Forget The Chest, Try Out The Gun Show!

It is early 1992 and I am eighteen years old. I’m 5’4” and have a baby face, so I look pretty harmless. I’m working the second shift at a fast food place. The only staff present are the assistant manager, [Coworker #1] (who is also a friend), and [Coworker #2] and [Coworker #3], both working in the grill area. I’m on the front counter, and the manager and [Coworker #1] are in the drive-thru.

It’s about 7:30 pm, and there are no customers in the restaurant, and even the drive-thru is quiet. I’ve just finished cleaning the dining room and have come back behind the counter to start stocking condiments, cups, etc.

This group of four teens come up to the counter; they seem to be roughly fourteen to seventeen years of age. I take the first two orders, give them their food, and they go to sit in the dining room. The last two place their order.

Me: “Would you like anything else?”

Customer #1: “Do you have any discounts?”

Me: “Sorry, the only discount we have is a senior discount on coffee.”

[Customer #1] then pulls up his shirt.

Customer #1: “How about now?”

[Customer #2] quickly pulls [Customer #1]’s shirt back down.

Customer #2: “Don’t be stupid.”

Me: “Sorry, just the senior discount.”

They finish their order, pay, and join their friends in the dining room, and I resume stocking. [Coworker #1] goes on his break and orders food, and he waits at the end of the counter for it to be ready. I’m knelt down under the counter stocking condiments when I hear the teens in the dining room say something, and my coworker responds.

Coworker #1: “Well, if you’re going to use it, then use it.”

I look up at him with a questioning look on my face, and he just shakes his head. I shrug and continue what I am doing, and he takes his food and goes into the back. During most of the time the teens are in the restaurant, I don’t see any of my coworkers, aside from [Coworker #1].

After the teens leave, my coworkers come running out of the back and start locking doors, and the manager is on the phone with the police. I’m baffled, staring at everyone like they’ve lost their minds.

Me: “What’s going on?”

[Coworker #1] looks at me with a confused look on his face.

Coworker #1: “One of those teens had a gun.”

I’m completely shocked and my mouth drops open.

Me: “Why didn’t anyone tell me!?”

Coworker #1: “He was three feet away from you when he ordered. He also held up the gun and said to me, What if I used this?’”

Me: *Still in shock* “So, let me get this straight. These guys come in, armed, and you just let me work up here without warning me?!”

All my coworkers had seen the gun tucked into his waistband when the kid asked for a “discount” and lifted up his shirt. Apparently, my brain decided to just delete the gun image right out of my head. I thought the kid was thinking he could get a discount by just showing his chest!

To this day, even though I remember this story pretty clearly, I still have no memory of seeing the gun. I do have to wonder what these guys thought about the petite girl who looked like a kid who didn’t seem bothered by the gun at all.

The cops found the kids. It turned out the gun was fake, and the kid was fourteen. We had to go to court, and he ended up with community service.