered me. (it had probably been about a minute or less.) the kid in the spidey mask seemed to be the leader, and he ordered me out of the kitchen. i came out slowly and he looked at me and told me to kneel on the floor, so i did so, again slowly. i wasnt sure i should maintain eye contact or not, so i kind of lowered my gaze directing it away from them. meanwhile, they were fumbling with the bag they had, and telling cynthia to give them the cash, and to hurry up. she did so, and they left. the minute they left i said to her, "watch and see what they were driving", while she was telling me to call 911. when i was first confronted by the kids i immediately looked into the spider-masked kids eyes. they were blue, intense, and he was very serious. i glanced at the gun, it was a handgun, but i wasnt sure if it was real or not. i kind of saw more the top of the gun, rather than staring into the barrel, it was two-toned with kind of a greyish blue tint and to be honest, i havent looked at any weapons in ages, but common sense told me to act like it was real gun, since it very well might have been. oddly, even having a gun shoved at me and knowing the other kid had a gun didnt phase me. i hate to say this, but i didnt feel afraid or angry, in fact, i pretty much took an "i'm just doing this to humor you" stance. and i genuinely felt that way, i simply did not care, a child was threatening me with a gun. i wasnt going to take any unnecessary risks, but i also didnt feel in any imminent danger either. i expected to at least be a little shaky, because when my adrenaline surges that happens...but...nothing. i was kind of amused, i didnt even have the whole life flashing before your eyes thing, nor did i think my last goodbyes to my loved ones. no panic, no emotional shutting down-just amused tolerance.
anyway, i called the police, both cynthia and i began trying to call jerrad, and our superviser. right as we're doing all this, a customer pulls up wanting gas and we had to tell him that we were robbed, and had to close down. another customer pulled up, but he just took off. we had to shut down the gas pumps and lock the doors. cynthia also told me to call touch 'n' go and warn them the robbers might still be in the area-they hadnt been robbed over there. touch 'n' go is both our compettitor and our neighbor. several police units came questioned us and searched the area then began reviewing our security tapes-our system is new and not even a month old. we told the officers what we could and they continued to investigate. we filled out reports. jerrad called us and we filled him in, cynthia filled candace in, and they both eventually arrived at the store. i think cynthia was more keyed up than i was. she said she hadnt felt scared and that she was more angry. but from what i could tell, she was also kind of shaken and doing the laughing instead crying thing-plus she desperately wanted a cigarette. after a point, when i was done adding what i could, and yess joking about the whole thing, i just finished closing clean-up of my kitchen. meanwhile candace, jerrad, and cynthia were going over register stuff to determine the exact amount of cash taken, and burning a disc of the robbery for the police. at first cynthia thought it was around $200, but later it seemed more like $376. because of the large amount, cynthia now fears corporate may fire her. the cops were doing their jobs but, heh, at one point were really interested in having coffee-we still had donuts but no one went for them.:) candace eventually asked the cops if they were done with us so we could log out and go home. when she went back into the office i turned to jerrad and said, "even during a robbery corporate is going to begrudge us overtime?" this all started around 9:51-we left at 11:40. our usual sign-out time is 11:15. the boys were anywhere from 16-18 years old-probably 16. one, like i said had blue eyes-cynthis said the other had brownish eyes. they were both dressed in standard midwestern teen-style hoodies and jeans. they wore gloves too. they were both white. they were less than 6 feet tall, in fact they were probably the same height cynthia and i are-about 5' 5", they were, well, scrawny too. candace advised jerrad to provide us with the number of counsellors, in case we had issues after this. heh before she had gotten there i attempted to try to claim emotional trauma but i couldnt even make it through my attempted speech without giggling, and i tried it twice, heh. :) i am not scheduled for work tomorrow but cynthia is, i have the night off because i had to work saturday night. otherwise, i too, would have to work. cynthia and i also talked to coworkers about what had happened since mary drove by and saw cop cars and sheryl saw them too, i called jamie and left her a message. cynthia had ryan her boyfriend, pick us up. otherwise i was just going to walk home-i seriously doubt the robbers were still lurking behind caseys and no it wouldnt have bothered me to walk home alone down a semi-dark alley.
you know, i have wondered how i would handle being robbed during night shift and how i would react having a (potentially) loaded gun pointed at me, its nice to know i could handle it. :)
ah...and jokes on them...they didnt take the charity jar that had cash in it. they didnt think to ask cynthia for the cash in the safe, and they didnt ask us for our personal cash and valuables...and i had $386 on me... :)
yeah-i'm doing my obnoxious "i won" routine-it always happens when i feel ive triumphed, i dont give a damn that the store lost cash. :)