For a couple weeks now, my boss has been
having frequent conversations with the
borough police in regards to a certain "patron"
of his store. See, there's this guy that comes
in from time to time on the middle of the day,
while my boss and his wife are in the back
baking the cookies. He steals soups from the
front freezer, then leaves. But that's not why my
boss has been talking with the police.

See, this man is a veteran of the Vietnam War.
Possibly as a result of that, he's not all right in
the head. Supposedly, he's a schizophrenic.
Most worrisome to my boss is the day when
this man said to my boss: "You know Joe, I
like you, but if I saw you at night, I'd have to kill
you." And the man was not joking around
either...he was dead serious. Now, my boss is
not concerned for *his* well-being...my boss
is a big man, and he can take care of himself.
Add in the fact that he's a butcher, and
well...he knows how to use a knife, and he's
got lots of them. What he's most concerned
about is his family.

See, he and his wife are both there all
morning baking the cookies that get sent out
to various gift basket places. My boss and his
wife are not exactly the largest supporters of
day care, so they bring their two children, a
3-1/2 year old girl and an 8 month old boy to
the store. My boss's daughter has taken the
habit of running up to the front of the store
every time the door bell goes off to see who
came in. So, my boss is worried about his
daughter running up front if this guy comes in.
He's also worried about his wife being left
alone in the store when this guy comes in
because my boss had to go run an errand. So
my boss has been talking to the police about
having this guy banned from the store. This
guy's already been banned from one area
store. The police told my boss that the next the
guy came in to call 911 and the police would
come to talk to this guy.

So, last night, I'm in the kitchen in the back of
the store finishing up preparing some stuffed
cabbage rolls. I heard the door bell go off,
indicating some one had entered, and, as is
my habit, I walked out so I could see the front
of the store, so I could see who had come in. I
saw some man I did not recognize, so figured
it was a new costumer, because I've been
working there long enough to recognize most
of the costumers. So I went and finished up
my cabbage rolls.

I put the cabbage rolls on the cart to take them
up front and put them in the display freezer. As
I passed by my boss's office, my boss hurried
out and told me to just leave the cart here for
now, that it was fine where it was. I was
slightly confused, but figured my boss was
jsut going to take them up front for me, or
something, so I went into the back to clean up.
My boss followed me back. When we got back
there, my boss told me had just got off the
phone with 911, because this guy who had
come in was the guy my boss wanted out of
the store. My boss said he told me to leave the
cart in the middle of the store because my
boss was afraid to have me up front with the
guy. So now that I knew this was the guy, I was
a little apprehensive of returning to the middle
section of the store where I had been working
before getting called to finish the cabbage
rolls. So I lingered in the back tidying up, and
flattening boxesm and what not. I could here
my boss up front trying to strike up a
conversation with the guy to keep him in the
store long enough for the police to come.
Eventually, I heard the door bell go off, and
looked up to see a police officer walking into
the store. I felt a little more comfortable
returning to the middle of the store, so I went
back to my previous job. I couldn't hear what
the police officer said to the guy, but the cop
followed the guy out of the store and started
talking to him outside. My boss said it was
now okay for me to put the cabbage rolls in the
front freezer. As I did that, I saw two more
police officers outside with the first cop and
the guy. I put the rolls in the freezer, and the
first cop came into the store to let my boss
know that they had talked with him, and to
make sure that his was the guy. My boss said,
of course, that this was the guy, and thanked
the police. The next time this guy comes into
the store, my boss will call 911, and this time,
the guy will be arrested.

The rest of the evening proceeded without
incident. Although, to be honest, I was a little
apprehensive in my walk home, and did
glance back over my shoulder a couple times.
So I'm paranoid. Oh well.

The Other "Thank God I live in a community
where they can afford to send three cops out
just for this" Matthew