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On Bullies and Bullying
The first time someone held a gun to my head while demanding money, it was not the work of a master plan carried out by a brilliant man and his accomplices. It came in 1973 while I was…
The first time someone held a gun to my head while demanding money, it was not the work of a master plan carried out by a brilliant man and his accomplices. It came in 1973 while I was working at my very first “real” job, a Little General convenience store in South Miami, Florida.
There were two children in the store at the time. A pre-teen brother and sister who frequented our store as a refuge from home, they had brought in their pet Florida King snake in a pillowcase to show to me and my co-worker. The boy joked that if someone came in to rob the store they could scare them off with the snake.
Moments later the lone gunman stormed into the store. He appeared to be young, perhaps in his early twenties and was brandishing a revolver. Everything went into slow motion as he commanded the kids and my co-worker, Bob to “get on the floor and close your eyes” and in a fluid motion hit my hand hard with the butt of the gun as he motioned with his head for me to open the cash drawer.
I did as he said, carefully removing the single twenty dollar bill, the fives, and the ones. Without thinking, I also reached for the two rolls of quarters. That drew…
