Control

[Blackspirit]

Hmmm... Just wanted to know something about you people
and so I'll tell you a little story from my life today...
Where I work we had a little let's call it "test" of a robbery,
to prepare ourselves for how it might be, and how we would react...
We got to know what things are important to look for on
the person that robs you, what you should do etc etc....

I found it quite interesting.... Before the test I was little nervous...
There was a funny feeling in the air... Everyone expected the
robbers to come through the doors, but they came from inside
the shop shouting and yelling! This instantly made me feel
threatened and out of control. "GET DOWN ON THE FLOOR!!!
GET DOWN!! TURN YOUR FACES TO THE GROWN! DON'T LOOK UP!!
GET DOWN ON THE FUCKING FLOOR!!!!" Everyone started lieing
down on the floor while I was like "WHAT?! You actually do
what he tells you to?!" Of course I KNOW we're supposed to do
whatever the person tells you to do... "don't be a hero" etc etc...
I know all that... I just.... I hate it when people tell me what to do.
Don't take over my life dammit! But since everyone got down on
the floor I was like "well, since they're all doing it I better do it as well...."
So I lied there trying to see as much as possible hoping none of
them would talk to me, like asking for my wallet etc.
I actullay got a lot of details on the guy that I saw.... Really interesting.

Now I'm just wondering how would you react in a situation like this?
You're totally out of control. You don't know what this person will
do, he has all power over you life...
He is pointing a gun at you telling you to do all sorts of things....

I guess it would be different if it was a real robbery, and I wasn't
prepared for it, but I still felt scared and surprised and didn't
know what to do. You have no power and no control.
What a scary feeling......

 

[crumbling mirth]

it'd be so surreal being witness to a real armed robbery. i'd imagine one's instincts would be geared 100% towards survival.

but that sounds like really useful test.

 

[Blackspirit]

Originally posted by crumbling mirth
it'd be so surreal being witness to a real armed robbery. i'd imagine one's instincts would be geared 100% towards survival.

but that sounds like really useful test.

Well, the brain works in three ways;
Attack
Run Away
Survive

Either you play hero, attack, no matter what.
You don't consider what might happen you
just do it... Maybe you didn't intend to become
a "hero" it was just natural....

You want to run away, but in a situation like
a robbery that is less likely as you're told to lie
down on the floor (if the robbers know what
they do and it is well planned). If you try
escaping it might lead to others getting hurt...

Survive; just do what you're told and try to
see as much as possible and remember it so
you can tell the police later on.

Originally posted by Xtokalon
wtf? My prior post makes no sense whatsoever. But instead of editing, I will leave it there for the historical purposes of showing how out of it I can be when I'm extremely tired.

Yeah, what the hell did you mean?! >P

 

[Lina]

Don't be silly, Norway doesn't have robberies! Do you?! With guns?! I thought Norway was the safest place in the world. People just leave their bikes outside in Oslo and nobody takes them. I walked through that park by the palace in the middle of the night several times, and wasn't the least bit worried.

I mentioned this before, but Dune_666 was actually robbed and carjacked outside my house this past July. Dune was next to his car, which had been making a weird noise, and I had gone inside to get a flashlight. When I came out, he was sort of whispering/squeeking, "Go back! Go back!" And I couldn't tell what the hell he was saying, so I kept coming toward him, and then his car squealed out. Three dudes had crept up on him. I actually saw their car approaching with its lights off as I went inside, but I didn't think twice about it. Anyway, one of them came up to him and threatened with a gun and robbed him while another took his car. It was quite an incident. The cops chased them in and around DC for about 30 minutes, but they got away. They actually had a helicopter following them too. His car was eventually recovered about a month later.

It was really disheartening, because up until then, nothing like that happened in my town. It's a really peaceful, leafy, middle-class, diverse suburb surrounded by, but somehow protected from, the ghetto that is this county. Well, not anymore apparently. The ironic thing is that Dune is from a pretty rough neighborhood, and yet he got carjacked in front of MY house. Needless to say, it makes you much more cautious and suspicious. We're both somewhat scared to go outside at night now. I see people walking their dogs at night, and I just think, wow, they have no idea.

 

[veil the sky]

Don't be silly, Norway doesn't have robberies! Do you?! With guns?! I thought Norway was the safest place in the world.

Ha! True. All the Norweigans I've ever met have been extraordinrily friendly (I've only been to Tromso, the coldest place on planet earth!!) and I couldn't imagine armed Norweigan robbery.

Where the hell do you work man that would carry out that kind of test, there's no way employers in the UK would get away with it. Everyone would kick up a great big fuss about how they were traumatised etc. yawn yawn.

There was a robbery in this shop I was working in once and this guy came in with a small knife and just kept saying 'give me the money from the till'. I just thought he was being an idiot and I kept just saying 'No of course I'm not giving you all the money, don't be stupid, I'll get fired.' It just didn't twig that it was an actual robbery, really surreal. He must have been the most pathetic robber ever though, even the old ladies in the shop weren't scared, they all carried on shopping!

 

[transfixed]

Originally posted by veil the sky

There was a robbery in this shop I was working in once and this guy came in with a small knife and just kept saying 'give me the money from the till'. I just thought he was being an idiot and I kept just saying 'No of course I'm not giving you all the money, don't be stupid, I'll get fired.' It just didn't twig that it was an actual robbery, really surreal. He must have been the most pathetic robber ever though, even the old ladies in the shop weren't scared, they all carried on shopping!

 

[MetalManCPA]

I've never been in that situation, but I always imagine that I can keep my "cool", and rationalize through it.

I was in a mini road-rage incident with my Dad years ago - someone bumped us from behind while stopped at a red light. My Dad innocently got out of the car to survey the damage, but then the guy in the other car jumped out and started swearing and swinging his fists towadrs my Dad. Damn it - I froze - didn't know what to do, because I wasn't prepared.

Thinking of that, I should strike my 1st comment, and change to "I'll freeze" if that happens to me.

 

[Algol]

I got robbed by 4 guys at a bustop once. I figured the $7 they got out of me wasn't worth getting my face busted up. I like to think it's not the strong who survive, it's the smart ones who survive. On the other hand, I would fight to the death to protect my family and my home.

I don't work in a job where I'm threatened by robbery or violence, so I can't really relate.

 

[crumbling mirth]

heh...i'd probably take the survival option. my impulses certainly wouldn't tell me to attack...at least i hope they wouldn't, and while running away might at the end of the day be a pretty safe way to escape the situation, one can never be sure that the guy with the gun won't shoot.

 

[Duvall]

I gotta get to work so I'll make this fast..

A month and a half ago, around noon on a Monday, I went downstairs to get some binding covers for a customer (I work at a stationery store).. I heard change being counted and I thought my boss was back from her smoke break.. instead I found some guy right beside our safe (which at the time was closed, but unlocked, we got change from it very frequently).. I asked him what he was doing, and he started walking towards the stairs. I asked to see in his bag and he refused.. I asked again and he ran.. spun me around at the top of the stairs and bolted out the door..

I could have let it be.

but I chased him. Two other people joined in, he dropped the money and got tackled by this 50 year old guy (a really good tackle, if you ask me).. the guy struggled free after we searched him, and ran. They never caught him, but we got the money back (about $1000 CAD)..

anyway.. my nickname at work is Batman now.

And this is a genuinely true story..

And the main boss guy for my store won't let me get my labret pierced.

And I gotta go to work to foil another robbery now.

P.S. I think I could keep my cool in an armed robbery situation, but I wouldn't play hero. If there's a chance my life is in danger, I'm not gonna be stupid. But Adrenaline can convince you to do anything I think.....

 

[~Zeanra~]

I've many times thought when there's a robbery going on some TV-show "Why isn't he doing anything, why he's lying on the damn floor? He could just kick or hit that gun away from the hand. D'uh. Do something." Well, I think I would be the one, crying in panic while lying on the floor It's hard to imagine that kind of situation, someone points at me with a gun and yells what to do. First I'd be confused, I'd just stare what's going on. I have the same "problem", I don't like if someone tells me what to do. But I think I'd do like the bad guy says, my life could depend on that. I wouldn't play a hero. I'd try to be calm, and think clearly.

 

[Opet]

Wow! Duvall's the man! Way to burst out, eh? That's cool. The guy didn't have a weapon pointed at you, so wtf...right? Go get em!

I've been lucky enough to have not been involved in any type of "forced" activities. I often wonder how I'd react because of other times when "things" have happened in my life and you freeze for that moment. But only for a moment and it's over...I wonder what I'd do. You are so right about adrenaline...you never know what it'll make you do!

At the peak of adrenaline, would you remember all those things you thought you would do to protect yourself? Hm. Who knows unless it happens.

 

[Blackspirit]

Originally posted by Lina
Don't be silly, Norway doesn't have robberies! Do you?! With guns?! I thought Norway was the safest place in the world. People just leave their bikes outside in Oslo and nobody takes them. I walked through that park by the palace in the middle of the night several times, and wasn't the least bit worried.

Lina; don't be stupid! >P Hehe...
There are about three-four armed robberies here in Oslo every day...
Mostly the postoffice, 7/11 and small shops get robbed.....
Small shops get robbed by people who hasn't really planned what to do,
and then things easily can go wrong. In bigger places like a postoffice
and a bank the robbery is more planned. They do everything after
a timeschedual and they don't hold their finger on the trigger of the gun.
If you just act calmly and do as they say nothing will happen....
But never think that these things will never happen...

The scariest thing for me would be if some drugaddict came to rob me....
They are armed with their needle! That's the worst thing ever for me.
Just think about a gun... Your adrenaline makes you almost feel
nothing if you're hit, and the wound can heal. But with a needle...
You never know what it might be carying...diseases and the drug itself...
If it is HIV infected you won't know until six months later if you have it or not....
I'm not afraif of knives either.... Just cut me, I don't care.
I hurt myself on sharp things at work every day by accident...
But a needle..that's the worst...

 

[Misanthrope]

Besides you never know when your average Euronymous its gonna come with an axe in his hands and a torch in the other...thats a dangerous place to live in

 

[Blackspirit]

Originally posted by Misanthrope
Besides you never know when your average Euronymous its gonna come with an axe in his hands and a torch in the other...thats a dangerous place to live in

Hehe...true! >) In the smaller towns alot of stupid
things like that happens here in Norway...
By accident of course...
People running around with axes and then they drop
it in the wrong place... "Ooops, sorry!">P
Oh, what a sivilized country I live in! Hehehe...

 

[Lina]

Blackspirit, where the HELL are you working that you routinely cut yourself on sharp objects and have to practice armed robberies?!

 

[Blackspirit]

Originally posted by Lina
Blackspirit, where the HELL are you working that you routinely cut yourself on sharp objects and have to practice armed robberies?!

Lol! I work in hell! >)) Hehe....

Well, almost --> IKEA-hell....
The only thing that keeps me there are
the people.... I am not used to people
actually listening to what I say...
Where I used to live people just stared
at me and walked off....hehe....

Well, all the big furnitures that we sell
are packed in cardboardboxes and they
are very sharp in the edges...
So when I lift them accidents always
happen >P Hehe...

Now, everyone feel sorry for me for
having such a shitty job!!!
I need to get an education so I can do
something else... )

 

[Misanthrope]

That is one interesting job indeed.

 

[~Zeanra~]

cardboardboxes....yummu...

 

[Lina]

I used to work for Old Navy (a clothing store), and I'd routinely cut myself on boxes of denim, so I feel your pain (literally).

I love Ikea....I would like to move into one of their showrooms. And yes, I've seen Fight Club, but I don't care!