Real Scare at AM PM

Last night I was doing a good deed by dropping off one of my teen’s belongings at her granny’s. I decide to take my dogs for a ride and we successfully navigate the freeways with the help of Google. After she gets her huge, I mean huge suitcase she asks if I’ll take her to the store. I say sure…. not knowing what might happen.

I pull up to this AM PM store and let her out. I notice a couple of guys screaming at each other. I didn’t know whether this was a real fight or just guys messing around. As I watched it struck me as to why I let this teen go inside. As I watched I decided to move my truck and get a better view. I see the employee with a baseball bat and then decide it is time to call 911. I had second thoughts about whether I should get out of the truck and take my pit bull Freckles with me to get the guy’s attention.

The 911 operator is quick to access what is happening and quickly has an officer make his way to the AM PM. Now this is a crowd of ‘rubber neckers’ that are watching the two bad guys attempt to beat up the employee with the bat. Obviously something had happened that pushed these guy’s button and the employee was tired of the rift raft stealing stuff from his store.

As my teen makes her way out of the AM PM I breath a sigh of relief that she is ok and I don’t have to play Rambo or Super cop. I’m not sure whether Freckles or Graham would be attack-dogs in this type of situation. We had joked earlier about this being a rough area in town not realizing we were being prophetic. As we leave the hype of the moment, it strikes me that one of us could have very easily been hurt seriously by these thugs.

I know that I may joke about living in the hood or barrio but life is scary at times. I’m at my Starbucks when Joseph, the manager, comes up and tells me about a couple of robberies that just took place in local banks and small business. Ahhhhh it could happen anywhere. So how do I prepare myself when a circumstance like this arises? I guess I could bring a baseball bat in my truck or always bring my big dogs with me and teach them to bark loudly and show their fangs. I get a sense that this wouldn’t work and the more important thing is to be quick to call for help and get out of the way. Also it should be common sense not to be out late at night especially at a Circle K or AM PM.