Hope she wasnt involved in the robbery. Its traumatic experience. She should get thru it ok... just tell her bout this story:
Hehe... I remember this time on Valentines day... (something bad always happens to me on valentines day...) I walked into this Handy Andy (grocery store) and I was at the back of the line of 5 ppl or so waiting to get checks cashed, pay utility bills, etc. at the special check cashing counter.
It had a wall around it 7 feet high or so with tinted glass so you could see thru it and a door to the far right side.
Well... I noticed these 2x guys walk in wearing black and they had ski masks on. One briskly walked right in front of me and hopped up on a hand rest where u wrtie out your checks and then leaped over the wall to the inside.
Now this happened so fast, that noone really knew what was going on till the guys started threatening the two Handy Andy workes behind the counter. He kept saying to unlock the cash drawer or he was gonna put a bullet in him.
So at this point... I thought, Hrmmm... bullets, guns, ski masks... this isnt good... So my feet started taking these tiny mini steps over toward the exit some 20 feet away. Well... I forgot that the second guy had come up behind us and told us all to freeze... So I got a gun barrel poked in my back and he leaned forward and whispered, "Dont move man."
Course my feet didnt hear this, however I nodded anyway to him in apparent compliance, but my feet had a different agenda... They wouldnt listen to my brain. So there I was with a gun stuck in my back, vehemently disobeying a robber who might just decide to now shoot me for non-compliance as I continued to take small steps over to the door.
Well during this time, the other guy kept getting pissed cuz the 2x employes kept trying to explain to him they didnt have the keys. So he finally got really mad, grabbed the whole cash drawer and ripped it out of the counter. Tucked it under his arm and catapulted over the glass wall.
Well, this made such a racket that everyone in the checkout lanes turned to see what all the comotion was about and saw these two guys heading for the exit brandishing guns, wearing ski masks and carrying a large locked box.
And of course they saw me now in there way blocking the exit.
So there I was... trying to get out of there and now I find myself blocking the 2x robbers escape route. I was doing pretty good till this point, thinking I was making good progress getting away from the situation and wouldnt have to worry now that I was almost out.
So here come the robbers running toward the exit and there I am standing smack in the doorway blocking them. The guy with the cash drawer yells at me to get out of the way... course I didnt hear that... my feet were in control at the moment... and the other guy (I found out later) had his back toward me covering there escape from behind.
So now the robber with the large cash box switches doors (you see one door opened in and the other door opened out. For the door to open, you had to step on this rubber mat and it would swing open) and tries to leave thru the exit. Well that rubber mat going thru to the exit was turned off so he just smacks into the door dropping the box starting off a spew of the worst profanity I have ever heard.
Now the cash box, being dropped on its corner splits open dumping all the cash on the ground... more profanity...
Now the guy covering their now botched escape yells to everyone behind me in the check out lanes to freeze. And of course, my feet having taken me all the way to the exit door, now relinquish control the the brain which now is focused entirely on the word "freeze" which they promptly tell the feet to do so and they doo in total compliance.
At this point, I was doing pretty well... not too frightened, I wasnt really in the middle of it. But now I was. And I had the guys behind me tuck in their guns and grabbing all the cahs they could stuffing it into whatever pockets they could find. Now I am still in the doorway frozen. I feel a bit dizzy... and I have this tunnel vision going on as I am so fucoused on getting outside that I sort of lose my balance. So I spread my legs a little bit and grab unto the door frame.
The robbers didnt like this much. The 1st one, pockets full of cash, hands holding more,yells at me to get out of the way. But all I hear is "freeze"... Dizzy signals abound in my brain as the guy tries to push past me to make his escape out the door, but my brain interprets this as a fall, so I grab hold of the door frame even harder now.
The 1st robber barely makes it past me, squirming out as I fought back pushing against him trying to counter act the outside force trying to make me fall... more profanity... and then the second guy does the same, both dropping a little cash along the way.
Well, they both finally made it out, and with me having no bullet holes in my back thanks to their hands being full of cash. So they get into their car and zoom off.
So now that I see them leave... My brain relaxes a bit, my dizziness goes away, I let go of the door frame and turn around and everyone starts clapping at me... WTF I think... Im so dazed, and still a little slow in thinking that I just smile... and walk back in line to get my check cashed... my brain trying to do something uselful now and thats the only purpose that it could think of at the moment.
So as Im walking over to stand back in line, the 4 or so people that were in fromt of me rush over and start hugging me... I guess they thought I was walking over to see if they were ok...?
At this point... I really dont know what to think... other than respond to all this touching... and I guess I started to ask ppl if they were ok, and to help an old lady sit down.
As it turns out... The police show up aftert the robbers have left and begin interviewing people asking for all the details, most of which went like this:
Old lady: "These two awful armed thugs ran into the store and jumped over that wall over there and almost shot the two employess over the cash drawer. It was awful. Then he violently ripped it out and ran to the exit where this brave young man tried to stop their escape. He twarted them for sever minutes even knocking the cash dwawer out of their hands. He is a hero..."
So the rest kinda followed those lines.
Needless to say... I was still quite a bit shocked at the whole ordeal and found it easier to just go
along with the whole thing.
It didnt turn out too bad... I ended up getting an interview with a local news channel that night, with cut scenes from old ladies telling how I was so brave and a hero... some free groceries that night from Handy Andy, a couple phone numbers from some girls hitting on me, a standing ovation from just about everyone in the front of the store and a warning from the police to try and not be a hero the next time...
Oh well... The thing I really remember the most... was being dizzy. I have really tried to stay out of trouble ever since... but it seems to follow me, hehe.
The moral of the story: At some point after the robbery and before the cops got there.. a Pizza guy came in to deliver some pizza to the warehouse guys in the back... So we live in a world where the pizza guy gets to you place faster than the cops do... heh.