Story #1. It was late, close to 1 a.m. closing time, and I was doing end-of-shift cleaning, stock refills, cash register accounting etc. I had my head down as I counted hundreds of scratch tickets at the checkout counter, when a guy came in wearing leather gloves and a blue bandana over his face. He pointed a gun (possibly a .22 revolver) at my stomach and demanded that I open the cash register and give him all the money.
My reaction? A weary sigh and "Get lost, asshole. I'm busy."
He nervously shifted his weight and shoved the gun in my face. "I'm not kidding," he said. "Give me the fucking money!"
Now, a normal person, a woman, working all alone in a convenience store with a gun pointed at her head, would probably freak out at this point and do as she's told. I've always had an "attitude problem" when it comes to people ‒ especially men ‒ giving me orders and telling me what to do. So, I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him.
"I have a thousand scratch tickets to inventory, and you just made me lose count. Get the fuck outta my store!"
And you know what? He did.
"OK, sorry," the would-be robber muttered, then, ran out the door.
As per store policy, I locked the door behind him, called the police and, while waiting for them to arrive, wrote down a description of the guy, from head to toe. When the police came, I gave them a quick run-down of what happened, then, handed them the piece of paper with the description of the robber. The two officers looked at each other.
"You're being awfully calm about this," said one.
"Is this some kind of prank?" asked the other. "Were you robbed, or not?"
Not a prank, I assured them. I just don't panic about things like this. Having a gun pointed at my head is just not that big of a deal to me (if you’ve read my blog, you know I had a rough childhood🙂).
The two officers left, saying they were going to start looking for the guy. A few minutes later, the store owner came in, I told him what happened and proudly reassured him that the miserable little fucktard didn't get a dime from the cash register. He was equally unnerved by how calm I was and sternly reminded me that the money was insured.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah, whatever."
I grabbed my coat and said goodnight, thinking nothing more of it, really. However, the police, firmly believing that no one could possibly be that calm with a gun pointed at them, decided it was either a prank OR I was somehow in on the robbery. An accomplice, as it were. An accomplice to what? I wondered. They didn't get anything!
A senior officer called me two days later and requested ‒ more of a demand, actually ‒ that I come down to the police station, write and sign a detailed witness statement, then, allow myself to be hooked up to a polygraph machine, for questioning.
It was not fun, having all those wires connected to my body parts while the officer hounded and accused me ‒ for two fucking hours ‒ trying to trick me into admitting the robbery was all a lie, so, they could charge me with filing a false police report. A criminal offense which could’ve resulted in jail time.
Of course, I passed. Much to their disappointment.
The police never found the guy who tried to rob the store and, for years afterward, I remained under suspicion by the authorities. And I know this because my boyfriend at the time (10 years my senior) was a news reporter at our local radio station and was very chummy with the town's police force.
Story #2. It was six weeks later, middle of the afternoon. The store was busy, with customers in every aisle. A man, about 40 years old, came in and headed for the shelves where we keep drug store and infant care merch (aspirin, antacid pills, razors, shampoo, baby food etc.). He grabbed a package of diapers for newborns and brought it to the checkout counter, cheerfully paid for it, then, left.
A few minutes later, a woman came bursting through the door, carrying the package of diapers. "You people should be ashamed of yourselves," she yelled at me. "Ten dollars for diapers?"
I looked at the price sticker. "I'm sorry, ma'am," I began, "But the yellow sticker means that it was priced by the vendor that sells these diapers to us. We are contractually obligated to sell it at that exact price, or they could sue us."
"Well, I'm not fucking paying that much for diapers. I want my money back!" she fumed, then, flung the package of diapers, full force, into my stomach.
Surprised by the unexpected physical assault, I stumbled backwards into a shelving unit full of merchandise, which then tumbled down on top of me, as I hit the floor. The enraged woman ran out of the store as fast as she could, while stunned witnesses helped me to my feet.
I thought I was OK. My head was a little sore. But, then, my stomach really started to hurt. Two minutes later, I couldn't stand up straight. Worried that I might have internal bleeding, the store manager rushed me to the hospital, just 3 blocks away. After a quick examination and an X-Ray, I learned that I was about 6 weeks pregnant. Emphasis on the word "was."
I just lost the baby.
The convenience store owner installed video cameras the day after the incident, but I quit working there within the week. The police were never able to track down the woman who killed my unborn child.
A sad situation, to be sure. But I was young, with lots of plans for the future, and not at all interested in being a mother, like, ever. So, it all worked out in the end.
KJC