Danger! Danger Will Prynciton!

I've been planning on posting in the next few days anyway, but based on what occur ed earlier tonight, I decided to go ahead and do it now about the occurrence in question.

This is the hotel log book entry as I typed it at my place of employment. Instead of re-writing it I figured I would just copy and paste it as it is. I will be editing names, places, locations and room numbers though.

"At about midnight while I was trying to handle an issue with rooms ### and ###, a guy came running in the office yelling and screaming for me to call the police and running about as though it was serious. I told him they'd need to know what was up before they'd come and he just kept screaming "Call 9-1-1, yo! Call the police!".

He picked up the plastic plant in the lobby and headed towards the door with it and when I yelled for him to put it down and tell me why I was calling the police, he told me that someone had just pulled a pistol on him and said he'd kill him. I called 9-1-1 and before they'd send someone, they wanted to know much more information than the guy had given. They wanted to know descriptions and the whole story but all the while everyone else (himself included, obviously) were more concerned about the prospect of someone coming for him with a gun as he had said they were. He spoke to the police and I went to the back office door to let my co-worker in (she'd been out to tell a room about something since their phone wasn't working) as he continued to pace about looking out the glass front area of the lobby to the street.

Some time shortly before he got on the phone with the police, the three ladies from the two rooms mentioned above went into the lobby bathroom and locked themselves in it and we saw a smaller guy (he honestly looked to be 12-14 years old) walk in front of the hotel and point to the guy and yell to someone on the street or sidewalk that was South of the hotel.

I briefed my co-worker on the situation as I understood it and told her there were issues with the above rooms and told her they'd locked themselves in the bathroom. She misunderstood and thought I meant the people after the guy, but as I explained she went back towards the counter and began telling the guy he had to leave. He kept saying "I can't leave or he's gonna get me! That ain't right!". my co-worker told him that she was going to call the police on him if he didn't calm down or leave.

At that time, I guess he saw someone coming towards the hotel or the door because at that moment, he leaned on the counter and jumped over it as both of us are yelling at him to get back on the other side. He said he wasn't going to and started picking up objects (a 'Caution Wet Floor' sign, etc.) to use in self-defense I suppose. My co-worker then got on the phone with the police and took cover underneath the counter/drawer on the left side of the desk and I went to the back near the circuit breaker box when I heard someone opening the door. They had her asking him such things as "Does the guy in the office have a weapon?", etc. The sort of stuff we had no way of knowing for sure and we cared even less since out concern was more so that they just get here and deal with the situation.

He was in the area behind the desk, sort of between the desk area and the area I was in and he was asking me what he needed to do and I told him he needed to leave and pointed to the back door behind him. He kept saying that it wasn't right to make him leave with people after him and I tried explaining that because of whatever he had done, he was now putting people that had done nothing in danger as well as himself by being in our office. He said "Give me a stick or something I can use and I'll go out there. What am I gonna do?" to which I told him I had no stick. I was standing near a broom which he saw and started screwing the head off of and asked me if the police would get him for having that outside. I told him I had no idea and that all I knew was he had to leave.

At about the same time (I can't recall at which specific time or exact sequence, but it was when I was at least partially near the desk and in view of the door), a woman came into the lobby yelling that they were gonna get him, etc. for hitting her brother with a rock or jumping him or something. Then a guy came in yelling "Imma fucking kill you if I see you! If I see you ever again Imma fuckin' kill you! You gonna die!" etc. I thought he left but I'm not sure because shortly after I heard the door open again and he yelled "BOOM!" and laughed. I think he left at that point because the guy in the office chilled a bit more and after just a minute or so he was willing to go back across the counter and actually went just outside the door as the police were coming up.

After the cops arrived, the women came out of the bathroom and were terrified but much less angry about their room issues and both decided to stay though we offered both reservations a full refund with no penalty if they wanted to cancel.

A bit later, one of the officers came in to update me on the situation and told me that they had pulled over the car the people were in (one of the women in the office saw it was gold in color) and were checking it out. They told me that the guy who came in here lived at the sister property across the street with his girlfriend and he told them that he got into it with one of the people earlier and they got a carload of people and saw him walking and they were going to get him at that point. They said the guy didn't actually see a gun but instead assumed its existence due to the actions of the people and their threats. They told me that the area of about 4 blocks between the sister property and the property a few blocks up were essentially a 'high tension' area at the moment due to the situation. He said he would update me later before they left but he never did. Also, I forgot to find out what room at sister property his girlfriend lived in because they obviously need an eye kept on them at the very least.

I covered everything I can remember at the moment (my memory is crap sometimes anyways) here but if there are more questions feel free to get in touch with myself or my co-worker (I told her I'd do it since she was here way past her scheduled time anyway)."

So that's how I started my night at work. I'm honestly getting really sick of the lack or protection we have here. If the guy that hopped the counter would have intended to harm or rob us and DID have a weapon, we'd have been helpless. I didn't think he intended to do anyone harm and could tell he was really terrified so I wasn't concerned about him. But that isn't my point. The point is that employees have been physically attacked and harmed by customers in the past and no precautions have been taken to protect us, dangerous as the area may be at times.
Or, for example, if the guy who he thought had a gun DID have one, if he shot at anyone from the door area, he wouldn't have been picked up clearly on our surveillance camera. His face would have no-doubt been unseen.

Shit happens. The world is dangerous. I know all of that. I'm not the only one who knows that, though. I just think it'd be nice to have my safety taken into concern sometimes (and I can assure you it isn't). I've been told to go out on property in the middle of the night with no one else here to take care of security issues but I don't because of the lack of safety. In no way is that a smart idea. Yet I've been told its something I have to do.

If you are reading this and are in charge of people, make sure they're not in needless danger. Why the hell would you? I believe that every life is incredibly important and just because someone is an employee of yours doesn't make their life less meaningful (hell, it may be far more important!).

Alright, rant/post/update/log over. Just wanted to document some insanity.

-=The Prynce