Blood Money

CONTENT WARNING: Blood, Scary

I’m opening the store in the morning, so I’m the only clerk. There is an assistant floor manager in accounting, a few stockers, and a security guy there, but no one is within twenty feet of me.

A guy comes in right as we open, in a white tee, jeans, and a dark hoodie. He keeps his head down, slowly walks away, and returns with some cheap food. I scan his ramen and then look up to give him his total to see he is already holding money out.

It is covered in blood. So is his shirt and pants. I am completely alone at the front, and the only way I could get anyone over would be to scream, generally not a good idea when a violent person is around.

I stare at him for a second. He drops the money, picks up his couple of items, and slowly walks away. As soon as he is far enough away that I have room to run if necessary, I make an emergency page for the manager and security. I’m sure I sound unhinged as I just keep calling for help.

It is several minutes before anyone comes over; I run across the whole front calling for help until security comes. I tell them what happened, and they shrug.

Security: “Too late to do anything about it now.”

The worst part is what the manager says in response to me running from a guy covered in blood that was still bright and sticky:

Assistant Floor Manager: “You shouldn’t have left the money unsecured!”

I don’t think they even called the police because when I called in to check they didn’t know anything about the incident.