Kate is my grandson's significant other. They have a brilliant two year old daughter. They both work very hard at their jobs and their work ethic is extremely strong.
Kate, as you know, works at a credit union. She is a teller and she loves, loves, loves her job.
Tuesday afternoon she looked up from her paperwork to see two people walk through the door. The one in front walked straight to a teller, the one in back sat in one of the waiting chairs.
Her thoughts were that he was probably going to sit while the first person got his transaction done, so she continued her work.
The 1st person finished up, walked out and the young man was still sitting. Kate took a little time to study him and found a huge knot building up in her gut. "Something is wrong," she thought.
She left her station and walked over to him and asked him if there was something she can help him with. He stood up, answering, "I'm waiting for a teller."
"I'm a teller," she replied. "I can help you."
"No, not yet. In five minutes." he replied.
The knot in Kate is growing but knowing that something was seriously wrong, she studied him. Height, haircut, facial features, black jeans, black hooded sweatshirt (in 88 degree temps) and a black handkerchief around his neck.
She went back to the bank manager. Shared her feeling of impending trouble. The manager walked over to the stranger, asking again, "May we help you?"
"I'm waiting for a teller."
"There is a teller open at that station," he said, pointing at Kate.
"No, I am waiting for her." The man in black points to the older teller who has a customer.
"Okay! She should be available soon."
The manager walks back to Kate to tell her that the guy must know one of the other teller's older kids and is specifically waiting for her.
Kate doesn't buy it! She takes all but the minimum amount of cash from her drawer to the vault. As she is starting to walk out of the vault, she sees the stranger walk to the older teller and say, "I'm sorry for what's about to go down!"
Kate stops in the doorway and takes a step back into the vault. As she was telling us the story she says, "I've watched enough cop shows to know that the phrase, "I'm sorry for what's about to go down" is almost always followed by bodies and blood. Well, it wasn't going to be mine, I have a two year old who needs me."
She stayed in the vault the whole two minutes the robbery took place. Robber didn't even put his hankie over his face as he had been siting in the back for at least 10 minutes, so cameras had a good record of his features.
Panic buttons hit, police showed up within 3 minutes. They searched the area around bank but could not find the 'bad guy'! He actually took the money her had stolen and handed it out to homeless people in town. He turned himself in the next morning.
Kate was rewarded for her intuition and perception with a $10 Starbucks gift card! (Nice job trying to save our butts, go have some coffee!)
I tell you, there is nothing like the intuition of a young mom with a kid to live for. Not one other person in the credit union had any clue that something was wrong, even after her warning.
The saddest part of the whole story is that for the past two days, customers at the credit union have been abusive, rude and cruel. They accuse the tellers of not standing their ground and refusing to hand over the money, accuse them of being cowards, etc, etc.
One aggressive woman customer "He didn't even have a gun, you should have just told him 'NO!'"
"We didn't know that he didn't have a gun." was Kate's answer.
"Well, you should have been able to tell!"
So, the 'bad guy' steals $800 and gives it away to homeless people on the streets and the upstanding 'good' citizens are being nasty.
What a world!
Kate, as you know, works at a credit union. She is a teller and she loves, loves, loves her job.
Tuesday afternoon she looked up from her paperwork to see two people walk through the door. The one in front walked straight to a teller, the one in back sat in one of the waiting chairs.
Her thoughts were that he was probably going to sit while the first person got his transaction done, so she continued her work.
The 1st person finished up, walked out and the young man was still sitting. Kate took a little time to study him and found a huge knot building up in her gut. "Something is wrong," she thought.
She left her station and walked over to him and asked him if there was something she can help him with. He stood up, answering, "I'm waiting for a teller."
"I'm a teller," she replied. "I can help you."
"No, not yet. In five minutes." he replied.
The knot in Kate is growing but knowing that something was seriously wrong, she studied him. Height, haircut, facial features, black jeans, black hooded sweatshirt (in 88 degree temps) and a black handkerchief around his neck.
She went back to the bank manager. Shared her feeling of impending trouble. The manager walked over to the stranger, asking again, "May we help you?"
"I'm waiting for a teller."
"There is a teller open at that station," he said, pointing at Kate.
"No, I am waiting for her." The man in black points to the older teller who has a customer.
"Okay! She should be available soon."
The manager walks back to Kate to tell her that the guy must know one of the other teller's older kids and is specifically waiting for her.
Kate doesn't buy it! She takes all but the minimum amount of cash from her drawer to the vault. As she is starting to walk out of the vault, she sees the stranger walk to the older teller and say, "I'm sorry for what's about to go down!"
Kate stops in the doorway and takes a step back into the vault. As she was telling us the story she says, "I've watched enough cop shows to know that the phrase, "I'm sorry for what's about to go down" is almost always followed by bodies and blood. Well, it wasn't going to be mine, I have a two year old who needs me."
She stayed in the vault the whole two minutes the robbery took place. Robber didn't even put his hankie over his face as he had been siting in the back for at least 10 minutes, so cameras had a good record of his features.
Panic buttons hit, police showed up within 3 minutes. They searched the area around bank but could not find the 'bad guy'! He actually took the money her had stolen and handed it out to homeless people in town. He turned himself in the next morning.
Kate was rewarded for her intuition and perception with a $10 Starbucks gift card! (Nice job trying to save our butts, go have some coffee!)
I tell you, there is nothing like the intuition of a young mom with a kid to live for. Not one other person in the credit union had any clue that something was wrong, even after her warning.
The saddest part of the whole story is that for the past two days, customers at the credit union have been abusive, rude and cruel. They accuse the tellers of not standing their ground and refusing to hand over the money, accuse them of being cowards, etc, etc.
One aggressive woman customer "He didn't even have a gun, you should have just told him 'NO!'"
"We didn't know that he didn't have a gun." was Kate's answer.
"Well, you should have been able to tell!"
So, the 'bad guy' steals $800 and gives it away to homeless people on the streets and the upstanding 'good' citizens are being nasty.
What a world!
the next time, line the customers up and have the bad guys shoot them first!
ReplyDeleteWeird how some people open their mouths and nasty just jumps out!
DeleteSpeechless! Glad everyone is okay, shaken but okay.
ReplyDeleteWeird, but they aren't okay! Kate has hives and shakes before going to work! I wonder who else is having post trauma symptoms.
DeleteGood for Kate for listening to her intuition and keeping herself out of harm's way. So many of us (especially women) have a bad tendency not to trust our gut feelings. And as for those ignorant bank customers . . . well, ask them if they'd like to take a chance on dying for someone else's lousy eight hundred bucks!
ReplyDeleteWe really do need to listen to our intuition and be aware of our surroundings.
DeleteWow, what a story! Thank goodness everything turned out okay. And that is really wrong what the customers are saying. You should simply cooperate when there is a robbery. Playing the hero is dumb and could cost someone their life!
ReplyDeleteI would think that customers would empathize with the employees instead of being rude and mean. Heroism should be saved for people not for money!
DeleteOh, what a terrible thing to have to experience and what terrible people who had to make comments like that.
ReplyDeleteWow.
ReplyDeleteAt both Kate and the nasty folks; one does something good, and the other finds a reason to complain.
Oy. This is why i don't like people.
I suppose what I find from that story is the fact that the bad people were the customers, the bank thief a bit of a hero, a role reversal. Not sure the handing out of money would happen in England though....
ReplyDeleteshe made good decision ,it was just about little amount of money not of life ,glad that indecent ended with positive result ,people who are being abusive must replace Kate for a while
ReplyDelete