| So I just got home from my usual Saturday night working at the liquor store and I've already got almost a full bottle of beer gone.I'm still shaking, but I think with another beer, I'll be okay.What has me all freaked out and high on adrenalin at this late hour??Well, let me start from the beginning.A couple of weeks ago, town police officers apprehended a Hispanic male in the parking lot of the liquor store where I work.?This was also on a Saturday night, but it was about forty-five minutes after I'd locked up and gone home.?Apparently, this guy had a warrant or some-such suspicious stuff on his record, and my friendly neighborhood officers put him in the back of the squad car.?The squad car from which once you are in the backseat, you can't get out.Well, this guy did get out of the back of said squad car, and they still aren't sure how it occurred.?The reasonable explanation was that someone let him out when the officers were busy making their report and calling in, but who knows for sure??Anyway, he got away, and the result of that was a reverse 911 call that went out around midnight warning residents that the guy had escaped, lock your doors, etc etc etc.?Of course, I don't have a land-line, so I was clueless about this chain of events until my Almost-Mom called me up frantic the next morning thinking that I had been held up in the liquor store and that the guy had gotten away.The very next Saturday, as I pulled my usual shift, my friendly neighborhood officers pulled up to the drive-thru window to make sure that business was running smoothly and no suspicious activity was afoot.?No, it had been a quiet night.?I had the usual customers in and out, and although one guy in particular can be quite scary at times (I think he forgets to take his medication), for the most part, I can handle myself.?One of the officers who had that fateful Saturday shift the previous week is the husband of a former co-worker, and a friend of mine.?He told me that earlier in the week, another suspicious vehicle was reported parked in the liquor store parking lot, and if I saw anything funny, to let them know.?That made me nervous, and I asked them to swing by the store about the time I would be locking up, which they were only too happy to do.?For a few weeks, everything has been quiet.?If my friend is on duty, he tries to check in and make sure all is well in Liquor-store Land, and I'm grateful for that.?I handle large amounts of cash and I man the store by myself.?Ten o'clock closing time is pretty late for this sleepy little Colorado town, even on a weekend.?You just never know what could happen.You just never know...Tonight, as per usual, the last hour or so of my shift was dead.?I stocked the beer cooler and vacuumed the carpet, and didn't even put up my closed signs until a few minutes after closing time.?There are several things that I do when I close.?The first thing that I do is to turn off all of the outside lights.?The light on the drive up and the front door lights are turned off, and immediately afterwards I lock the front door and put the closed sign in the front window.?I then turn off the neon sign that blares "OPEN" in bright orange lettering.?From there, I go to the drive up window.?First I shut and lock the screen, then the window itself, and I turn the open sign in this window so that it reads "Closed" to anyone pulling up.?A bar is then placed behind where the window slides open as further protection from break in, and then the entire window gets covered with a wooden board that locks into place, while lastly, the motion sensor for the alarm system is plugged in.?Yeah... no one is getting into the store without a fight, that's for damn sure.By now, it is about 10 minutes or so past the hour.?I pull out the drawer, close out the computer, and start counting money.?I have at least 1500 bucks out on the counter in front of me, and after I'd finally got to finish counting it, it was more like 2 grand, but anyway....As I'm standing there counting stacks of twenties and fifties, the motion sensor in the drive-up goes off.?No big deal, I'm used to people driving through the alley way after closing time.?They see that I'm closed and probably go to the bar instead.?This night should be no different, right?Wrong.Someone starts knocking on the window.WTF?I can't see who it is, I've got the window covered and the lights are out because it's after 10 o'clock and I'm CLOSED!?C - L - O - S - E - D!!!!!?That's what the sign says, and it's all dark and shut up.?Go the fuck away.?The knocking continues, and now I'm starting to get nervous.?Who in the hell in their right mind continues to knock on a drive-thru window of a store that is obviously closed??Well, I don't know, but I sure as hell don't care to find out.?The window stays covered, and I continue to count my cash and figure up my drawer.?The knocking stops.Only to start again at the front door.?Except, there isn't anyone there.?That's right... there is knocking going on alright, but I don't see anyone standing there, and now I'm completely freaked out.?I check the phone book quickly for the number for the local PD, and discover that after 5 all the calls are either routed through city of Delta or you have to call 911.?I call Rhonda instead, hoping that her husband is on duty and she can call him and have him come save the day.?Luck has it that he isn't on duty and he answers the phone...And about the time that he does, I get my first and only glimpse of the mysterious knocker on my door... a disembodied hand.At this point, I am getting hysterical.?"I've got someone knocking on my door, I'm closed, and all's I can see is a hand...."I am convinced that there is someone with a gun waiting to jump me the minute that I go to the door to see who is trying to get in so desperately."Stay right where you are," he tells me, and puts Rhonda on the phone with me while he calls someone who is on duty and gets them en route to the store.Suddenly, the head of an old woman appears in the doorway, as I'm explaining to Rhonda what is happening.?She must be able to hear me talking."I'm in a wheelchair," she says through the glass.?"That's why you can't see me."?She proceeds to tell me her name and asks me to let her in.?I tell her no, that I am closed.?She asks what time it is, I tell her, and she asks if I can't make an exception for her, just this once.?She "knows" the owner.?Yeah, a lot of people claim that, but I only work one night a week, and I'm not exactly inclined to believe the word of a woman I've never seen before in my life.I feel bad for the old lady in the wheelchair, but even if I am of a mind to let her in after scaring the living beJeezus out of me, my drawer is already closed for the night.?No can do.And thankfully, at about this time, my friendly neighborhood officers pull up to the front of the store to save the day.It takes me all of a few minutes to put two and two together.?This is the lady that I have been warned about by my liquor store co-workers.?She's got a reputation for being a mean old lady who likes to get her booze on.?And apparently, the law in this town is just as familiar with her.?I don't know what happened after I spoke with the officers who came to rescue me from the crippled old lady in the wheelchair, but by the time I lock up, both she and they are gone from the front of the store.And now I have a blog out of it, and after three beers, I'm definitely not shaking any more.But I think that it may be time to quit my Saturday night job at the liquor store.?I think that I've had all the excitement that seven bucks an hour can provide. |
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