Advertisement
Published: August 8th 2007
The Front of the School
Our trailer, sorry, mobile unit, is on the side of the building.Enjoy the pics of my school and kitchen, and a story that could only ever happen to me. Let me preface it by saying that I'm fine and that I was never really in any physical danger.
Joe Friday does the voiceover.....:
"This is the city. Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Mary works here... she's an SLP. It was Monday, March 19. It was a clear night in Winston-Salem. She had stopped by CVS after a short visit with her friends, Linda and Herb."
"The story you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."
It all started around 8pm. I had just taken a shower and needed to run to the grocery so I had food to eat for the rest of the week. There's a grocery just at the end of my road, but I don't like to go to that one--it's a tad more expensive and those of you who know me know that I'm a bit "budget-conscious". I drove to my favorite grocery at the next major intersection and spent the better portion of an hour just wandering and picking up the bits
Living the Single-Wide Life
On nice days we eat lunch on our stoop! and bobs I needed. Then, on my drive back to my house, I thought I'd stop in and say hello to Linda and Herb.
We had a nice chat and I headed on my way just before 10p. I had one other small stop to make and knew it would be a matter of minutes and I'd be home in my nice cozy bed watching whatever sitcom rerun I could find on TV. I had the choice between CVS and Walgreen's (both are smaller versions of Boots for those of you in England or other parts worldwide who may be reading this and are unfamiliar with either of these chains). While Walgreen's is typically my preferred choice, I would have had to go through a stop light to get there, and then another one to get back on the street I needed to go home, whereas the CVS was an easy right-hand turn with no lights and then another easy right turn back onto my street. I made the easy decision to go to CVS.
There were about 4 cars in the parking lot and there were people either getting in or out of one of the cars...I
The View
Looking out my door, the playground and the middle school where I also work can be seen. didn't pay much attention because it really didn't matter to me whether they were coming or going. I parked on the opposite side of the front door from them so that I didn't have to try to park right next to them. Got out of my car with my keys and my phone. Here comes the first mistake, although I didn't know it at the time.
I walked into CVS.
Yep, that's right. Bet you didn't see that coming did you?!?! The doors opened just like they always do when entering CVS. There are two doors that "accordion" open, with one to each side. I walked down the very first aisle and located the product for which I was searching...then proceeded to try to figure out which was the better buy. When you're as sun-sensitive as I am, making a choice of sunscreen is a very important thing. I just bought some other sunscreen the other day, but I've since decided that I need some to leave at home, some for the car, etc. Just never can tell when the sun might try to attack me!
I finally made my decision and wandered back up to the
Our Computers
This is where we are if we're not with groups. I'm on the left and she's on the right. front of the store so that I could pay for my purchase. I sort of waited a couple seconds for the employee to take notice of me from wherever they may have been in the store. Then I placed my sunscreen on the counter and just walked back toward the front door to see if I could see the employee in one of the aisles. No such luck. I went back to my purchase at the counter and finally zoned in on the fact that it sounded as though a truck was backing up just outside. Seemed a bit odd, but at the same time, I know a lot of businesses do their restocking at night. I guess that the companies figure there are fewer customers to be put out by a guy straightening toothbrushes at 4a as opposed to 10a.
Then, another much louder and more annoying alarm went off throughout the store. My first thought was that something had happened to the employee. I live in a really safe part of town, however weird stuff can, and does, still happen. It's 10p and usually at that time, there is a maximum of two employees working. The thought
crossed my mind that maybe they were in the back or in the pharmacy or had been taken hostage or who knows what. So, being the smart girl that I am, I left my stuff on the counter and walked to the front door.
Mistake number two: The Door Doesn't Open.
This worries me. Now, it's really only been
maybe 30 seconds but it's bizarre. No one has come to the front of the store. No announcements have been made. Nothing has happened except for the increasingly loud alarm. It's at this moment that I called 911.
"Hi. My name is Mary and I'm currently trapped in the CVS at the intersection of X and Y roads," I said in the most rational and not freaked-out voice I could muster. [SIDEBAR: Now, my friend Lauren just paid me a very nice complement a couple of days ago and said that I deal with and react well to emergency situations. She said this because the other night we went out to dinner with our friend Allyn and Allyn's friend Kathy. On the other side of the partition in the restaurant, a lady became unresponsive. I had sort of
taken note of the situation and was seeing who had a phone to call 911 (do we see a pattern?!?) in case it came to that. Thankfully, the restaurant had already called for medics. Then, on Thursday of last week, I witnessed an accident on the highway right near my house. A car had, I think, hydroplaned driver's side first into a guardrail. I called (yep, you guessed it) 911 and gave all the pertinent info in a calm and clear manner even though I was freaked out.] I call 911 all the time and know the drill about how to give locations and details in the way that they want them so I'm usually okay with calling, but tonight was a bit different. I'm now the only
suspect they have in a possible robbery of CVS.
I think the only saving grace was that I was calling the police from inside the store wondering what the deal was and I had also stated my name. I'm hoping that real criminals aren't stupid enough to do the same. The dispatcher had to put me on hold because she didn't know what to tell me--I'm sure it's not often that
Kitchen 1
It's not finished--actually, it looks surprisingly like these pics even though I did this much a couple months ago--but it is better than it used to be. people called and say they're trapped in CVS. She came back on the line and said that the alarm company had been alerted and that she was dispatching an officer immediately "to the scene." I, in my well-mannered way said "thank you" and then the dispatcher hung up.
I couldn't just stand trapped in CVS waiting for the police. I was already a bit too on edge for that. So I called Allyn and told her part of what was happening but before I could really completely tell her what was going on, the police car pulled up in front of the doors. I immediately hung up with Allyn and walked over to the door. Here I am, wearing bright orange track suit bottoms and a grey T-shirt from my undergrad university--not exactly the standard CVS employee uniform. The officer is having to shout to me through the door and I'm having to shout back over the now REALLY loud alarm. The first thing he asks me is whether or not I have the alarm code to turn off the alarm. "D'oh! I forgot about that, let me just go enter that and all will be well," says Sarcastic
Mary inside her head. I choose the better option and just say no. He then asks if I work there. Um, no, not the last time I checked!!?!? He asks me again because he just can't believe that I don't work there. He then had to go consult with whoever was on the other end of his radio--and I'm sure have a good laugh at the same time. He walked back to the door and told me to see if I could unlock the door.
Thank goodness I could unlock the door, but even then the door didn't really open at all and he had to really pull on it to get it to budge at all. He said I could come out of the store and thankfully he didn't try to handcuff me or detain me really. We had a nice chat as he tried to ascertain exactly what events had transpired that led up to me being locked in the store. Actually, he had more of a chuckle and I tried to keep hysteria out of my voice thinking that the next phone call I made might be to someone for bail.
It was then I
realized that it wasn't just an alarm that people inside the store could hear, it was blaring all through the neighborhood from a couple of outdoor speakers. It was also obvious to anyone passing by that the one person standing with the officer was most likely the person who had caused the loud, obnoxious alarm to sound.
The officer sort of determined, as I had, that someone who worked there hadn't actually locked the front door as they should have. The store had closed at 10p and was not a 24 hour store like many are--or like the Walgreen's across the intersection IS! However, there was nothing on the doors to say the store hours or that it was closed. It was on the side of the building on the wall that I didn't see as I walked from my car into the building. Had there been an easily observed sign or doors that didn't open, I would probably have hopped back in my car, dealt with the stop lights and gone over to Walgreen's. No harm, no foul.
Thankfully, he was just going to let me go home after I'd told him what happened with the whole situation. He said it topped everything else in which he'd been involved and just laughed through the whole exchange. He wasn't even going to take my name or any contact details. Seemed a bit weird to me and I said that it would make me feel a whole lot better in case there was some sort of extended investigation if he'd at least write down my name (not that I want to be contacted or questioned further!). He did and I went on home.
So of course I had to call Allyn back and tell her how it all panned out. She was kind enough to point out that the entire thing was probably on video so if you ever see me on America's Funniest Videos or a similar show, please vote for me. I could really use the cash prize. :-) However, I must say: who else would this happen to? I mean, thank goodness I didn't have any pockets and I wasn't even carrying my purse because then I would probably have been searched and I really don't need that in my life, even though he was a very cute officer! I think that's all the excitement that I can handle for today so I'm going to end this.
Hope you've had a good laugh at the craziness that is my life and have enjoyed seeing pics of where I work currently. Hopefully it'll be a permanent place but it'll be a few more months before I know what my job outlook will be. I look forward to hearing from you--not just regarding this bit of hilarity, but also just to hear how your lives are going and such. Talk to you soon, Mary
P.S. If you don't know who Joe Friday is, then you obviously haven't watched enough Dragnet! And yes, as one of my friends (Allyn!!!) kindly pointed out, even though I'm younger chronologically than she is, I'm older mentally--54 by her calculations--because of my knowledge of classic TV, movies, and general pop culture.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.306s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0665s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Carolyn Kanoy
non-member comment
Yeh...we're finally the same age!!!!