Panhandling
We had some really bad weather this evening. A guy came into the store with a lit cigarette in his hand. He had some story about needing $5 to give someone for gas so they'd give him a ride over to the next city.
Seems like I've heard that story before. Interestingly enough, I think I've heard that story from HIM before.
"Sir, you can't smoke in here."
"Oh, but I just need some money to make it to {the next city}. I've been trying to get there all day. If I have money to give someone then I can get a ride."
"Well you can't smoke in here. It's against the law. You need to leave."
"You don't have any money?"
"Not on me, no." Entirely true. I carry a very small amount of cash, but not on me. In my purse.
Employee chimes in: "We don't get paid until tomorrow so we're all broke."
He grumbled a bit and then went outside and stood under our roof for a lot longer than I would have liked. It was getting near closing and because of the bad weather there were few customers, few people on the roads, and poor visibility (from the road or nearby stores to our store). The guy still stood there. I called my father for advice......I don't like people just hanging around, especially when we're about to close and no one's around to witness anything that they might do. I came very close to calling the police but I checked once more before calling and he was gone. Whew.
1 comment:
Oh man, I've got two stories for you. Story one: a guy came into our store last week and was panhandling customers saying, "I'm a recovering alcoholic -- been sober for two months (haha...not kidding you)and my kid, he's dying of terminal cancer; I just need some money to buy him a nice birthday present." A cashier told me that even before he came into the store, he was seen escorted by police from the store in our plaza. Anyways, the cashier and I followed him around the store. He saw us following him and started to walk to the door out. Suddenly, he turns around and says, "Please don't call the Police (we hadn't even talked to him yet)...I'm just (and then told us the whole story about his son)" He then left.
Second story, one night, the store had just closed and now it was time to close our drawers down. Anyways, I didn't check the store to make sure customers still weren't in the store -- I just assumed (this was a dumb, dumb move and since, I haven't done this) that everyone was gone. 10 minutes into close, a man stumble s to the front of the store and is drunk -- I mean -- DRUNK. I told him, "Sir, you need to leave the store is closed to the day." He says...uhh...slurs to me "I need to try on these pants. Wait." All of a sudden, before I could get in another word, he's in the dressing room. Again, softly, I'm like "Sir? Umm... you need to leave." Not only is he in the dressing room, but he didn't even shut the door and he's barely naked. Cut to the chase, we finally get him out. Now he's banging on the door, screaming that he forgot his wallet. We called the cops and he starts peeing against the door. Crazy night-- I was scared like hell. Now, when I close the store, I always, always look around the WHOLE store to see if anyone is there. Ahh..good times.
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