Raised on Robbery

Another day, another robbery. If I wasn't already planning a career field change before, I sure would be thinking about it now.

It was a busy afternoon, and we had just taken a series of large deposits from one of our bank's biggest business customers. I had my back to the front door, counting cash that was being sent to the vault as our end of business day was quickly approaching. Sofia was balancing her drawer, Tuyet getting ready to go home. Suddenly I heard our bank manager's voice: "Hey, HEy, HEY! HEY!!!" I turned around in time to see this little black man reaching across the counter towards Tuyet, then pulling himself up onto the counter. It all - you knew I was going to say this - happened really fast. As I saw him getting up onto the counter, I realized that I was holding a lot of cash, in the broad light of day, just standing there with this money ready to take back to the vault. The progression of his movement meant that he was about to jump over the counter onto our side and take all of our money. I took two steps toward my teller window and chucked that three thousand dollars right into my trash can like it was a flopping fish or a scorching hot brick. So, the dude's on the counter, and Tuyet has, naturally taken a couple of steps away. He grabs what he can out of her drawer, slides off, and heads for the door. Quick as that.

It is pretty interesting the way that a day can go from frustrating and bad to better to what-the-fuck in the course of a few hours. For ridiculous and complicated reasons, I had spent most of the morning feeling like I work with the biggest bunch of idiots on the planet. But armed robberies (he showed her a knife, I should have mentioned), 911 calls, hot Latina CPD officers, and chats with the FBI have a way of getting you to rally around your coworkers. Craziness. Two robberies in two weeks. I'll try to post some pictures if I get them tomorrow.

Currently Listening to:
The Weepies, Hideaway

UPDATE 3/3/09 - Here's the Chicago Tribune story from this afternoon; this time it is entirely accurate! Pretty cool story, really. Our messenger, DJ, is a hero! Apparently they have filed charges against the guy, too. Sorry, no pictures.