Victimized

for

The story of a local Armed Robbery in Nashville, Tennessee that lasted only a few minutes.

No One Was Hurt

Or Were They?

Take a look at the Traumatic situation this little lady went through. Also pay close attention to the lasting effects that were forced into her life for $ 20.00

Nashville Tennessee 1996

The night started like any other at my 3rd shift witnessing job, about 7 years ago. There was a new cook that night, but I figured it’d be o.k. How wrong that thinking was, I’d later find out. I was the only waitress scheduled for that night, We weren’t expecting it to be a busy night, so my being the only waitress wasn’t a problem. We had us a “rush” for awhile, which was good. The new cook was so busy; he never got a chance to get off of the grill. In the middle of being busy, a black man sat down at the seat next to the cash register and ordered a small grapefruit juice. He was there for quite a while. From where he was sitting, he could see all of the money going in the register, but at the time I didn’t “think like that.” That too would change. Every so often I’d ask him if I could get him anything else. He’d either say mumbling “no thanks” or shake his head no. I didn’t really think too much of it as I had a lot of homeless people who came in every night that didn’t have anywhere else to go. After some time had passed, the black man got up and handed me his ticket. I rang it up and said “that'll be .85 cents please. He motioned for me to look at the ticket again and I thought “huh?’ I know what he ordered. Well, there was writing on his ticket. He’d wrote “I’ve got a gun, give me $20 and no one will be hurt.” I read it the first time and it didn’t sink in. I said “Oh, o.k.” and again repeated .85 cents please. He looked at me like I was crazy and motioned for me to read the note again, so I did, and that time it sunk in fast. I was scared, my heart felt like it was going to explode. I was trying to appear calm and I just couldn’t believe I was being robbed. I actually asked him, “Are you serious?” He nodded yes and patted his jacket pocket. His jacket was about mid-thigh length and fit loosely on him. The man was medium-tall height and I at 5feet felt very small as I looked up at him. I had that Oh Shit feeling and I said “o.k.” as I lowered my head down so I couldn’t see his face. As I was getting the register open, I said “I’m not looking at you, I won’t be able to give a description of you other than you’re a black man. Please don’t shoot me!” I handed him $20 without looking at him. My head was still lowered like a dog who’s misbehaved, and my eyes were burning with my unshed tears. I had a horrible few seconds where I could not move. I was shaking so bad my teeth were chattering. I finally lifted my eyes. but not my head, and realized he wasn’t standing in front of me anymore. I very slowly raised my head and looked around. He was gone. I let my tears fall and I started to hyperventilate. I realized I needed to call the police after about 30 seconds. I was new to Nashville and realized I didn’t know if the telephone service had the 911 system. Now, as I sit here writing this and as you the reader are reading this, we both think to ourselves “Easy to find out! Pick up the phone and dial, Duh!” Well, at that point, I was so shook up, I couldn’t think straight and I ran over to the cook and asked, “Do we have the 911 system here?” He said “What?” I again asked “Do we have the 911 system here?” He said “Huh?” He reminded me of Droopy Dog from the cartoon. At that point, I finally yelled “Can we get 911 here?” He said, “I don’t know, why?” I said, “Because we just got robbed, that’s why!” He couldn’t believe it. I showed him the note, went to the phone and I was shaking so bad I could barely push “0” for operator. Someone came on the line and put me through to the police. The person I spoke to was very nice, I don’t remember what she said now, but I know she calmed me down, I stated to hyperventilate again as I told her what happened, and she got me to breathe steadily, if somewhat shaky. The police were quick. They showed up in about 5 minutes or less. They got the information the needed and after making sure I was o.k. They left to go look for him. They didn’t find him; they kept patrolling the area all night. 
My boyfriend stopped in a little later on. He’d come in every so often to check on me whenever I worked. He stayed in the restaurant the rest of the night even though he had to work the next day. 
I called my boss on the phone, and he said he’d see me at 6:00am as there wasn’t anything he could do. That made me mad. I was shaky the rest of the night, but I got through it. In the morning when my boss came in he said,” I knew that was going to happen. Every time I put a new cook on 3rd shift, this happens.” That made me mad, too. I mean, my life is worth a lot to me. I didn’t appreciate being put in that position/situation.
In the days that followed the robbery, I wasn’t the same person anymore. I wouldn’t go anywhere without my boyfriend and I was afraid I was going to get robbed again. When I was at work I was constantly looking around, paranoid, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I didn’t stay at that job too long. After that another man (white, this time) wanted to rob the restaurant. He was outside “casing the joint.” My boyfriend ran him off 2 times in one night, telling him the second time “My girlfriend’s in there man, don’t even THINK of trying anything.” That night there was a female cook and we called the police. All they could do was patrol a little more, My boyfriend asked my boss not to schedule me with a new cook or woman cook on 3rd shift anymore, and if he did, I wouldn’t be coming in to work. Well, about a week later I was scheduled with a woman cook. I stayed home. My boss didn’t care about the safety of his employees. All he cared about was how much money was brought in.
Even after I quit that job, for a while, I would tense up when I’d see a medium-tall black man wearing a mid-thigh length jacket when I was in a restaurant, I’d worry abut something happening while I was there.
Today, I don’t think of the robbery too much. The effects are still there, though. I’ve never worked another 3rd shift. The chain restaurant I work for now has had robberies at their other restaurants. I pray ours won’t be one of them.

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05/08/2003