Watch Those Locked Doors

When I work as a Customer Service Manager, I work until midnight. I am the only one in the store with keys to the managers' office, the safe room, and the room we call the candy room. The candy room keeps, backstock, candy, cleaning supplies for the front end, and all the items that need to go back out on the shelf. All these doors need to be locked before I go home.

This particular day, I arrived at work and we were really really busy. Usually I have a second to put my stuff away (if I bring any). I happened to have brought my purse today. I put my keys in it and threw it in the candy room. Purses can't be on the registers and the lockers are upstairs and kinda far away. I didn't have time to take it up there.

At the end of the night, I have to leave all my keys in the safe room for the manager the next day. I made sure that I didn't need to get back into the safe room and locked the keys in. Then I went to the candy room and closed the door (it locks automatically). I needed to pick up some milk before I left. I reached my hand into my pocket to make sure I had my debit card. That was when I realized that I had locked my purse in the candy room and had locked my keys into the safe room. Holy crap. . .

I talked with the gal at the self checkout to see if she had any ideas. She told me that I could use a credit card to break in the door. She said that she had to get in and that's what she does when it's locked. I called the Non-Food Asst because sometimes they have to get their backstock out of there. Bruce came up and used my card to try to break in. Guess what, a card doesn't work. I don't know what this lady was on, but she sure doesn't get into that room with a damn credit card. We tried every key that we could find. None worked. I called several people that had keys to that room, no answer. I felt so bad calling once as it was, because it was 12:30 in the morning at this point. Oh, and of course, Jeth was out of town. I told Bruce and the check out lady that I was going to have to walk home if we couldn't get in. After several attempts, Bruce told me he didn't know what to tell me. He went back to work. I waved good bye to the check out lady and she waved back. As I walked out, I tried calling a neighbor to see if I could crash at her house. You see, not only were the keys to my car on that keychain, but so are the keys to my house. I was really locked out. But if course, it is at this time 1:00 in the morning and she is dead asleep. No answer. I figured I could break into my backyard and sleep in my hammock though. So I got on the phone with Jeth and started walking.

I tell you what, St. George, is really dark at night. It's a little eerie walking down the street without any lights on in any shop. It was stinking horrifying!! All I could think of was all those stories of those women who go walking at night and are never seen again. I walked for 2 hours and was about 5 minutes from my house when I got a phone call. I answered, it was Bruce letting me know that they got into the candy room and had my purse for me. I about died! I told Bruce that I would start back and would be there in a couple of hours. He was very surprised that I was walking. He said that he would come and get me.

Did you know that emotions can come in physical form? They do!! When you have all these intense emotions for so long, and suddenly your tension is relieved, it all comes out as tears. I mean it!! And let me tell you, all my tension was released. I started bawling in the parking lot of Maverick. Poor Bruce looked like he wasn't quite sure what to do with me. He just started talking to me about other random things so I wasn't thinking about what happened. When we got back he told me that he didn't realize that I was walking or he would have driven me home. I don't think he was really awake enough to comprehend what i was saying earlier. Back at the store the check out lady laughed like this was all just really funny. She told me that she had forgotten that I had locked my purse in. She said that she had to get in there to get the candy out. Since it is locked every night, she just has the floor guy climb through the roof. When she saw my purse she remembered that I needed it. Credit card huh? Stupid woman. I've never been that tempted to spit in someone's face. She said that she didn't realize I was leaving. I reminded her that I had waved and said good bye. She thought I was just waving for fun. Right. . . I grabbed my milk that I needed, OJ just because it looked good, and Oreos just because it had been that bad of a night. By the time that I got home it was 3:30 in the morning. I was emotionally drained, my dog was hungry, and I needed my husband. What a night. At least I had my Oreos, right.