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And they truly are. I will tell you the tale of one Thursday night in which I nearly burst into tears, but instead could not stop laughing. Things like this happen every time I'm in charge.
Keep in mind this all happened in ONE NIGHT.
Which happened to be a night in which the owners were visting. And the security guard, curse him, quit right before my shift started so I had to deal with everything.
Alley Car
A presumably stolen car was crashed into a pole in our alley, and left there. In the camera footage, the driver got out, pulled some stuff frantically from the trunk and ran off. The passenger window was all smashed. There was now a traffic jam in the alley, as trucks for the our store, a department store, and various restaurants were all stuck. The cops told us not to touch anything and came and towed it away an hour or so later.
Babysitting
My store is downtown. That means there are crackheads, drug dealers, and all sorts of happy people wandering around all the time, and their population increases at night. They even find their way into our store sometimes. At 5 pm, I noticed 2 young boys sitting in chairs by one of the computers. No big deal, I thought, their parents are probably browsing in a nearby section. Happens a lot, but I noted the time, when most workers were leaving, since I keep an eye on these things. Boys were Asian, about 8-10. At 6 pm, they are still there, alone. I'm getting worried. We are also short staffed that night, so I was running around a lot making sure every floor was covered, the cops were asking questions about the crashed car, etc. At 7pm, they are STILL there, alone. I ask where their parents are. The boys say they are here somewhere. I go to every Asian person in the store, and ask if these are their boys. Everyone says NO. So now I have abandoned kids in my store. I call the manager, because I really don't know what to do in this case.
Me-'Hey, sorry to bug you, but um I think I have abandoned kids in the store.'
Manager-'Oh my god! How old are they?'
Me-'Well they're 2 boys....'
Manager cuts me off-'2 Asian boys about 8-10, been there a few hours, right?'
Me-'How did you know?'
Manager-'Because this is the 2nd time this has happened. I told their mom if she did this again we would call the cops! Call them.'
I called the cops. They said they would be there soon, especially since the boys were young and damnit, they were near crack alley (The unofficial name of the alley behind my store where the crashed car had been)
So maybe at 8:30 (I am now hovering around the cash desk, watching people coming in, and watching the boys at the same time) an Asian woman comes in. She does not go over to the boys, looks at them from the other side of the store and sits down with a magazine.
A few minutes afterwards, the cops come in.
I point out the boys and they go over. At this point, the woman who just came in finally gets up to and goes towards the boys as the cops ask them where their parents are.
She got mad. She said she had been there the whole time. She had never been told she couldn't leave the boys here. This was her first time in the store. She had just left for an hour. She had been in the bathroom. She thought it was perfectly okay to leave them here. The boys had only been here for 10 minutes.
You get the idea.
She was escorted out by the cops with her sons and told never to come back. To emphasize why she shouldn't leave them there, the cops pointed out a drug bust happening down the street and some homeless guys sleeping across the street.
Elastic bands
Finally I close the store at 9. I think everything is okay.
I go to the restaurant upstairs to make sure there are no customers in there. The restaurant supervisor asks me to check the bathroom, as there was someone who had been in there for quite a while.
I go in there. There is locked stall with someone in there, but I go back and get the restaurant supervisor since I don't want to be alone now.
We come back and there is a lady washing her face at the sink. She won't let us look at her face. We tell her we're closed and she has to leave. She mumbles that she fell asleep in the stall, and she's going now. She has her face covered with her hands as she talks to us.
I peek in the stall.
There are rubber bands, you know the type you TIE AROUND YOUR ARM, all over the stall floor.
Yet another good reason not to leave your kids alone downtown.
She leaves peacefully, but not letting us look at her face the whole time.
The owners weren't around for any of this. THEY had gone to a party.
And that was just the one night.
Keep in mind this all happened in ONE NIGHT.
Which happened to be a night in which the owners were visting. And the security guard, curse him, quit right before my shift started so I had to deal with everything.
Alley Car
A presumably stolen car was crashed into a pole in our alley, and left there. In the camera footage, the driver got out, pulled some stuff frantically from the trunk and ran off. The passenger window was all smashed. There was now a traffic jam in the alley, as trucks for the our store, a department store, and various restaurants were all stuck. The cops told us not to touch anything and came and towed it away an hour or so later.
Babysitting
My store is downtown. That means there are crackheads, drug dealers, and all sorts of happy people wandering around all the time, and their population increases at night. They even find their way into our store sometimes. At 5 pm, I noticed 2 young boys sitting in chairs by one of the computers. No big deal, I thought, their parents are probably browsing in a nearby section. Happens a lot, but I noted the time, when most workers were leaving, since I keep an eye on these things. Boys were Asian, about 8-10. At 6 pm, they are still there, alone. I'm getting worried. We are also short staffed that night, so I was running around a lot making sure every floor was covered, the cops were asking questions about the crashed car, etc. At 7pm, they are STILL there, alone. I ask where their parents are. The boys say they are here somewhere. I go to every Asian person in the store, and ask if these are their boys. Everyone says NO. So now I have abandoned kids in my store. I call the manager, because I really don't know what to do in this case.
Me-'Hey, sorry to bug you, but um I think I have abandoned kids in the store.'
Manager-'Oh my god! How old are they?'
Me-'Well they're 2 boys....'
Manager cuts me off-'2 Asian boys about 8-10, been there a few hours, right?'
Me-'How did you know?'
Manager-'Because this is the 2nd time this has happened. I told their mom if she did this again we would call the cops! Call them.'
I called the cops. They said they would be there soon, especially since the boys were young and damnit, they were near crack alley (The unofficial name of the alley behind my store where the crashed car had been)
So maybe at 8:30 (I am now hovering around the cash desk, watching people coming in, and watching the boys at the same time) an Asian woman comes in. She does not go over to the boys, looks at them from the other side of the store and sits down with a magazine.
A few minutes afterwards, the cops come in.
I point out the boys and they go over. At this point, the woman who just came in finally gets up to and goes towards the boys as the cops ask them where their parents are.
She got mad. She said she had been there the whole time. She had never been told she couldn't leave the boys here. This was her first time in the store. She had just left for an hour. She had been in the bathroom. She thought it was perfectly okay to leave them here. The boys had only been here for 10 minutes.
You get the idea.
She was escorted out by the cops with her sons and told never to come back. To emphasize why she shouldn't leave them there, the cops pointed out a drug bust happening down the street and some homeless guys sleeping across the street.
Elastic bands
Finally I close the store at 9. I think everything is okay.
I go to the restaurant upstairs to make sure there are no customers in there. The restaurant supervisor asks me to check the bathroom, as there was someone who had been in there for quite a while.
I go in there. There is locked stall with someone in there, but I go back and get the restaurant supervisor since I don't want to be alone now.
We come back and there is a lady washing her face at the sink. She won't let us look at her face. We tell her we're closed and she has to leave. She mumbles that she fell asleep in the stall, and she's going now. She has her face covered with her hands as she talks to us.
I peek in the stall.
There are rubber bands, you know the type you TIE AROUND YOUR ARM, all over the stall floor.
Yet another good reason not to leave your kids alone downtown.
She leaves peacefully, but not letting us look at her face the whole time.
The owners weren't around for any of this. THEY had gone to a party.
And that was just the one night.
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