| |
So my union magazine wanted a story about the robbery to help others deal with it. Funny, they gave me minimal space to write about something I could write a book about. I decided to write it a little different than they expected. They better print it. But hey.. if they don't, I can always complain to my union! 
Here's the article... just in case it never sees the light of day.
One Brief Moment in Time By Mat Thompson
Everyone has gone through the training and has been shown every safety precaution there is. In your mind you feel you’re prepared, but you also think that it’ll never happen to you. How often does a robbery actually happen anyway? It happens, but usually to someone else, somewhere else, just outside the reach of your life. I thought that way too, but for one brief moment in time, I was somewhere else… staring at the barrel of a shotgun.
The everyday monotony of serving customers, filling the fridge and battling the never-ending onslaught of empties came crashing to a halt, and for thirty-two seconds inside my store, no one existed except for two people… me and him. All he wanted was money, just like he wanted from the other places he had robbed, and all I wanted was for it to be over.
People talk and talk about what they would do if they were held up. Everyone is a superhero in their own mind. Even I thought I’d never back down to a robber. I’m six-foot-four, over two hundred pounds. I can run five miles a day, lift my own bodyweight and I have taken many self-defense classes. None of that matters when you are on the other end of a robbery. Your body shuts down, your brain functions in a separate manner and you do what you have to do without even thinking about it.
I don’t even remember opening my till, but I remember every little detail about the robber. I don’t remember how long he was there, or where he came from, but I remember every thought that went through my head. I was glad I was there alone and no one else had to go through it. I thought about everyone I worked with and I was glad they were safe somewhere else. I thought about my friend at another store, and glad she was only serving customers, safe, while I dealt with this guy. I thought about everyone else, glad it was me in that spot, in that store, for that brief moment in time.
No one knows what to say to you when it’s over. They try and they do their best, but really, what can they say? They weren’t there. They can watch the security tape and imagine what it was like, but they see the gun n a television screen, and I saw the gun in front of me. They see it, but I felt it! Everyone apologized for what happened as if they had control over the situation, but the only control was inside me. I had control the entire time, not the robber.
You have to look at it this way. The person robbing you wants to take control, and they have in some respects, but if you keep yourself centered throughout the ordeal, even if your body and mind shutdown by entering some sort of auto-pilot, you have your control. All my robber got that day was minimal cash and nothing else. He didn’t get me. He may have gotten inside my head, but only to a point. He doesn’t control my every thought, or take away any sense of safety I have. Work seems a little different, but not so bad that I can’t handle it. And it’s not like my life changed because of it. I feel centered, I feel in control, and I finally feel like myself again. He didn’t take that.
This helps. Talking helps. Bottling it in is not good. I found my safety net of friends and family who remind me that this is my life, and the night of January 14th, 2004 was nothing more than just one brief moment in time…
This is me before I felt sick... just for Rachel...
|
| | Posted 2/14/2004 3:37 AM - 1 view - 5 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- give stars
- votes0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
