I work the night shift for a convenience store located in a fairly nice neighborhood.  This store is part of a chain that keeps its’ stores open 24/7, and does not provide for more than one person to be on duty at night unless a new person is being trained to work that shift. 

 Because there aren’t very many jobs available right now due to the poor state of the economy,  I ‘ve had to keep this job even though I was robbed at gunpoint three weeks ago by a solitary gunman who made off with only a little bit of cash.  Thankfully I wasn’t hurt…though badly shaken up.  This gunman apparently took off in a waiting vehicle where he and his companion(s) then went to another store that is part of this chain and robbed that one, too…and also shot a bullet through one of its’ glass windows!

Because of this bad situation, I changed my nighttime routine of when to do certain things so that I would not be alone when up front by the door and the cash register during those hours when hardly anyone comes into the store. 

But the other night proved that you can take precautions and even have others in the store with you but this doesn’t mean that you’ve lessened your chances at getting robbed.

I had only been working for about an hour when a young lady came into the store and, at my request, gave me her drivers’ license so I could make certain that I would not be selling tobacco to an underaged individual.

While she and I chatted amicably, suddenly the store’s door swung open with one hooded and bandana’d male quickly pinning this poor lady against the counter and jamming a gun into her left side.  Two other hooded and bandana’d gunmen ran down the length of the counter, rounded it’s end, and then came up to where I was standing by the register.  The second gunman grabbed my right shoulder while jamming a gun into my side and shoving me over to the cash register, alternately telling me to “lie down on the ground”…”open the drawer”…”get down on the ground”…”open that drawer!”  When I said, “which do you want me to do…lie on the floor or open the register?”,  the first gunman said to open the register “or get shot”.  The third gunman seemed to be back-up for the first two but stood a short distance away behind the counter and didn’t seem to say anything.