Thursday, February 5, 2009

Violence in his eyes and anger in his heart

Dang, sorry it's late. My internet was out. Not on any other computers in the house, just this one, and I'll be damned if I'm going to write in the living room with a bunch of people distracting me and a cat thinking that on the keyboard in my lap is where she is meant to be.

Graveyard.

I raised my voice in anger for the first time in my life yesterday, and now I'm glad I did because it prepared me for that night's work. I'm going to give my room mate, (the person I yelled at), a big hug and thank her when she gets home, 'coz if I hadn't discovered I could make that noise then I, one of my friends, or perhaps more than one of us could have been hurt.

Some (3) friends swung by to keep my company, and thank god for it. About an hour after their arrival, a man burst into the store, violently swinging both doors open as hard as he could. He had violence in his eyes and anger in his heart, but it is the general opinion of all witnesses that if there had not been four grown men standing in the store at the time, he may have gotten violent or broken stuff.

But I digress.

Appearing furious, he stormed across the store to the wine section, looped around it and returned to the coffee area on the exact opposite side. Spinning quickly, his arms lose and flailing, he smiled at me and said "I hear there's a huge skating event today!"

"Oh yeah? Is that at the [name omitted] skate park or just all over?" I asked.

"It's EVERYWHERE. Daddy- My daddy died on my birthdaaaaayyyyyy--" he began to 'cry' loudly into a trash can. At this point another customer entered the store looking to buy a cigarillo, mostly ignoring the madman in the corner. He made his purchase and very nearly made it out of the building before the crazy got in his way, sobbing incoherently.

"Whadayou need man?" he asked the madman. He didn't appear to really care, in fact it sounded more like a question I might ask a customer.

"I need my H-J!" followed by more incoherent sobbing. The customer quickly turned and walked out the door without another word, as though that was his cue to GTFO this situation.

Soon enough, the crazy stood up with fury in his eyes again. He glared at me, then at my friends, and finally got himself a cup of coffee, (which he never paid for by the way). Carrying it over to the Red Bull cooler, he started sobbing again, opened the case, grabbed a single can and opened it. He may have taken a single sip, but then he placed it back in the cooler.

His next stop as I looked on in amazement, was the soda fountain where he just leaned on the Ice button for about a full minute. Now he had made a mess, and I had something to kick him out for.

"Alright, I'm sorry man but you have to leave."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I r-really am. I'm sorry." he stammered.

"I know you are man, but you made a huge mess and you have to go." He milled around for a few seconds and I jotted down the number for the non-emergency police line and handed it to one of my friends. He stepped outside and made the call.

"DON'T YOU INSULT MY FAMILY." He took a few steps toward me.

"I didn't."

"You are right NOW." he growled, walking slowly closer to me. "Are you gonna call the cops? Go ahead! CALL THE COPS! My father will come down on you SO HARD YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE DEAD!" Most of us at this point had noticed inconsistancies in his story so far, but all decided it was a good idea not to point it out to a potentially violent man.

Snap! I was done with his bullshit.

"GET OUT. NOW!" I roared at the top of my lungs. I swear to god, the windows shook. I thrust a pointed finger towards the outdoors, and repeated my command. In my other hand was a crowbar, but I don't think he saw it. His eyes widened and he was immediately silence. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY STORE OR I WILL CALL THE COPS! NOW! GET THE FUCK OUT!" He staggered backward a few steps, and silently, eyes locked on mine, walked backwards out the door... and remained on the sidewalk for about five minutes making faces at me.

Eventually, he left.

About five minutes after he left, the police arrived and asked for a description of what happened and what he looked like, and quickly recognized him as one of the people he drove past.

Turns out, he just got out of jail about three hours prior to the incident, and there was nothing the police could do about it, or so they said.

I suppose in this town, petty theft, vandalism, disruption of the peace and threatening peoples lives? All legal, as long as you're doing it to a clerk.

I think I'll start job hunting.

1 comment:

  1. Yeah man, hunt down a new job. You can just as easily blog as Safeway Boy.

    ReplyDelete