The Convenience Store - the corner shop. Everyone's got one, quite local to them, usually on the corner of the road. Always there, always open, except when you run out of milk at 2am or the cat's just come in and wants feeding, then they're closed. We take them for granted, and then moan when they close down because the new supermarket that opened recently that's about 2 miles away, has taken all the custom, and they can't afford to compete and stay open.
It's not easy to run a little corner shop - ask anyone who's tried it, and they'll tell you all about it. I know, I manage one. Let me give you an example of a typical working day. Do I hear you say "That's boring"? Not likely. Just try this for size.
The shop opens from 7am until 10pm at night, every day, seven days a week, all year round. There's no rest for the wicked - just that I'd like the opportunity to be wicked once in a while.
Easter is over - thank heaven. I was getting tired of counting Easter Eggs, and could have sold much more. During the run-up to Easter, there seemed to be eggs everywhere, and the larger supermarkets had better deals on eggs, undercutting us heavily, and we despaired of selling any. But, joy of joys, these stores ran out of their supplies, and customers came hunting eggs. By Easter Saturday, every last one had gone, and come Easter day, we were constantly being asked for eggs. We could have sold another 100 of them on the Sunday alone! There's a moral here, don't leave it to the last moment - buy them before the weekend.
After the displays of eggs were gone, the shop looked bare, so another line had to be sourced to fill the gaps. So, as summer is coming, we've stocked up on disposable barbecues, which in our shop, will forever be known as "indoor barbecues". Why? Well, last year, these were introduced unannounced and put on a similar display. Horror struck within two days of displaying them, when one of our "blonde" cashiers was overheard telling her mother they were "indoor barbecues", very clever, these were and would allow you to have a barbecue in the house! Shocked, we had to explain the mechanics of these as we had visions of smoke-filled kitchens, and kippered families, to mention a few of the thoughts running through our heads! She had thought that these packs contained the food required for an "instant barbecue", not the charcoal. (We hope).
As we are plodding onward towards summer at a gentle pace, I thought it would be a good time to take a holiday, having been constantly busy throughout the autumn/winter seasons, and was well overdue a break, the last break having been taken in September. Staff were rostered on to take over for a week, all quite willing and supportive of my decision. I was not planning to go anywhere, just to take life at a slower pace and potter around the house and garden. Just as well, really, seeing as last night, I ended up pottering around extensively in the garden - at midnight!
After a day spent Spring cleaning the lounge, (some restful, slower pace that turned out to be!), we were both looking forward to a late supper and retiring to bed, when the phone rang. The call was from the alarm company which monitors our shop, to inform me that the Personal Attack Alarm had been triggered inside the shop and could I check to see that everything was okay? This is an alarm which when pressed during a robbery or personal attack on a member of staff summons immediate assistance from the police. The staff are well trained in the use of this alarm, and it is not used lightly. The last time it was used in an incident, was due to a supervisor being attacked when challenging a shop-lifter. On checking with the shop, the supervisor on duty informed me in tears that we had just been robbed of the night's takings. Abandoning all plans, remembering to turn down the oven which was cooking our late supper, we dashed off to the shop, having told our lad that he couldn't come with us, as it might be dangerous.
On arrival, the doors were locked, with customers standing outside, telling me the shop was closed. I explained I was the manager, and they would definitely open the shop for me. We were duly let in and from there, I had to gather the information from the staff as best I could, remembering they were very upset, and shocked. Apparently, the thief had managed to enter the office through a security door which requires a special code, known only to the staff, which is changed regularly. How, remains to be seen, but several theories have been put forward, which are being investigated. He had helped himself to money and lottery scratch cards whilst the staff were in the shop. The staff heard him leave through the same door he had entered, as it squeaks, and they knew there should have been no-one in the office at the time. He was challenged by the staff, who discovered the scratch cards on him, which were removed and as he started to leave, was challenged again by the cashier, who eventually virtually frog- matched him out of the shop. Their story was upheld by the shop's CCTV footage, which has since been given to the police, once they had arrived.
I had to call the police to attend, as they had not responded to the alarm call. On investigation, due to a fault developing with the alarm system last year, when a rodent managed to chew through the cable connecting these alarms to the system, and thereby shorting it out, we have discovered we have not been given authorisation by the police to receive response from them! Eventually nine police cars arrived - far too late of course - leaving them being only able to take statements and view the video. The scratch cards were bagged up waiting testing for fingerprints (hopefully) and the video taken away for analysis.
I remained to comfort the staff, one of which was a new starter who we may never see again due to her being frightened by the whole incident, the very tearful and shocked supervisor who was certain I was going to sack her (which I'm not), and a very buoyant young cashier who wished she could have another go at him! All were very upset that they had had to call me in whilst I was on holiday, and couldn't stop apologising - as if it was their fault!
I sent them all home, reset the alarms and shut the shop, looking forward to returning to the now very late supper which has now become a midnight feast, which was still in the oven at home, followed by a well-earned rest in bed. This however was not to be. On arriving back home, we discover that our lad has taken precautions and locked the front door. Fumbling for the key, I find I haven't got mine with me, but never mind, he has his. Great. But it doesn't open the door! No, because the lad has chubb locked the door from the inside. So we knock - and knock - and call and knock - with no reply. We try phoning - we can hear the phone ringing in the house, but there's no reply. Time for more drastic measures as he's obviously not hearing us. We can hear music from inside the house - he's got the stereo on! No more tapping on the front door and window - we try banging the door - and then harder. So hard that we disturb the next door neighbour, who grumbled sleepily from the window and disappeared. Still we get no reply, so, assuming he's perhaps gone to bed, we try throwing the keys at the window. Oops! Bad idea - now the keys have got stuck on the upstairs window ledge. So we get a broom and whack the wall with it! Repeatedly!! So hard, that eventually the keys are dislodged from the window sill and fall down. Still no reply. Well, not from him. The neighbours are now well and truly wake, and making very loud grumbling noises! We resort to phoning again, this time to a colleague at the local recovery company to see if they can assist us with a ladder to gain entrance to the only open window, which is the lad's bedroom. After much hilarity, they agree. They arrive with great aplomb - beacons on - could see him coming down the road - flash, flash, flash - no discretion here. The neighbours eventually ask, curiosity having got the better of them and offer assistance. Too late, we inform them, assistance has arrived. The ladder is unloaded from the truck and set upon the lawn propped up against the window sill, and we are informed he has never been asked to do this before as he sized up the window. This window is only three foot wide and one foot deep! Will he fit? We have visions of half in, half out and stuck and having to call the fire brigade to remove him from the window. He seems confident enough and anyway, he wasn't doing anything else important. This seemed much more fun. Fun? We are standing with steam coming out of our ears, getting acutely embarrassed by the second, wishing we were anywhere else, and he calls it fun? He shins up the ladder and tests the window for size, looking to make sure that the bed he will land on doesn't have an occupant. Then he starts to squeeze himself through the tiny gap while we watch apprehensively securing the ladder as he goes. As we expected, half way in, he has to stop. One foot on the ladder, one knee on the window, up to his waist inside the window and not going further. Help! Then, he's in. He just slithered and disappeared dropping onto the bed. No yelps - nothing. Then there's a shadow at the door and it's unlocked - we're in! Where's the lad? Fast asleep on the settee, snoring and not more than five feet away from where we have been creating enough din to wake the entire population. The stereo has finished playing and otherwise there is complete silence apart from the phone, which is still ringing! Luckily, the meal which had been left on low in the oven is fine - in fact, it's just perfectly cooked.
A well earned cuppa is started for the last hero of the night whilst we try to wake the brat. It took some doing as he's a very heavy sleeper as you may have guessed by now. He had wanted to stay up and wait for us to return so he could find out all the details, but he had to wait until the following morning for that.
Wished a cheery goodnight from our rescuer, as he set off back to base, having had a good laugh at our expense and increased his range of skills to house breaking, left us facing a meal at one o'clock in the morning. Never has anything tasted so good, and the prospect of a late rise in the morning as we both have a day off helps raise the spirits. All we have to do now is explain it all to the neighbours.
It's all in a day's work - thankfully, it's not often and hopefully, next time won't be quite so eventful. Hope to keep you posted on events following this incident. Take care now.
