Phil is Terrorized at Work

Okay, I know it has been forever and a day since my last post to this blog. For that I apologise. I further apologise for starting up again with such an upsetting title. But it is true.

Around 2:30am today I was monitoring a vehicle at the gas pumps where I work. I saw out of the corner of my a couple of teenagers start to approach the vehicle. The young lady who was pumping the gas must have said something to her passenger, apparently her father, because I saw him open the door and get out, looking towards the building. that is when I noted that there were at least three teenage males who were hanging around the dumpster area. Something I am not comfortable with, especially at that hour. They turned and walked back to the dumpster. The young lady came in and paid for her gas and bought herself a pack of cigarettes, nothing said to me about the teenagers. After she left the lot I stepped outside, pretending to pick up trash and checking the garbage cans. The teenagers crossed the street. One headed up the street and apparently went home. The other two remained at the corner.

At about 2:40am another young lady was pulling up to the pumps and these two came back into the parking lot. They started talking to her, so I turned the volume up on the intercom system so I could hear better. They were asking her for money. She said she only had enough for her gas. When she entered the store to prepay for her gas I asked if they were bothering her. She replied that they were. She went back to her vehicle and pumped her gas. The teenagers came into the store.

This is NOT the c-store chain I work for.

They came in and approached the counter, wanting to buy a "wrap". Well, I do not call them wraps. They are cigars. When a customer calls them wraps I know why they are buying them.  To strip and stuff with marijuana. I refused to sell to them, explaining that since they were harassing my customers I must ask them to leave the store and the property.  They denied harassing anyone, saying that they knew the second girl. I made no direct mention of the first one. I repeated what I had said.

"You can't refuse us service, we are paying customers," one of them said.

"I have the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason. You are harassing my customers and now arguing with me. Leave my store, please."

"You can't make us leave, we have the right to be here," said the other one.  Now, we all know that no one has the right to be in a place of business, they do have the right to demand good service. Good service ends when they are harassing other customers or the employees of said business.

"Leave my store, or I am calling the police."

"Go ahead and call the police!" one of them said. I don't remember which one. Around this time the second one called me a "nigga". (*looks in the mirror* Last time I checked I was rather pale. Of course, I understand that sometimes that derogatory term is defined to mean anyone who is being a complete and total jackass about this. But I do not believe I fit that definition either.)

"Just leave my store," I said, and pointed to the door.

The second teenager was standing in the doorway at this time and called out to me, "I am going to shoot your nigga ass!"

The first one was threatening to sue me. What for, I have no clue. But when I heard the threat I declared that I was going to call the police. At which point they both hurriedly left the store and crossed back to the corner.

I picked up the phone and dialed 911 as i was walking to the door, to better see where they went. As they were on foot I knew I would need to watch what direction they were going so I could inform the dispatcher of their believed direction. As I was on the phone, giving them all the information I could, I watched the two teenagers cross the street again and head away from the store.

Obviously I took the threat seriously. Otherwise I would not have called 911.

Surprisingly an officer appeared on the scene within minutes of my call. I say surprisingly because I had made a call last year under similar circumstances and never saw an officer. That lead to an in-house investigation of the 911 call center and the police officers who were on duty at the time of the call. Result, I must request an officer in order for them to respond.  The actual result, when they hear my name, they respond.

I gave the officer, whom I am beginning to know on a first name basis, my report while taking care of other customers. One of those has been witness to several incidences at my store and on my shift. She may not be back for some time. The officer gave me her name, badge number and the case number requesting a copy of the security video and reminded me that she was still waiting on video from at least three earlier calls from my store.

It took me over an hour to write my report for the company. I was so shaken. I even went out and had a cigarette. As many of you know, I have been working on quitting for sometime and have been rather successful the last week. Having three or less cigarettes a day - each one either giving me a headache or making me sick to my stomach. Today, I have had more.

I posted to my Facebook status about this situation, saying that I believe it is time I start seriously looking for a different job. Over nights at a convenience store are starting to get too dangerous and nerve wracking for me. I do not get paid enough to put myself into physical or even mortal danger on a nightly basis, and the stress of the job has gotten to be too much.

I have made no indication to my employer of my intention of looking for employment elsewhere. To quote my friend Sarah, "I'm crazy, not stupid."