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This story is from about 15 years ago, when I was at Target. I'd been there about a year when this happened.
At the time I worked there, my Target had a few intercom "codes" that they trained the employees on. There was a code for a fire, when everyone was supposed to grab a fire extinguisher and head for the named area. There was one for an injury in the store. And there was one where every employee was supposed to drop everything and head to the front doors. I didn't really know what that one would be used for.
One day I was out stocking, and I heard the "go to the front" code. It was the first time I'd ever heard it. I headed up front, just in time to see about ten guys go charging out the front door, led by one of our managers.
I found out that a "customer" had gone through a checkout lane, and when the drawer was opened to get his change he slugged the cashier, grabbed all the cash he could get his hands on, and bolted. He had a partner in a getaway car waiting outside. Unfortunately for him, he'd picked a time when all the district LP people were having a meeting at our store. That was the group I'd seen running out the doors. The getaway driver saw them too; he drove off without stopping for the robber to get in the car. So the robber took off running down the street, which happened to be a 4-lane boulevard.
I had to leave shortly after so I didn't hear what happened until the next day. The store manager called me over and had a little job for me. He wanted me to go to an auto-repair business down the street with some grass seed, and re-seed some torn-up lawn they had there.
Seems the enraged manager and LP people had jumped into a couple of cars and gone cruising down the street looking for the crook. They found him a couple hundred yards down, drove off the road onto the grass, piled out of the car, tackled the guy, and hauled him back to the store to turn over to the cops. The owners of the auto-repair business were a bit irate, although they'd calmed down by the time I met them the next day. Nobody'd told them what was going on at the time.
The funny part came at a store meeting a week or so later, when the sheepish manager gave us all a presentation on the right and wrong way to deal with an incident like we'd had. Obviously, the "correct" procedure was quite a bit different than what he'd done in the actual event. I definitely liked his method better.
At the time I worked there, my Target had a few intercom "codes" that they trained the employees on. There was a code for a fire, when everyone was supposed to grab a fire extinguisher and head for the named area. There was one for an injury in the store. And there was one where every employee was supposed to drop everything and head to the front doors. I didn't really know what that one would be used for.
One day I was out stocking, and I heard the "go to the front" code. It was the first time I'd ever heard it. I headed up front, just in time to see about ten guys go charging out the front door, led by one of our managers.
I found out that a "customer" had gone through a checkout lane, and when the drawer was opened to get his change he slugged the cashier, grabbed all the cash he could get his hands on, and bolted. He had a partner in a getaway car waiting outside. Unfortunately for him, he'd picked a time when all the district LP people were having a meeting at our store. That was the group I'd seen running out the doors. The getaway driver saw them too; he drove off without stopping for the robber to get in the car. So the robber took off running down the street, which happened to be a 4-lane boulevard.
I had to leave shortly after so I didn't hear what happened until the next day. The store manager called me over and had a little job for me. He wanted me to go to an auto-repair business down the street with some grass seed, and re-seed some torn-up lawn they had there.
Seems the enraged manager and LP people had jumped into a couple of cars and gone cruising down the street looking for the crook. They found him a couple hundred yards down, drove off the road onto the grass, piled out of the car, tackled the guy, and hauled him back to the store to turn over to the cops. The owners of the auto-repair business were a bit irate, although they'd calmed down by the time I met them the next day. Nobody'd told them what was going on at the time.
The funny part came at a store meeting a week or so later, when the sheepish manager gave us all a presentation on the right and wrong way to deal with an incident like we'd had. Obviously, the "correct" procedure was quite a bit different than what he'd done in the actual event. I definitely liked his method better.
it was halloween night.
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