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  • This is a stick up!

    I honestly never thought I would use that line *points to the title* but yeah. So here ya go.

    So today started off like any normal day. Roadworks on the motorway made me almost late because it appears to be national rip up the road week in England, I found the department a pig sty from the late shift last night. I made a mental note to find everyone on last nights late shift and rip them a new one, I found one more piece of equipment that doesn’t fucking work...then we opened up the store.

    Nothing exciting there.

    about 10 o’clock rolls around. a few other TechDirect staff have come in and basically we’re just getting on with our work.

    Then in walk these 3 guys. I barely even noticed them above the usual thinking of “why have 3 people walked into the store together? I hope they don’t come up to my counter. I am too busy to deal with a family load of crap.”

    They walk past our desk and head towards the computing section. That’s when the problem started. They walk up to our manager. We shall call him Jamie. They are talking to him and he’s not exactly acting natural so I keep my eye on them for a second.

    Then one of them, in the middle of the shop, in plain sight of everyone pulls out a damn GUN and puts it to his chest. I wasn’t close enough to see if it was a real gun or not but from where I was standing, it looked pretty damn real. I’m gonna be honest here; I wasn’t going to take a chance.

    The only people nearby me where the people on our department so my first priority is their safety. I actually have a plan for if shit like this should happen. We have the secure cage is right next to our department. It’s basically a steel mesh BOX with a 3 inch thick steel door. We keep all the high value stuff in there. It used to be the office so it has a phone, panic button and a fire escape hatch on the roof of it that...actually just lets you straight back into the burning building but I suppose of you find yourself accidentally locked in there and the place is then on fire; you can get out.

    I pick up the keys to the cage, quickly explain to them what is going on and usher them into the cage. My plan is to keep as many people as I can safe by locking us in there and phoning the police from inside the aforementioned locked, steel box.

    As I get to it I remember that the door has an odd quick. It squeeks but if you move it at exactly the right speed, not too fast, not too slow, it won’t. I’m trying my best not to get noticed here.

    Then someone from the shop floor yells “SHIT! HE HAS A GUN!”

    Screw subtlety. I have never unlocked that door so fast in my life. The robbers notice us and one comes charging over. Getting there just in time for me and another guy who’s with me to slam the door in his face. He puts his full weight on it to hold it shut while I, Also leaning my full weight on it, because the robber is desperately trying the handle, am fubleing with the lock. The damn key just won’t go in it!

    Eventually I get the key in, turn it which locks us away from danger and turn around to see 5 very frightened co-workers.

    Now this guy is banging on the cage door threatening to shoot his way in if we don’t open it. Everyone just gets down on the floor. even me. Mark must have picked the next part of my plan directly out of my mind because he reached up and grabbed the phone down off the desk, Dialing 999 (well, 9-999 but there ya go) and explaining the situation to the dispatcher. In fairness to him; he was very calm. He spoke slowly and clearly when giving them our address and explained the situation.

    Someone outside made a decision that I am as yet undecided whether it was very wise of very foolish. They hit the fire alarm. I figure this was to get anyone who was in the back and didn’t know what was going on out through the fire doors at the back of the building.

    There’s quite the commotion going on out there, thankfully there was no gunfire.

    Jamie looked through the peep hole on the door and saw the guys with the guns legging it out of the store. See, He does it the way a responsible person would. I do it the insanity wolf way, climb up the shelving to the escape hatch, pull myself up onto the roof of the cage and peer over the top. this means the only thing between me and a bullet in the chest is plasterboard.

    It was roughly at this point that the police storm the building. I make sure to get down quickly before there’s a thousand red dots all over my body and we all cautiously exit our steel box.

    There were 3 injuries in this whole escapade.

    1 was our rather large stockroom manager, Dave. It seems in the commotion, he tried to play the hero and rush these guys. This was very brave but INCREDIBLY stupid. They punched him in the throat and ended up making his throat swell up so much he was struggling to breath. He was taken to the hospital but thankfully is okay.

    If you’re in that kind of situation; NEVER do what Dave did. It could have ended up a lot worse.

    Injuries 2 and 3 were the ladies that look after our price tickets. Maurine and Dorothy are both about 296 years old. When they heard “Gun” they made a similar escape to the tech department except they went for the safety of the big steel doors of the warehouse. They were in such a rush to get through the doors they tripped over one another, both went tumbling to the ground and ended up with cracked ribs.

    The robbers got away with nothing. Apparently halfway through this robbery, they realised what a monumentally stupid idea it was to rob a store in broad fucking daylight during trading hours. The one time in which we are not only going to have a lot of staff in the building, but customers too and, Oh yeah, The CCTV will pretty much certainly be switched on and pointed right in your damn face.

    For those curious; What was said to our manager by the robbers was “We know you’re the manager. You have the keys to the safe. We want the money. NOW”

    unfortunately for them they came on the wrong day. An armoured van had come along and emptied the safe of all the takings about 3 hours before they turned up. Even if the safe wasn't a 2-part key and if the person with the other half was there and they somehow managed to get the safe open, they would have gone away with the change bags totalling a few hundred pounds at best.

    I hope you will all excuse my plain speaking here;

    Fuck you, you low life thieving scumbags. How about the next time you want to try some shit like that. you do it without the guns and just fucking watch what happens to you. I hope the police catch you and throw your dumb arses in prison.

    For all the Dave’s out there in the world; Please don’t do that kind of thing. The insurance company can replace money and stock, they cannot replace you. I realise that in such situations, you feel the need to defend everyone and everything around you but you cannot defend people if you are dead. PLEASE stay safe.
    Last edited by iradney; 06-06-2014, 06:15 PM.
    -The one, The Only, AdvancedFlea-

    Stick that in your blog and smoke it.

    A guide for customers about retail

  • #2
    Excellent thinking on your part!

    Comment


    • #3
      9-999? not
      0118 999 88199 9119 725 3?

      scary stuff man.

      Comment


      • #4
        Wow. They'd either been casing the place for awhile, or had inside information.

        Scarey.

        Glad everyone is OK.
        They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

        Comment


        • #5
          Yikes!

          I'm glad that everyone came out okay for the most part. Good thinking on your part to get your CWs to safety in the box!

          I hope they catch those bastards.
          Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

          Comment


          • #6
            Excellent thinking on your part, I hope you get some recognition for your quick thinking!

            Agreed, it sounds like they had some sort of information...

            Hopefully with the camera footage these assholes will soon end up behind bars!

            Comment


            • #7
              I really do hope they catch those guys. Scum of the earth. I would also suspect (especially in the UK) that if they had a gun, then they are probably gang members.

              I live in Kansas, a state that lets me carry a concealed weapon (with permit). If someone pointed a gun in my chest, even I am NOT stupid crazy enough to fight back. It takes me 4 sec to draw, aim, and fire. By that time, I will have lead rounds in my chest. So ya, fighting back in that situation (especially if you are not trained) is an incredibly bad idea.

              Heck even if they had a knife, it would be a bad idea, as knifes and guns are about equally deadly, if the knife-wielder is within 20ft unobstructed.
              I might be crazy, but I'm not Insane.

              What? You don't play with flamethrowers on the weekends? You are strange.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth Gilhelmi View Post
                Heck even if they had a knife, it would be a bad idea, as knifes and guns are about equally deadly, if the knife-wielder is within 20ft unobstructed.
                I took a self-defense course where they told us about a demonstration where they had 20 trained police armed with paintball guns in a large room and were told a man with a knife would come in a door on the other side and attack them. A man came in with a plastic knife and was able to "stab" all 20 cops without getting hit once. The point was to demonstrate that an armed person with a knife can be even more deadly than an armed person with a gun.
                Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth roxtar View Post
                  9-999? not
                  0118 999 88199 9119 725 3?

                  scary stuff man.
                  LOL! Great way to cheer up the dramatic situation! I can hear Moss' voice in my head singing it.

                  I'm glad everyone is okay and hope the manager recovers quickly. What a brave attempt.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth bhskittykatt View Post
                    The point was to demonstrate that an armed person with a knife can be even more deadly than an armed person with a gun.
                    If I remember that right, they even demonstrated that in one episode of Mythbusters to proof that the saying "never bring a knife to a gun-fight" is wrong.

                    @AdvancedFlea
                    Just like the others I'm glad to hear that everybody will be fine and that you handled the situation so calm. I hope they'll get those guys!
                    “If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.”
                    ― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                      Wow. They'd either been casing the place for awhile, or had inside information.
                      If that was the case, then why did they show up 3 hours after the safe had been emptied?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth siskaren View Post
                        If that was the case, then why did they show up 3 hours after the safe had been emptied?
                        Either the armored van arrived early that day, or whoever cased the joint overlooked that detail (along with the 2-part key).

                        Actually, since it seems to be a tech store, how much cash business would there be?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Holy shite.

                          Also, these guys were dumb. I mean, if I were to rob say, Fry's Electronics, I'd go straight for the cage. 'course, sounds like Flea's cage is much more robber-resistant than the one at Fry's.

                          Not to say I wouldn't also be tempted, if I had partners in crime and a nice big vehicle, to go for a couple of those ten thousand dollar tvs... but the cage at Fry's probably holds at least that much in easy-to-transport CPUs. Plus the safe's right next to it.
                          Supporting the idiots charged with protecting your personal information.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Quoth Words4theWorld View Post
                            If I remember that right, they even demonstrated that in one episode of Mythbusters to proof that the saying "never bring a knife to a gun-fight" is wrong.
                            It had to be posted, sorry...

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d5jXDvrOu4

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Quoth roxtar View Post
                              9-999? not
                              0118 999 88199 9119 725 3?

                              scary stuff man.
                              Hahah. I was actually thinking about that song as I climbed onto the roof of the cage. It didn't seem appropriate to be singing it at that point though/

                              Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                              Wow. They'd either been casing the place for awhile, or had inside information.
                              My guess is inside information. The manager was a new one. He's only been there about 3 weeks. But any GOOD insider would have known about the 2-part Key.

                              Quoth bhskittykatt View Post
                              I'm glad that everyone came out okay for the most part. Good thinking on your part to get your CWs to safety in the box!

                              I hope they catch those bastards.
                              It's a thing I have learned because of the countless times I have got close enough to death to kick him in the balls then run back; Always have a plan. When I am at work I know where the nearest place is I can get to safety should 3 assholes with guns show up, Wherever I am I know where my nearest fire exit is AND where an alternative one is. I know where my nearest fire extinguisher is...all this kind of stuff.

                              In the case of my workplace and home I also have a plan of where to go if there is an earthquake...I live in England. We don't get many earthquakes. That is how prepared I am.

                              Quoth eltf177 View Post
                              Excellent thinking on your part, I hope you get some recognition for your quick thinking!
                              I doubt I will get any recognition for it but I don't care if I don't. Those people were safe and now they know what to do if there is a next time so what else matters?

                              I hope so too but video cameras alone are not as effective at catching people as you may think. Having the footage is one thing. Knowing who was in it is quite another.

                              Quoth Words4theWorld View Post
                              If I remember that right, they even demonstrated that in one episode of Mythbusters to proof that the saying "never bring a knife to a gun-fight" is wrong.
                              Yeah I remember that episode. Not a theory I want to put to the test but I remember it well

                              Everyone will be fine, thankfully. I think it's more an issue of everyone's nerves are rattled.

                              Quoth Argus View Post
                              Actually, since it seems to be a tech store, how much cash business would there be?
                              it is a tech store but you would be surprised how much cash there is involved. We are talking millions. Not usually kept all in the safe but we still deal with a LOT of cash.

                              Quoth otakuneko View Post
                              Holy shite.

                              Also, these guys were dumb. I mean, if I were to rob say, Fry's Electronics, I'd go straight for the cage. 'course, sounds like Flea's cage is much more robber-resistant than the one at Fry's.
                              Oh yeah. our's is pretty robber resistant. Hell, the BUILDING is. The fire service once told us that with their gear, if they needed to get in it would take them about half an hour. I have always said that should something go so horribly wrong with our country that I am not safe in my own home; I'm going to head straight to work and try to get in there. That building is VERY secure.
                              -The one, The Only, AdvancedFlea-

                              Stick that in your blog and smoke it.

                              A guide for customers about retail

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