I have been agonizing over something for two days now. Today I feel
I must go to work and tell my employer I can’t be there anymore. I
am his bench jeweler. It’s Christmas time and it will be devastating
to him. I really don’t want to do it, but I am terrified of what is
happening in our beautiful little college town. There have been two
armed robberies of jewelry stores in the last couple of weeks. The
latest was Saturday during a big football game (Go Gators). It was a
store off the beaten path and at a time the local police are busy,
leading me to believe that it is local folks doing it. They have not
been apprehended. They (3 of them) came in wearing ski masks and
pointing semi-automatics. They made everyone lie face down on the
floor. No One saw the get away car, and they are still out there.
So this is what I have to do, and I feel horrible for doing it to
him at this time of year. I will offer to work for him out of my
home and get him thru the holidays. I know how important I am to
him, but my worth is far more to my husband, three children, and
three grandchildren. I can’t be replaced in that position.
What a terribly unstable position these three thugs have put all of
us in the jewelry business in here in our town.
Living in fear is no fun. I would recomend staying at the job and
working thru the fear. Who’s to say the theives won’t find you at
home, or when your doing pick up and delivery, or when you go the
the grocery store!.. My ex worked in a Deli he was robbed at
gunpoint. In this world s**t happens. If you love your job keep it
and don’t put any energy into bad things happening. I’m a firm
believer in the fact that we create our own realities. Check out the
movie “The Secret” http://thesecret.tv (No connection, just watch it
daily and my life is unfolding!!!)
Candy (who just started make a living wage at my art, after almost 30
years, I’ve changed my programing)
I understand where you’re coming from and don’t blame you one bit
for wanting to leave a frightening situation. However, I’m very sorry
to tell you (and everyone) something even more frightening. I just
did a quick search on the internet and (if you really will be working
from home) I now know exactly where to find you and whatever
merchandise you might decide to work on. My hands are shaking so bad
right now, I can barely type. Anyone monitoring the net who has any
bad intentions can easily follow you right home. This is a wake up
call for me as well. I wish for everyone to be safe, please be
careful with your personal info.
Best wishes for everyone to be safe
Kim
p.s. sometimes, I’m just not sure I want to get myself into this
field. The need to create is really, really strong, but as someone
who has been told she has ptsd, it may just put me right over the
edge someday
I can relate. You’re not selfish, you’re understandably concerned.
I experienced a series of rather bone chilling near misses. Police
thought it was a gang working the Gainesville-Tallahassee corridor. I
didn’t wait for them to be successful, I got the heck outta there.
Your idea to work from home is a good one. Your boss can get
insurance on the goods while you travel. You have to be in custody of
the goods all the time though. No safe needed as long as you don’t
leave it unattended. It’d be wise to check with the insurer on the
limits and covenants.
And change your route home daily. Don’t get paranoid but do be
careful. Most likely the crooks are after a big inventory and not
repair orders. Maybe the store can ship repairs to you.
I was robbed and shot execution style with towels over my sons and
my head in 1995. My son did not survive at age 15. You can not live
your life in fear. You are more likley to die of a jewelers heart
attack.
You think it’s going to be safer carrying stuff in and out of his
store and taking it to your house??? I think what you should be
doing is talking to your employer about what he’s doing to prevent an
occurrence happening in your store, which should include changes in
your security procedures and some very active interaction with the
police in your community.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
I understand your fear, robbery is always a possiblity in the
jewerly business. But I think that your present fear may be
overamped. There are robberies everyday, there are car wrecks every
day. Are you going to start staying home because someone may drive
into you? Have you stopped eating all of the bad foods that will more
likely kill you before anyone else does? I am not meaning to be mean,
perhaps you should ask yourself if this isn’t really just an excuse
to quit and not have to go through another holiday season. You say
they, the robbers have put you in an unstable position, well they
haven’t really, it is not different than it was before. Everyday you
get up something bad can happen. There are things you can every day
to make yourself feel more secure at home and at work. You might set
down and ask yourself if there are things you can do personally to
feel more secure in general. As far as work goes, has your store done
anything different to improve your sense of security? Have you
considered closing during the games? Have you considered hiring
visible security? I think that you owe it to yourself and your boss
to discuss your fears before you just up and quit?
Before you quit your day job, try this first. I learned of this from
a woman I met at Clasp who worked at a jewelry store in New York
City.
Notify everyone on your block that you would like to have a meeting.
Stretch it out to two blocks either direction. They set up a special
system, not sure how they did it, but you could research this, of a
special phone number to call when somebody in the area was robbed.
The phone call went out and rung everyone on the neighborhood watch
system to be aware. The police where able to pick up the buglers
because they were still in the two block vicinity.
Everyone who is beside you should all work together to help prevent
theft. Get the police involved.
The woman actually wrote a grant to the city for extra protection
and for the phone system to be set up. I wish I could remember her
name.
-k
M E T A L W E R X
School for Jewelry and the Metalarts
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
781 891 3854 www.metalwerx.com
Fear of being murdered in cold blood is a pretty good excuse for
quitting!
Remember that if you live in a “right to work” state, you have the
right to leave at any time for any reason and your boss has the
right to get rid of you for any reason at any time. Don’t feel guilty
for doing what’s right for you.
If he can’t keep you safe/make you feel safe, ya gotta go. Sometimes
a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do.
I hate to see thugs control your life, but your fear is
understandable.
See if he can hire extra security. The best store security I ever
saw was 2 rotweiller dogs. When you came into the store both black
heads came up and peered at you over the counter. Once they decided
you were okay, they laid back down. They were well trained, pleasant
dogs, but woe to the robber who ever came into that store.
No! I am not looking for an excuse to Quit so I don’t have to go
thru another holiday season. If you re-read my post, I said I was
going to offer to do the work at my home. As it turns out I just
don’t have the heart to do this to him now. BUT I AM SCARED! It was
the three semi-automatics at the employee’s heads that un-nerves me.
I do not feel at all that my fears are overampted (as you put it).
You are being unrealistic if you really think the beauty shop on one
side and the dry cleaners on the other are as big a target as a
jewelry store. Your right, its just the same as it was the day
before. It just so happens that the day before a fellow jeweler was
being robbed. You compare the dangers of robbery with an auto
accident, lets do that! If I am in an auto accident and killed, my
family will be compensated monetarily (not that money can or will
replace me as wife, mother and grandmother. Because it certainly
won’t) But at least it is something to acknowledge a wrongful death.
But if I am shot and killed in the small jewelry store where I work,
all my family will get is “I’m so sorry, She was a good ole gal!”
I really don’t understand your comment about eating bad food to kill
you before someone else does. You go right ahead, I’ll refrain. How
old are you Dennis? That was just plain goofy!
Bottom line is, I’m staying until after Christmas.
See if he can hire extra security. The best store security I ever
saw was 2 rotweiller dogs. When you came into the store both black
heads came up and peered at you over the counter.
I worked in a liquor store when I was in college. I was alone for a
couple hours each day when my boss would go to the gym behind the
store. I loved the days when his son brought his dog in, a rhodesian
(sp?) ridgeback. The most massive head I have ever seen on a dog. I
was told they were used in the past during lion hunting. I don’t know
if that is true, but that dog was great and he turned these big
burly, mean drinkers into big scaredy cats. Some of them wouldn’t
even come in. I don’t know if scaring the customers off is going to
be good for business, but you brought back a fond memory for me.
Hey guys, someone edited my post. I also suggested that Richard
consider looking at ways to make himself feel more safe at home and
at work. Like talking to his boss about hiring security, maybe
closing on games days etc. He owes it to himself and his boss to at
least talk about this. I really don’t like being edtied, I hope that
it was a mistake. I come off sounding way too critical sometimes,
editing out my more positve suggestions in this post makes me look
cruel.
Thanks Dennis
Please note that we do not edit your post besides reformatting it.
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I was robbed and shot execution style with towels over my sons and
my head in 1995. My son did not survive at age 15. You can not
live your life in fear. You are more likley to die of a jewelers
heart attack.
Oh my God! My heart is breaking for you! How do you survive after
something like that happens? I am so sorry for the loss of your son.
There is no greater loss then one of your children. How are you doing
today?
Julia, If you don’t feel safe in any environment, get out
immediately. The store owner is probably just as worried as you. He
might consider hiring a security guard from some agency just thru
Christmas. It doesn’t actually cost all that much. These roberies
usually die out after the holiday. Please, if you don’t feel safe,
down your tools and walk away.
Just a few suggestions about store security for the season, as well
as the rest of the year- #1-Make sure you have discussed security
with everyone in your store. If you are not the boss, at least make
sure that the boss is aware that security is a constant important
issue. Any security plan is probably better than none. #2- Make it
obvious to potential security threats that you have thought about
security. Like alot of animals, bad guys generally choose weaker
victims. And when they see cameras, and staff functioning as a team,
most often they will choose elsewhere, depending on their need. #3-
Have a safe, profitable, and happy holiday season!
See if he can hire extra security. The best store security I ever
saw was 2 rotweiller dogs. When you came into the store both black
heads came up and peered at you over the counter. Once they
decided you were okay, they laid back down. They were well trained,
pleasant dogs, but woe to the robber who ever came into that store.
Reminds me of a Hobby Shop here in Milwaukee…they have dremel
stuff and modeler’s odds and ends like nobody else in the area…
Sign when you walk in…“Shoplifters Will Be Eaten”…
And then this absolutely huge German Shepherd saunters up to check
you out…
He’s really a big puppy once he figures you’re OK…He even let me
belly rub him once…I had to tell him how handsome he was, first,
of course…
But a BIG puppy…
Not that a bad guy couldn’t blow him away…but I have a hunch
there’s other protection in the store…,.
I see these little patriotic emblems here and there…I don’t ask
and they don’t tell…
I want to suggest this book to anyone who is afraid, or fears for
their own personal safety. I’ve used the in self-defense
classes I’ve taught. The authors name is Sanford Strong and the book
is ‘Strong on Defense’. Everyone should read this book it has
excellent about how to react and prepare for certain
situations of life threatening nature.
There is good reason to be concerned if three local jewelry stores
have been robbed. I have a friend that operated a one man shop, had a
gun put to his head, and he quit retail, works from home now for over
15 years. I have never figured out how he gets customers, or how much
income he can derive from his jewelry work. A lot of his work is
platinum wedding jewelry. In the three robberies, was anyone actually
shot? Being robbed is a traumatic event is itself without being shot.
You have a reasonable fear. Does your employer have cameras in
prominent locations? I think that this is a good deterrent. I have a
retail location that I have had for 15 years. We have been broken
into 3 times, fortunately never robbed. We are in an unusual
location, it is two blocks of retail in a residential area. There are
7 restaurants on two blocks. During the summer my wife stays open by
herself till 9 pm. I have warned her many times that it only takes a
minute for someone to come in with a gun and rob her and no one on
the
street would notice. Fortunately nothing bad has happened. For some
reason some people try to rationalize someone’s fear by pointing out
other bad things that are more likely to happen. This does not
address your concern. Someone who has experienced a traumatic event
like being robbed is more likely to support your feelings, and not
offer advice. I liked the response that suggested that you talk with
your employer, see what can be done to increase security, have a plan
in case something does happen, and have the police visit the business
and see what can be done to improve security. I have a camera set up
and we can monitor from 3 cameras everything that is going on in my
retail area, it is in a place where the monitor can be seen easily by
either me or my employees. There was a pearl dealer who lived in my
city, he worked from home. He left one day, returned because he
forgot
something and there were 3 Colombians in his house. The Christmas
season is traumatic enough without being robbed!
other bad things that are more likely to happen. This does not
address your concern. Someone who has experienced a traumatic
event like being robbed is more likely to support your feelings,
Yes, don’t let people try to tell you “how to feel.” If it bothers
you that much, it does. Having been there in a smaller way - robbed
but not at gunpoint, in a gas station at age 18, I can vouch for the
sense of intrusion, personal liability, fear, disgust, loathing for
those who act like that, on and on. It’s just not funny anymore. I
know a bank teller who quit banking for good the day after she was
robbed. It took her months to get over it. Just as in the thread
about
self-defense, it’s very, very different when you are actually there…