Tuesday, August 12th, 2003

I’m in the store with another male employee. We’re keeping our eyes on a suspicious white couple in their early 30s. I see them open a safe behind the counter & take some money. They continue browsing and I motion for the other employee to arrest them. We’re now cops and I remove handcuffs from my belt & approach the woman. I ask to look in her purse. She’s slightly surprised but agrees. I root through it and find a deposit envelope full of money. I put the cuffs on her (with some difficulty as they are smaller than normal). The other employee/cop cuffs the man and we usher them into the bathroom to wait for other cops to take them away. The woman says that they were just pulling a prank. I tell her it’s not a very funny prank. The other cop/employee tells me the man also made some weak excuse. In the bathroom, I root through the woman’s purse and the man’s pockets for their keys. I take both sets (very large rings of keys) to try them on the safe. I call over a third employee, a young black man named Brian, to watch the suspects. At the safe, I start trying all the small keys to find the one that fits. I suspect the employee I fired (the white Brian) of giving them the key to the safe.