You would never think anything bad would happened to you until it actually happens, and then reality sets in. I had one of those moments on last Thursday night.
October 20th was my last day working at Newport Coast office (U.S. Bank). We were being audited that day, so things were stressful for everyone. I drove to Fashion Island for lunch because everyone wanted Fat Burger. After eating lunch, the auditor interviewed everyone in the branch to make sure they were in compliance with policy and regulations. I was the last one to be audited.
It went really well though. I answered every question with confidence and passed them all.
Once we were done, the auditor, branch manager and co-manager were all talking in the corner near the back door. A customer came by and Jury (branch manager) told me to go help him. I walked over with a smile on my face, unlocked my computer and noticed a bright orange note in front of me. hmmm...I didn't read the note completely, but....I knew I was being robbed. Especially, when he showed me his gun.
It's true, when something like that happens to you, everything goes into slow motion. I'm not going to go into detailed on what happened, but surprisingly, I was calm and smiling the whole time. Once he left, I slowly turned around and said, "Um...I just got robbed." The auditor didn't believe me at first and Jury and Linda (co-manager) were still busy talking. I guess they expected me to freak out or something or be histerical, but I wasn't. I triggered the alarm and walked away from my station. It was that time when my whole lower body was shaking uncontrollably, so I had to sit down. Filling out the robbery packet was hard. I was still in shock and wrote down whatever I remembered.
I talked to the police dispatcher until the officers arrived. I talked to the FBI. I pretty much talked to a bunch of people individually about the same thing. What had happened and the description of the guy. One police officer actually drove me down the street to eye witness someone they caught. "It's not him," I said.
This was the second time I rode in a police car. The first time was years ago, when my car stopped on the freeway and the officer drove me back home. hehe*
Anyhow, I had been shaking on and off all this time. I was told that robberies were like car accidents. It catches you off guard and hits you hard out of nowhere. Everyone told me to be around a lot of people and don't do anything different out of my routine. Kinda made me think for a second, but honestly...I felt ok. When I got home, I was a tab bit nervous, but still ok. When I woke up the next morning, I replayed the incident in my head several times, thinking of different scenarios. Which I shouldn't be doing, because it's just going to make me even more nervous.
Yesterday, an FBI tracked me down at my new branch in Orange. He showed me 6 photos of possible suspects. I immediately picked out photo number 5. That was the guy! They wouldn't give me any further information, but told me that if they do prosecute that guy, they will let me know. It's good to know that this guy is on file. At least they know who they are looking for now. Apparently, this guy is the 'Big Nose Bandit.' I wasn't sure at first because he seemed to have gained some weight. We were dealing with a professional here that has already hit over 17 branches in California.
Anyway, that's my story. It was quite an interesting experience. I'll definitely be much more aware of my surroundings from now on, especially at work.