# So my uncle got the store closed down today (a "what would you have done" poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744 "2010-01-28T06:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/21 "2010-01-28T17:12:46Z")
I think she overreacted too. I’ve been a cashier and had these sorts of jokes leveled at me and I can’t imagine doing anything other than laughing them off. But of course, who knows how I might’ve reacted differently if I’d recently been robbed or something. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/22 "2010-01-28T17:28:06Z")
What kind of store was it? And yes, criminals can be of all ages. Back in the '80s, I remember an elderly man robbing, or trying to rob a bank. He’d been some kind of gangster in the '30s, had cleaned up his act in the interim, but apparently was frustrated living on a pension. Like many elderly people, except he had the means to do something about it. Or thought he did. Back in his day, banks didn’t have panic buttons and paint bombs. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/23 "2010-01-28T17:36:14Z")
I probably would assume it was a joke. It is the kind of joke my Dad would have made. It also the kind of joke that would frustrate me when my Dad made it. You would have thought that he would know better since Mom was a bank teller. Some people never learn. Hopefully your uncle has. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/24 "2010-01-28T17:39:12Z")
I voted for I would have thought he was joking. Yeah, that kind of dumb comment happens all the time. If I felt like anything was amiss, however, I’d probably ask him another question or something to further assess the situation before I acted. A simple “are you serious” would yield useful information. If he said no, then no problem. If he said yes, then pushing the panic button would be justified, whether he was actually serious about it or not. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > And yes, criminals can be of all ages. Back in the '80s, I remember an elderly man robbing, or trying to rob a bank. He’d been some kind of gangster in the '30s, had cleaned up his act in the interim, but apparently was frustrated living on a pension. Like many elderly people, except he had the means to do something about it. Or thought he did. Back in his day, banks didn’t have panic buttons and paint bombs. :smack: Ever see [Tough Guys](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092105/)? It’s a cute movie with a similar type of story. It was released in 1986, so I wonder if the real story inspired the movie. (Or vice versa!) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/25 "2010-01-28T18:08:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m betting the cashier didn’t have a choice in the matter, and had been told that she was to treat _all_ such events seriously. I think you might win that bet, but I think it’s a bad policy. For that matter, I really don’t like the idea of her panic button locking the doors and blaring an alarm. If it were an actual robbery, wouldn’t you want the robbers to be able to leave, hopefully without shooting anybody? In the poll, I voted that I would’ve assumed the guy was joking. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/26 "2010-01-28T18:23:24Z")
> [@oakminster](#): > > i think you might win that bet, but i think it’s a bad policy. > > For that matter, i really don’t like the idea of her panic button locking the doors and blaring an alarm. If it were an actual robbery, wouldn’t you want the robbers to be able to leave, hopefully without shooting anybody? > > In the poll, i voted that i would’ve assumed the guy was joking. [simpsons]_silent alarm activated\*\*silent alarm activated_[/simpsons] ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/27 "2010-01-29T15:24:50Z")
He was an idiot for making such a stupid joke and she overreacted. I would have thought joke myself. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/28 "2010-01-29T15:36:44Z")
You joke at your own peril. Those are the rules, people. If you didn’t follow your little humour with, ‘just joking!’, then I say it’s on you. Did the cashier over react? How could we know? We don’t know if the fellow looked intimidating, if she was robbed 2 days ago, if the town is currently suffering a wave of robbery, if she was just dressed down by her manager to be alert. He’s making the joke, the onus is on him to make that clear. Big smile, “I’m only joking!”, would have prevented all of this. Clue number 2: If you have to follow whatever you’re saying with, “I’m only joking!”, maybe reconsider and keep your mouth shut. Making jokes at the airport? I hope you get cavity searched! When you do, no matter how hilarious your joke was, or how inconvenienced you were, I’m still putting it all on you. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/29 "2010-01-29T15:43:05Z")
I’d really like to know what kind of store it was. Giving a cashier the ability to lock all the automatic doors, sound a blaring alarm, and call the police at a push of a button sounds pretty sophisticated and nothing like I’ve ever heard of. Was this a jewelry store? Firearms store? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/30 "2010-01-29T16:56:58Z")
Giving a cashier the ability to automatically lock all the doors is actually incredibly dangerous. If your uncle _had_ been a criminal such an action could have prompted him to pull out his gun, blow the cashier’s head off out of anger and then force his way out of the store. ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/31 "2010-01-29T17:49:21Z")
I worked retail for 6 years as a cashier and I think in that situation, I would have laughed it off as a joke. I’ve been threatened and verbally abused by customers, and you can tell by their body language if they’re serious or not about robbing or hurting you. There’s a big difference between the body laguage and facial expressions of an elderly man telling a bad joke, and a person who really wants to take your money by force. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/32 "2010-01-29T20:51:56Z")
I concur with the others who asked what kind of store this was. If it was a bank or a jewelry store, then it’s a different story. Also, I would like to know what kind of store values its employees’ lives so little that it would lock them in a store with an armed robber. You take the $500 loss and move on, for God’s sake. Much cheaper than cleaning cashier brains out of the till. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/33 "2010-01-29T20:58:08Z")
Since the OP never retuned I’m thinking either this is a hypothetical poll or the details are not as presented. I don’t believe any such place exists where a cashier can lock doors and sound a blaring alarm at the push of a button. ---
**Author:** ![Iridescent\_Orb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@Iridescent\_Orb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iridescent_Orb)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/34 "2010-01-29T21:12:52Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I don’t believe any such place exists where a cashier can lock doors and sound a blaring alarm at the push of a button. Yes, some stores are set up like this. It will either be with a double exit door (where the robber gets trapped between the two doors) or where the cashier is in some type of security cage. The key component is to avoid trapping the armed robber in the same physical space as the robbee. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/35 "2010-01-29T22:53:49Z")
**Idle Thoughts** Maybe the clerk thought your uncle was the Geezer Bandit. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902639.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902639.html) Seriously, he put himself and other people in danger with his remark. He is lucky someone didn’t pull a gun on him. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/36 "2010-01-29T23:14:04Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > **Idle Thoughts** Maybe the clerk thought your uncle was the Geezer Bandit. > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902639.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902639.html) Psst. > [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > [Case in point](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34019893/) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/37 "2010-01-30T02:27:54Z")
It’s a grocery store. Bashas (local grocery store here in Arizona, but all over Arizona). ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/38 "2010-01-30T02:45:57Z")
I voted for ‘overreacted.’ A lot of people have guessed that the store might have been robbed in the recent past, or that it might be in a high-crime area. But that doesn’t mesh with the cashier blithely waving wads of cash around and not paying any attention to the guy walking up until he spoke. If the cashier was jumpy for some reason, you’d expect them to avoid having cash out in front of customers, and be alert to any customer’s behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/39 "2010-01-30T04:13:39Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > she needs to change out some cash since her drawer is full. So she starts taking out huge heaps of cash to put it in the managers one (who is carrying it around for that purpose). I don’t quite understand this, seems like part of the post is missing here. But what kind of a store lets a cashier pull out huge heaps of cash in front of a customer who is waiting in line? I’ve worked for a couple of major retail companies, with thousands of stores each. In both of them, the policy was that the register would be closed down while this happens. The manager would open up the next register & check out customers, while she counted out the amount of cash she needed to turn in. That should be done by one person alone, then checked by another later. Trying to do it with 2 people will just cause confusion & errors. When she’s done counting & has the cash packaged to give to the manager, then she re-opens her register & resumes checking customers out. Anyway, if you can, you try to do all this at a slow time when you don’t have customers waiting in line. So I would say the clerk overreacted. And if the store has a policy to always overreact in such cases, but doesn’t have a proper policy about cashing out a register, it’s a pretty messed-up store. No wonder they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last Fall. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744/40 "2010-01-30T04:23:51Z")
> [@Iridescent\_Orb](#): > > Yes, some stores are set up like this. It will either be with a double exit door (where the robber gets trapped between the two doors) or where the cashier is in some type of security cage. The key component is to avoid trapping the armed robber in the same physical space as the robbee. 🙂 That’s a good point (about not being stuck in the same space as the armed robber). Also, these kinds of set-ups are usually exclusively for jewelry stores, gun stores, and check cashing places, i.e., locations that have significant cash or valuables lying around, not a friggin’ grocery store. I’ve never heard of Bashas as I’m not from Arizona. Do they sell diamond rings there along with the produce or something? If they see you swipe a candy bar, does someone hit the button and shout “Swarm! Swarm! Swarm!”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-my-uncle-got-the-store-closed-down-today-a-what-would-you-have-done-poll/526744.md?page=3)