I arrived at Smithfield News around 11 pm, and one of the overnight shift was late so Brian, ( not to mistaken for Brian the owner) was trying to help this lady out who claimed her boyfriend or husband or whomever hit her. Truth be told, her face did look a little worse for wear, like someone may have tried using it as a punching bag. She kept going in and out of the store, with intermittent spats of bawling thrown in for good measure. Brian was trying to be nice to her, he even gave her a couple of bucks to get home, or someplace besides home, and he let her use his cell phone to call someone. She said she tried calling domestic abuse services in McKeesport, whether she did or not I do not know, but that was the story she was telling, and they were supposed to send someone to come pick her up. That was where I thought the story would end as I started my evening.
Brian's replacement Jarrett showed up, so it was Bobby, Jarrett and myself on duty. I dropped my stuff in the office, ran a credit card settlement, reloaded the lottery machine, and then started setting up for my cooking I would be doing later. I got out mayo and tuna from the storage room, cut half of a oven roasted chicken breast when I started hearing what sounded like a conversation coming from back by our bathrooms. Since we don't have public restrooms and I can visually see the rest of the crew on duty, I am wondering just what is happening. Then I look and I see the door to the back is unlocked and the ladies room door is half open. So I meander back there and it is the same woman again, now she has a cut on her nose that is bleeding as well. She asks if she can use the peroxide in the lady's room and I say sure but hurry up. We have good reason to not let anyone use our restrooms, many years ago we had someone die of a heroin overdose in the bathroom at Gus Millers, and knowing our clientele I am not looking for a repeat performance.
Finally she comes out of the bathroom and now she is asking to use our store phone, and I had had enough. Bobby asked if she could use the phone and I said no. She says she had to call domestic services again, and I say you have already spoke to them once, you need to be outside waiting for them rather than being in here and having them drive on by. Besides my boss is at the casino ( which may have been true, Ed was going to the casino Friday night, just don't know how late he was staying ), and if he comes back and sees us with strangers in the bathrooms and using the store phone, he is going to fire the entire crew on duty, and I'm sorry but your problems aren't worth the jobs of my crew. She proceeds to argue this point, saying her life is worth more than all of our jobs and that was when I had enough and just said, "Get the fuck out now, or I will call the police and have you forcibly escorted from the premises." She lingered around outside the store for a while, I don't know if anyone came to pick her up or not, wasn't my concern. I just know that we can't be a safe house for anyone who wanders in off the streets with a sob story.
No comments:
Post a Comment