There was a “bomb scare” at a local mall yesterday. I saw the story about it on our local evening news. It seems that a “suspicious package” had been reported in the Macy’s Store at Willowbrook Mall in Plano. The news featured footage of the police team’s special robot retrieving the package from the store and bringing it outside.
It turns out, that it was only someone’s briefcase left behind as they rushed to spend their money. Nonetheless, I figured it must have been a pretty frightening experience for store employees and mall customers.
I was wrong.
On a visit to that mall today, I stopped at the Starbucks kiosk (of course I did), just a short way from Macy’s and chatted with the young barrista. I asked her if she had been terrified yesterday.
“We didn’t find out about it until after it was over,” she replied.
“Do what?” I said. “Didn’t they evacuate you?”
“They didn’t even evacuate Macy’s, just moved people to the other side of the store,” she said. “They didn’t move the people standing in line for iPhones at the Apple Store, because they didn’t want to make them angry. Can you imagine the chaos that would have caused? Those folks would have sure been mad. Some of them waited in line for hours. Most shoppers didn’t even know it was happening.”
That line of people snaked from the Apple Store halfway across the mall. Yes, if they had been moved, they would have been angry. How angry would they have been if there really had been a bomb? How angry would they have been if the bomb had exploded killing and maiming people – people who could have been moved, except the authorities didn’t want to make them angry?
I don’t know about y’all, but if there is a bomb within 200 yards of me, I want somebody to tell me. Sure, in this case it turned out to be nothing. However, if authorities are concerned enough to bring in a robot to deal with it, I don’t want to be anywhere near.
So, tell me what would YOU want if you were in that situation?
I’m just curious.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay. I’m in the “get outta my face” group. Now here is why. There are almost seven billion people on the face of the earth. Even on a really, really super bad day (no matter how CNN makes it sound) 200 folks at most bite the dust in a bombing. Now most of those 200 (remember this is a truly, super bad day not the norm) had to be somewhere where bombs are a fairly normal event. Guess what. I’m not in one of those places.
An even such as 9/11 is catastrophic for only one reason: It is so rare as to almost stand alone historically in much the same way as man made actions like Pearl Harbor or the acts of god such as the great tsunamis and earthquakes.
Reality is much more dangerous or as one of my favorite restaurants used to have on their menu: Closed on Sundays for love of God and fear of the freeway. You want to be a whole lot safer: Stop driving. I need the room on the road anyway.
Jamies last blog post..Earn Your Stripes
Whoot! That got you on a rant!
And, while I agree that bombings are rare, and we live in a relatively safe place…if the bomb squad doesn’t want to go pick up a package and shake it to see if there is a bomb in there, then I don’t want to be in the vicinity. That’s just me.
Move me out first!
Rant, I could rant for hours on this one. While working as an operator at the phone company, we would look up and see police, etc., going through the room – turns out it would be a bomb scare, but heaven forbid they tell us! Long distance calls were a priority over our lives. I don’t think about it often, but when I do, I still get angry and though I understand what Jamie is saying, and she does have a point, I prefer that the choice not be made for me by a mall employee or police officer. And you know how much I love all Apple.
Marcias last blog post..Slow Progress
Yikes I would want the choice of leaving or staying. I can’t imagine a phone or something else at the mall being more important then a life.
Cindees last blog post..Got Grasshoppers?