C&P'd from a forum I frequent, because I'm honestly too shitbaked to type all this out again.

Had a robbery at my store tonight while I was working alone. It was only minor-- Just a case of beer taken and the guy didn't threaten to hurt me or anything, but I'm still really shaken up by it.

I was doing the shift-change around 10PM (switching the registers over to the overnight shift for when Overnight Guy showed up at 11) when I noticed this guy walking over to the shop from the direction of the trailer park, and by his weird behavior as he crossed the parking lot I assumed he'd already had a few drinks. Sure enough he walks in, makes his way to the beer cooler in the back, asking me all kinds of questions about when we closed (we're 24 hours so we never close), what time we stop selling beer (by law we have to stop at 2AM), etc... He grabs an 8-case of Budweiser cans and comes up to the cash, and tries to hand me a $100 bill to pay for it.

Bear in mind, we only keep $100 in the tills at any given time, and the beer came to <$20. I explained to him that because of store policy, I'm not allowed to take $100s and the most I'd be able to take is a $50. The guy started getting really irate, insisting that all he had was a $100. I told him, sorry, I can't do it, you'll have to come back with something else.

He started cursing and swearing and yelling, and well... That was bad enough. Due to my severe anxiety and a troubled childhood, I don't react well to people yelling at me, so I was already starting to turn into a nervous wreck, telling him "Sorry, I can't do it, it's against store policy, I'm sorry."

So then he started yelling and cursing more and says, "So what you're f--kin' sayin' is, I can just take this, right? 'Cause you're too f--kin' stupid to take my f--kin' money, so I can just take it."

I explained to him that no, that's stealing. He picked it up before I could think to grab it and started going towards the door saying, "No, that's what you're f--kin' sayin' though, is I can take it."

I'll admit, I lost my cool there, and ended up screeching "EXCUSE ME GET THE F--K BACK HERE" as he was storming out the door, to which he told me "FUCK OFF, C**T" and made his way across the parking lot and back the way he came.

I called my manager and explained what happened, and asked if I should call the police (turned out it was pointless, because the guy didn't threaten me and it was just a case of beer, the police wouldn't have done anything anyway). I was in such a state and so shaken up by it that I started sobbing over the phone, which had him really concerned. I have problems with how the store is run, and me working by myself at night has been an issue since I started working at this location-- my manager knows, and he's been doing what he can to get more people on with me, but unfortunately his boss and corporate have been getting on his case about the added hours so there are still some nights every week where it's just me.

The whole thing sent me into a full-blown panic attack for pretty much the rest of my shift (which, I guess if I wanted to look at it from a somewhat optimistic angle, was "only" another hour), and it sucked trying to deal with that and serve customers that came in after that at the same time. Thankfully the rest of the customers were really great about it, and a few stuck around to try and cheer me up until my boyfriend showed up after I texted him about what happened.

Even when I got home I couldn't stop crying about it... It's going on 4AM now as I'm writing this and I still keep breaking down over it. My anxiety is still through the freaking roof right and I'm... I'm not sure if "Scared" is the right word for it...? But basically, I'm worried about going to bed, because at least when I'm at the computer I have something that can distract me, mermaid pictures and music and such, and I'm worried that if I curl up in bed and try to sleep now, I'm just gonna end up spending all night lying there thinking about it and end up feeling worse. Every time I think about going to bed it all just comes back and I get that knot in my stomach and the lump in my throat. I'm probably going to be up and lurking around the forums for a few more hours, or until I just fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. Wouldn't be the first time.

I think what's making it worse is the fact that I keep thinking about all the ways that it could have been worse... He was obviously drunk, what if he'd turned violent? What if he'd had a freaking WEAPON?! I'm 5'2", 100-and-shit-all-lbs and an earthworm has more spine than me, what the hell am I supposed to do if something like that escalates when I'm there by myself?

Thankfully, I had tomorrow (today?) and Thursday off on my schedule anyway, so I don't have to deal with being at the store until Friday night, when I know there'll be somebody scheduled with me. I spent some time tonight updating my resume, and I'm probably going to start job-hunting tomorrow... I'm going to talk to my boss about this working-alone thing and see what can be done about it, but... I don't know. I've been sort of pushed to the limit with this job as it is, but now I'm really thinking I might need to seriously work on getting the hell out of it, if only because-- and maybe this is just the current anxiety spike talking-- I really am genuinely fearing for my safety.