THIS WAS POSTED ON A DIFFERENT BLOGSITE THAT I CONTRIBUTE TO. BUT I THOUGHT YOU GUYS OUGHT TO READ IT TOO.
so wednesday night was a toughy. not works wise, but mentally. let me try and explain a few things first.
the name of my employer i won’t divulge, for reasons i will tell another time. we are pretty close to the city centre. i work 9:30pm – 6:30am. up to midnight we have the usual mix of customers, but after that it tends to be a mixture of police, pimps, prostitutes, dealers and taxi drivers. oh and a phalanx of student types. strangely at the moment mainly of an oriental persuasion. all of whom are most welcome. as long as they deport themselves in a reasonable manner, they are all customers the minute they walk through the door, regardless of what they do outside of the store. who would i be to judge? i have done things in my 40 years that some may find reprehensible.
there used to be one of our “local business women”that came in regularly, and always had a smile, was chatty and funny, and without fail ALWAYS left with something for her daughter. one night she came in and was carrying some feta cheese salad amongst other selected items. she got to the tills and realised that the oil/juice from the tub of feta had leaked all down her front. this caused her to launch into a torrent of bad language that would make a docker blush. i walked over to her and quietly said
“do me a favour (name withheld), calm it down eh?”
“but look at me i’m covered in the fucking stuff!”
“yes, but think about it, there are worse things you could be covered in, and in half an hour you will be home and you can put it in to soak….job done”
“oh sime, why is it you can always calm me down eh?”
“thats because your a customer love. nowt more, nowt less." and as long as you behave while in here, thats all you will ever be”
and with that she was happy again and gone. but thats my philosophy. and i digress.
wednesday night at about 23:15, a young lad came into the store, said summat to the security guard, and both of them pegged it out the door. odd. i followed, no sign of them. i tried to get in touch with the guard on our radios. no joy. walking further out into the car park, still no sign. no. he was up the far end, the dark, non lit part. there one of our “regulars” was lying on the floor, where she had been dumped. pushed out of a car after being attacked by two males. not in a good way.
no, thats an understatement. she was a fucking mess. phone out, 999, POLICE!
the 5-0 turned up in record time. en mass. ambulance came. she wouldn’t let the police near her. only our guard and da taxi driver. as she said “i know them, i don’t know you”. fair comment after her ordeal. she was finally loaded into the ambulance. car park cordoned off. statements taken. that part of the car park closed for nigh on five hours while people went over it with a fine tooth comb.
i was shocked.
i know this kind of thing happens. the picture above gives you some statistics. nearly 700,000 forcible rapes per year. you can read it in the paper every day, but it’s just another page. “tomorrows chip paper” as someone once said. but when it’s someone you know, no matter how well, it kinda knocks the wind out of your sails. and it’s a risk that the poor lass takes any time she gets i na car, yes, i am aware of that, but at the end of the day NOBODY deserves what happened to her on wednesday. nobody. one of the female coppers said to us, “you know, a lot of the time they cry rape, and you know it’s bullshit, they are trying to get back at someone, but there was no doubt about her story tonight. i have never seen anyone in that state” she looked pale and shaken, and as one of our regular coppers, we’ve heard of what she’s had to deal with. so it must have been bad.
she came in to thank us after being released by the hospital. she came in with “her dad”*. at about 5am. apparently the police had caught one of them earlier. him and the car were at the station. so a little bit of good news. the “dad” had me and the guard biting our tongues though. when she was dropped off at her house, he had left the key in the door. consequently, in his own words…
“she bloody woke me up. i was fast asleep”
YOUR “DAUGHTER”* HAS JUST BEEN RAPED BY TWO MEN, TORN TO RIBBONS IN THE TENDERIST OF AREAS AND ALL YOU ARE BOTHERED ABOUT IS BEING WOKEN UP? FUCKING HELL!
obviously, this was said after he’d left. that was one argument i didn’t want to get into at 5am!
i’m sorry if this has been a bit of a downer, but had to get it out of my system. next post will be lighter, i promise.
enjoy your weekends.
*neither myself or the guard believe for one minute that he is her dad. not when you hear how they talk to/about each other.