Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Hold Up Part 2

In case you missed it... Yesterday, I started to relive my experience of being held up while working as a manager of my parents florist shop. Here's the rest of the true story.



He pulled out a knife. “We don’t want to hurt you. We just want the money.”

I nearly passed out.

They stood by the door, waiting for me to react. Apparently, the punks weren’t the brightest because in order for me to get to the till, I would’ve had to approach them. Like that was going to happen. Instead, I shouted something about having more money in the back room. Then, I escaped out the rear door and told my employee to call the cops.

The guys immediately took off.

After the incident, and the lecture from the cops to not play hero, we installed a security camera.

A week or two later, the boys came back with another cup. They must’ve figured that plan worked better. As they entered, they looked up at the camera. Without hesitation, they asked my employee to toss their garbage and left. This only drew more attention to the punks because there were trash cans outside they could’ve used.

The police later told us these dudes were really bad apples. They were responsible for burning cars and churches, assault, and burglary. Totally not the harmless boys I thought they were.

So, why did I take such a risk? Well, I didn’t realize my life was actually in danger. The guys seems so timid that I felt they were more afraid than I was. And the knife they had was just a small knife. I'm not sure why, but it never registered that a knife is still a knife and can kill me. I guess I’m a victim of watching too many murder scenes on TV. The other thing was, like I said before, I had no intension of getting any closer to the knife or the punks. Luckily, there was a back door or I’m not sure what would’ve happened. And the last reason I didn’t give into these guys was that I considered this to be my business. They’d already robbed us once. I wasn’t going to give in to their demands and allow them anymore of our hard earned money. That being said, my pride would’ve dashed out the window if I hadn’t had an escape route, the guy’s knife was bigger, or either punk had been more aggressive.


What do you think you would’ve done?

11 comments:

  1. Well, given that they were obviously not knife experts (or that sounds like my conclusion) I'd have run out the back too. Now, if you are confronted by a guy with a knife who knows how to use it, even if you have a gun he has an advantage if it's already out, and less than 30' distance buts you at a terrible risk. (I've seen the videos that prove it.) So if I were at the register, I'd hand the money over. Even if I did have a gun.

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  2. I'm a pretty big chicken, but I'm also impulsive. I guess I'd have to consider how angry I was. If I were thinking logically, I would have given them whatever cash they wanted and tried to think of any details I could use to help the cops find them. If they irritated me enough, I might have gone nuts and knocked them upside the heads with a glass vase--presumably the heaviest one.

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  3. I guess after several self-defense and anti-rape courses, I probably wouldn't have given in to their demands, either.
    Then again, none of us were there!
    Glad that story did not have a bad ending.

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  4. What a scary story. I'm glad it all turned out okay. I don't think we ever know how we'll really react to something until it happens to us. But I'm sure adrenaline can make us do things we’d never expect to do.

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  5. Good gracious! I'm glad you're o.k. What an experience. I'm not sure what I would do. I probably can't predict that. I remember the Va. Tech shootings (that's about 30 minutes from where I live) I wasn't afraid, I was very angry. I sort of had the same reaction during 9/11. I'm not sure if I would have given in to their demands either, but I'm not sure I can accurately answer this since it didn't happen to me. All the what ifs in life make great spring boards for good stories. I suppose that's one way of turning something evil into good.

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  6. Boy, it's hard to say what we're capable of during those kinds of stressful situations! Glad it turned out okay for you!

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  7. It's amazing how we will actually react in a bad situation - sometimes very different than we think we will. Glad nothing more serious came of it.

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  8. "and the knife they had was just a small knife." wow, lynnette....i'm sure someone, somewhere, had these words pinging around in their head when they died! oh my....i'm glad it all worked out in the end. i have no idea what i would have done. whew.

    jeannie
    Where Romance Meets Therapy

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  9. I think you can't know how you're going to react until you're faced with the situation. I just hope I'd be able to stay calm (not likely). I'm so glad you were able to get away. I can't believe they came back so many times. Did they have no fear of getting caught? I mean, how stupid.

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  10. Wow. I am not sure what I would have done. I think it is so easy to say, if that would have been me I would have . . . but once faced with a real knife who knows. Glad you were safe in the end.

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