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View Full Version : First day back at work and whaddya know?


Calhoun07
07-30-2002, 05:20 PM
Well, as some of you may or may not know, I was on vacation for a couple of weeks, a couple of glorious weeks! I got back into the full time routine yesterday at the bank, my full time job. The day was pretty average and not as hectic or busy as a normal Monday.

Around 12:35 or so, the guy I work with in the drive thru went to lunch, so I was back in the drive thru by myself. In the lobby there were two tellers and my branch manager was standing between their two stations in the lobby, leaning against the counter, asking us about our referrals and leads and telling us she needs our sheets we keep track of those things on. So it's a slow time at the bank, there is nobody in there, and my manager is talking to us.

This guy comes in and walks right up to the middle window, just an inch or two from where my branch manager is standing, and he had this white paper bag in his hand, and he said, "Every one stay calm, this is a bank robbery." He was so nonchalant, so at ease, sounded like he was talking to us about the weather, nobody took him seriously. He repeated that this was a bank robbery, and handed the plastic bag, which was like one of those plastic bags you get from the grocery store, and told the teller to put her cash in there. He told us he wasn't going to hurt anybody as well.

Now I was standing in the drive thru, and you have to keep in mind the way our bank is set up, there is no partition dividing drive thru and lobby, it's all one open space. So I am staring at this guy trying the best I can to get a mental image of him, and he looks up at me and says, "DON'T MOVE!" Ooohhhkay, don't have to tell me twice! I moved my head back down and didn't look at him for the rest of the time he was there. I didn't want to aggrivate him any further. And he didn't show us a weapon, but my branch manager told us she saw he had a gun in the front of his pants that she could have gotten if she had been desperate. But of course the best thing to do is do what these guys tell you to do, keep calm, and get them out of there quickly as possible.

Well, I can't get into much more detail than that. But we shut down the bank, and within minutes the place had cops and over the next two hours, men and women from the police department, CSI, and FBI and even some of the higher ups in the bank came in and asked us questions.

I went to work that night at my second job, which wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. The entire time I am there, I am leery of anybody walking thru the door, waiting and wondering if I was going to see that guy come in and what I would do if I ever saw him again. Today has been a tad better, but you keep imagining what things may have been like if he had chosen to use his weapon. And you just need time to sort things out as well. So that's my day after vacation story.

TimTwoFace
07-30-2002, 06:02 PM
Oh man, Calhoun, I've been through a wide array of hairy situations at work before, but never a robbery! I'm just glad to hear that you and your buddies at the bank weren't hurt. I'm glad that you didn't try to be the hero, no matter how much you may have wanted to.

-Tim

hello_lola
07-30-2002, 06:12 PM
Ooh, scary! I'm glad none of you were hurt.

Chris Sanders MSX
07-30-2002, 07:04 PM
God man, I dunno what i would have done in that situation. Something inside would say "Play Super Hero" and call him on hhis bluff that he wouldn't hurt anyone and do my best to get his weapon away from him at any cost, but then the side of me that has an actual reason to live would have me do exactly as you did.

I think i'd be pretty paranoid if this happened to me as well.

Was he wearing a mask ofa ny kind cause the security Cameras should pin this guy quite swiftly.

czyznyck99
07-30-2002, 07:08 PM
Yeah, it's really unfortunate that had to happen to you, but at least you and your friends walked away. I'm sure there was a video camera somewhere, the police will probably catch the guy.

However, I must admit, I'm surprised that actually worked. A guy just walks in, calmly robs a bank, and walks away?

Duuuuuude....

I wouldn't have seen that coming either, especially after vacation.

Later.

Jedigreedo
07-30-2002, 08:03 PM
And the security guards were...where?

Glad no one was hurt, but don't banks have armed security guards? Or just security guards for that matter... If the robber wasn't showing a weapon then they're the ones who should've played hero. Heck he could've had a gun on him, but I think if he doesn't want anyone to see it while he's committing the crime then it's probably not a real gun, like a water pistol or something.

Watagashi
07-30-2002, 08:10 PM
:eek: Man, that must've been extremely scary... It's a good thing that he didn't decide to use the gun, though. I'm glad that you and everyone at the bank is okay. :)

Galaxia
07-30-2002, 10:27 PM
OMG Calhoun! That's scary! O_O! I hope you're okay.

Barb Gordon
07-30-2002, 10:37 PM
lol, I wondered about the guards myself, so where were they Cal? *hugs* sounds like a scary ordeal *gives Cal a cookie* though I would have tried to memorize his face as well...if I couldn't sneak from behind and take him down....sorry, Batman wannabe moment there or something. Glad it wasn't too serious, considering it had the chance to get ugly.

~Barb

Leaping Larry Jojo
07-30-2002, 10:59 PM
NEVER EVER attack a bank robber unless he absolutely intends to get violent. If he tells you to stay quiet, give him the money and you won't get hurt, then you do that.

I think Cal did the smart thing.

Psycho Fox
07-30-2002, 11:52 PM
I'm glad no one got hurt but the security of your banks sounds crappy. A lone bankrobber with a lowered pistol was able to succeed in getting the cash? Where was the guards? Why was there money a decent amount of money accessable to the tellers? At the old branch I use to go to (its gone now so I think it is okay to talk about) all the money outside of the safe was in a room infront of the safe that had bullet proof glass and only a small window and a steel door. Cash got passed back and forth to the person at the window but I don't think there was ever any decent amount of money ever outside that room and I heard from a freind that use to work in the cash room that they always had a loaded 12 gauge in the room provided by the bank and guard for that room was suppose to shoot any robbers that tried to enter the room as they enter.

Calhoun07
07-30-2002, 11:57 PM
I think everybody did the right thing, actually. Nobody panicked and did what he told us to do. The money is insured, that's not the biggest deal. And the tellers never saw his weapon, either, which I think was a good thing. Just knowing he had it, when the branch manager told us, was hard enough to imagine, especially for the teller that got robbed first hand, but I tell ya, it makes a huge difference psychologically in not seeing it! It's still something that will probably haunt us for a while to come. Things like this have ways of showing up two years down the road as people are still dealing with things.

As for the security guard, he just left our bank not too long ago. He's gotta go back and forth between two banks, and we have ten banks in the city we are in, and three security guards between them, and at one branch there is a guard there full time 100% of the time. When I first started, we had a full time guard because it was known our neighborhood wasn't the safest around, but the branch down the street, the main bank, got robbed, and the guard who used to work down there came to our branch and our full time guard went to theirs, and then they began to move them around more, where they would visit each branch only for a limited amount of time each day.

From time to time, customers would comment on the lack of a guard, and say we needed a full time one. I told this one that the only thing that would get us a full time guard again, quite seriously, was if we got robbed. That's not something the bank told us, I just knew that. And guess what? Today we had a full time guard. I have no idea what the future holds, but hopefully, just maybe, they might hire another guard or two. Who knows?

But anyway, this guy was obviously watching us from a distance. He knew when the guard had left, to come in when nobody was there, and which teller to go to (she had just gotten done with a commercial deposit so had a bit more money on the top than she probably should have.)

Oh, and the cameras picked up jack. There were people in there today getting us a new system. I mean, we got nothing on the cameras at all. McDonald's has a better security camera set up than we do, quite literally.

Leaping Larry Jojo
07-31-2002, 12:00 AM
This robber seems to have done his homework.

Elven Moon
07-31-2002, 12:02 AM
Wow, I don't know what I would've done in that situation. I probably would've hidden or been too scared to move.

I couldn't possibly be the hero, but at least I'd still be alive as the result.

Trent Lane
07-31-2002, 01:33 AM
Wow, Cal, that's a pretty bad way to start your week off. Personally, I've never been in a situation such as that before. A co-worker of mine had a gun held to her head as the guy told her to empty the safe- thankfully she was alright, tho she did transfer from the old store to ours right after that. Gotta put you on edge, that's for sure...

ZorBrak
07-31-2002, 02:48 AM
Woah, sounds like you had one helluva day getting back to work...but glad you wern't hurt! That's definately a thing I'd have on my mind fora while.

Mad Scientist
07-31-2002, 06:00 AM
Man, Cal! That was scary! I'm glad you or anyone else didn't get shot. I would never expect something like THAT to happen when *I* get back from my vacations. Gee whiz.

Psycho Fox
07-31-2002, 09:57 AM
Well if they are that lacks on security I don't see the point in playing hero so I don't think I would have done any thing diffenent in that situtation. Hopefully your bank will review its secuirity now.

Joe Wagner
07-31-2002, 10:14 AM
Dang Cal - glad to hear that you're alright but that just sucks! Thankfully no one was hurt but I seriously hope that the cops pick up this guy and put him away - no one should ever have to go through something like that. Geez, there are definetely some messed up people in the world and it's even worse when they have the intelligence to know when to strike. Hmmm....who knows - maybe someday you'll be asked to give your story to Unsolved Mysterious or Americas Most Wanted. Once again - glad to hear that no one was hurt in the process.

-Joe!

Sandro
07-31-2002, 05:42 PM
Yeesh, Cal, that's nuts. Just where the hell were the guards? What are they being paid for anyways? You did the right thing; playing hero is a stupid idea.