Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Party Place

So, I used to think that Hell was going to be just a big party place after we all die...we used to joke that if we went there, at least we'd be among friends. Well, yesterday I decided that the 3 guys who stole books from me will be there also and I'm not really that excited to see them EVER again.
We've had TWO THEIVES in TWO DAYS!! Seriously...what's the deal!?!? The first guy was just a moron who lucked out that I was at my store all alone, and as I was taking a phone call he stuck a book down his pants. I called him on it when I saw two corners sticking out of his rear end. I asked him, "Can I have my book back?" and he said, "What book?" I told him, "The one you've got down your pants!" At that point he took off running to his car. I followed him out to try and get his license plate number to call the popo but he took off too fast for me to get a good enough look. So that was thief number one. I was mad about it the rest of the day and couldn't really let it go. Even yesterday I was still mad, but it gets WORSE!
Yesterday 3 guys walked in and they all took off down a different aisle. At that point I kinda knew something was up. There were two of us here, (I manage a bookstore, and for those of you who don't know, NOBODY comes in this time of year, except maybe to buy a scan-tron because school started a month ago! S and I usually come in like every other day and are here alone, but he's in NY for a couple weeks so it's me and N for awhile.)
Anyway, I sent N after one guy, and i watched the other and you can tell when they're suspicious, they don't have a particular class they're looking for, and honestly, who wants to browse through textbooks?!?! So, as two of the guys walked out, one of them looked like he had something down his pants, so I took a really good look at the third one still in the store. He must have thought I was some kind of pervert looking at him like I did, but still, he was stupid enough to put a book down his pants!! What's the deal!?!?
This time, I wasn't going to let him get away. The conversation was about the same as it was the day before...

"I need my book back"

"what book"

"the one you have down your pants"

"I don't know what your talking about"

And out the door he tried to go. Luckily I had a practice run yesterday and this guy wasn't going to be as lucky. Since there were two of us, I was feeling a little more brave and tried to block him from getting out. N did the same thing and got right in front of the door to try and stop him. I think we both were a little too nervous to try and grab him or anything, so I followed him out and asked N to grab a pen and paper so I could make sure I got his plates.
I wrote down the plate from his Chester the Molester van...you know the kind, not mini-van but the kind with the blinds that pull down...Anyway, I went back inside seriously peeved and call the sheriff, they put me on hold for a while and when they finally got to me I gave them my report and they sent a squad car looking.
We decided to check out our security cameras to see if we could get a better look at them, and let me tell you, our cameras are a little cheesy because we've never really had problems before. I mean, there's one on the front door, our buyback area, into our office, and one down the aisle that's hard to see. Well after looking for awhile N actually spotted the lunatic in the act! Ready, ACTION! We couldn't have staged it better. He turned back down one aisle, turned around to face the camera and put the book in his pants. And CUT! We laughed about it for a minute...then were angry again.
We closed off our aisles so that we have to help each customer get their books, which is a little frustrating when we get the crabby ladies that want to look around and get all bent out of shape. whatever. I'd rather lose the crabby lady's business than have theives running wild.
Later in the afternoon a Sheriff came by to let us know they haven't found the car, but know where the residence is so he was going to check back again that evening. I was actually relieved that some kind of action was going to happen, even if it was just going to be a misdemeanor charge and a slap on the wrist in court.
Last night I started getting a little bit worried about coming in today. What happens if the cop finds them and they are charged? Are they going to come back all angry and try and get violent? I hope they don't come in the morning when I'm all alone. I was telling my husband all about it and he offered to take a day off work to come be my body gaurd. ;)
Thankfully, we've had one customer all morning. ahhh...i can finally breathe a sigh of relief.




So, let me just ask a favor...if you're planning on seeing any of these guys...tell them 'Hello' from me with nice kick in the pants where they've been carrying out my stolen books!