One extreme retail experience I had was when I worked at a video-rental/music store. A woman came into the store followed immediately by an angry, rough-looking man who started screaming at the woman for allegedly cutting him off on the road. He grabbed her and pushed her to the floor, continuing to yell threats at her while a few shocked people looked on. The woman cowered on the floor and started to shake from fear. Then, the man stormed out of the store, walked over to his motorcycle, which he had parked near the woman's car, and gave the woman's car several kicks before riding away.
But he didn't realize that and I had run over to a nearby window and wrote down his license plate number as he rode away. The woman was really shook up by this, but I assured her that I had his license plate number and I gave her my name if she needed a witness. I handed her the piece of paper with the license number while a manager was calling the police.
Anyway, about a week later, I get a call from a detective to come down to the station. He wanted to talk to me about the incident. I was more than happy. When I got there, I was handed a series of cards with several photos on each. The detective asked me to pick out the guy I remember assaulting the woman. When I saw his picture, I immediately pointed to the man's face.
The detective looked at me skeptically and said, 'Look again. Are you POSITIVE it wasn't this one?", and he pointed to another pic. "No" I said, firmly. "THIS is definitely the guy." Then, the detective said, "Now, are you certain you wrote the license plate number down correctly? We're having trouble identifying it in our system. Maybe you transposed a number or two?"
I was taken aback. I knew I wrote that number down perfectly, and now I was being questioned for my accuracy? Incensed, I told him, "I wrote that number down immediately. The number I gave the woman is the attacker's license plate number. No doubt in my mind." It was irritating to see this detective acting like I might have made a mistake.
Suddenly, the detective relaxed his posture and told me the story. Turns out, I had correctly identified the attacker in the photos. The picture I pointed to was the owner of the license plate I gave the woman, so now they had enough to press assault charges. The guy was a career criminal, and they had already arrested him prior to my questioning. He said I might be asked to testify in court, but sadly, I was never called. I assumed that he made a plea deal.
Thus began (and ended) my stellar career as a retail super hero. lol
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