You've got to love this headline

Never bring an iPhone to a knife fight: Cops: Man says he has gun in eatery stick-up, changes mind when cooks whip out blades

Personally if it came to needing money for my child I would probably sell my iPhone rather than use it in lieu of a gun, but that's me. Moral of the story: Don't mess with cooks at Indian restaurants.

Okay, it's not that I condone violence

but an old elementary school friend who still lives in the Shreveport area shared this video (now a couple of years old) on Facebook, and the thought of an entire beauty school full of women beating a robber with curling irons and anything else that wasn't nailed down was...well, I hope he thought better of a life of crime. And they never let you live that down in gaol. The police officer was really trying not to laugh, you can tell.



Thanks, Jody.

Only in Britain...

Shopkeeper throws cup of tea at robbers in Wythenshawe

Armed robbers ran off empty handed after a shopkeeper in a grocery store in Manchester threw a cup of tea at them.

Wielding a kitchen knife and a pin-hammer, they burst into the Superfreeze store on Hollyhedge Road in Benchill and demanded cash on Friday.

The 58-year-old threw her tea at them and they ran off.

Gun laws in England being what they are, it's a little hard for thugs to find decent implements to rob with. Granted, these were quite deadly, but up close and personal. Congrats to the pluckiness of the clerk. However, since guns are rampant here in the US, and I don't drink tea, I don't think I'll be using this manoeuvre any time soon. (I don't think a cold Diet Pepsi's going to do a thing.)

Two ways to deal with robbers (neither of which are approved by most companies)

The Sweet Jesus Way


The Psycho Axe Way


I personally prefer the latter, but both are so contrary to what I was taught at the store. The latter especially should be used point-for-point in training for what not to do. :)

A little scary

Apparently when I was working at the store today a restaurant down the road from us was robbed. He was able to get money from their safe and fled.

The same scenario at our place would be unlikely, as our safe is time-released, and generally there is no one in the evening who can even get into it--and that's our change safe, so there's mostly rolled change in it. Only a security company can get into the main safe. Our registers keep little money in them (which is why I get annoyed by people who think we are a bank when it says plainly on the counters that $50s and $100s are not kept in the register).

All of this, plus a policy of cooperation, should make me feel safer. But people desperate enough to pull a gun on a clerk are unpredictable. A few years ago a pregnant attendant was nearly killed on Christmas Eve and miraculously survived. And there was also the case of the young woman who on her very last shift at her job was shot in the back and killed as the clerks were being rounded up and put into the cooler.

The description given in this case was not particularly useful--white guy, black hoodie, jeans, and white gloves, with a silver handgun. I hope he's caught soon, and in the mean time that he stays far from us.

In the game I play essentially a ninja who cuts off cultists' heads in a bid to stop the next apocalypse

This one had a less altruistic cause:

Cops hunt sword-waving ninja after robbery bid: Armed culprit flees empty-handed when clerk refuses to hand over cash

Okay, as a gas station attendant, I have to say that if someone came at me with a sword, I'd go ahead and give him the cash, then call the cops with the ninja description after he leaves. Anyone that crazy is dangerous, especially with sharp objects.

Update

No one was hurt in that robbery I mentioned last night, thankfully. The assailant did produce a gun. The new story I just read didn't mention a description of the man, but a friend said when he saw the news they mentioned he was large with mutton-chop sideburns. Who wears these in this decade? I suppose he'll probably shave, if he's smart.

One of the other gas stations down the street from us was robbed tonight

I don't know the details, but it's a little unnerving, especially as it happened during hours we were open and working. There's always that bit of worry in the back of my mind when working as a gas station attendant that there will be a robbery.

I hope no one was hurt.

Scary

Police Search For Man Who Robbed Elderly Woman

'Don't say a word or I'll cut your throat': WOMAN, 86, TRIES TO HELP MAN ASKING FOR GAS, IS ROBBED AT KNIFEPOINT (link good for 7 days; I'll try to find it archived on Topix before then)

Scary

Our sister gas station (same company, same road, but they're bigger and open 24/7) was robbed at gunpoint at 2:30 am Sunday morning by a white man of average build with short hair and wearing a black jacket. The robber's eyes were either colored with blue eye shadow or had blue tattoos around them, and he had tattoos on his neck and arms. He fled on foot. As far as I know, no one was hurt.

This does not make me feel safe. I had gotten to a point where I didn't worry (in the front of my mind anyway) about being robbed. Now it's definitely moved from the back burner, especially as he ran away from the scene rather than drove, so he very well may live in the area.

And blue eye shadow? That's an odd little detail.

Anyway, I reviewed some tips on the Internet for how to handle a robbery and its aftermath. I hope never to have to deal with it, though.