Friday evening, myself, my wife and my son went out to dinner at a popular Chinese buffet restaurant. We got there at about 10:15 PM, the manager said not to worry that closing time was 11:00, we could stay and eat until we got ready to leave.
The buffet tables were filled with hot food and we were the only ones in the restaurant; the manager locked the doors at 11:00 PM and the staff started to break down the serving tables after they were assured that we were finished. We had loaded up our plates in prep for closing.
Picture the layout, large seating area surrounded booths in the front, buffet area in middle and a kitchen in the back. We were sitting in a rear booth on the edge of the serving area; you had to stand up to see the serving area and kitchen.
The manager and the staff are all Chinese so, the whole time we were there, there were conversations in Chinese between them. The whole time, only Chinese!
Suddenly, in the kitchen I hear a voice in English and it sounded like an argument or something. The restaurant staff doesn't seemed alarmed so I thought it was just the Dish-Tanker complaining. I, at this point, start to key into the conversation and I heard, "Don't Move, give me the money, empty your pockets too". I could not see over the back of the bench.
I peep over the divider and see a guy with a hooded sweat shirt, mask and long rifle/shotgun holding up the place. It seems that the guy waited for the place to close and then came in while they were taking out the trash.
I wondered how much of my jewelry and money I was going to go home with; for an instant, I wondered if I would make it home at all. My son saw the same thing that I did.
It was over in a flash, the crook never saw us; the back of the booth shielded us from sight. I told my wife it was time to go NOW, she said. "For what, I still have a plate full of Crab legs". She never even saw the robber or paid any attention to the noise.
Because she wanted to stay, we got caught up in the investigation and was stuck there for an hour before we could leave the parking lot.
If there's a moral to the story, it is this: Don't go out to restaurants near closing time, that's when they get robbed.
The buffet tables were filled with hot food and we were the only ones in the restaurant; the manager locked the doors at 11:00 PM and the staff started to break down the serving tables after they were assured that we were finished. We had loaded up our plates in prep for closing.
Picture the layout, large seating area surrounded booths in the front, buffet area in middle and a kitchen in the back. We were sitting in a rear booth on the edge of the serving area; you had to stand up to see the serving area and kitchen.
The manager and the staff are all Chinese so, the whole time we were there, there were conversations in Chinese between them. The whole time, only Chinese!
Suddenly, in the kitchen I hear a voice in English and it sounded like an argument or something. The restaurant staff doesn't seemed alarmed so I thought it was just the Dish-Tanker complaining. I, at this point, start to key into the conversation and I heard, "Don't Move, give me the money, empty your pockets too". I could not see over the back of the bench.
I peep over the divider and see a guy with a hooded sweat shirt, mask and long rifle/shotgun holding up the place. It seems that the guy waited for the place to close and then came in while they were taking out the trash.
I wondered how much of my jewelry and money I was going to go home with; for an instant, I wondered if I would make it home at all. My son saw the same thing that I did.
It was over in a flash, the crook never saw us; the back of the booth shielded us from sight. I told my wife it was time to go NOW, she said. "For what, I still have a plate full of Crab legs". She never even saw the robber or paid any attention to the noise.
Because she wanted to stay, we got caught up in the investigation and was stuck there for an hour before we could leave the parking lot.
If there's a moral to the story, it is this: Don't go out to restaurants near closing time, that's when they get robbed.
