Don't Be A Complete Tool

Anyway, I hauled my ass out of the breakroom to find two men running around the lobby.  One of them was throwing our signs, stands and other marketing tools we keep laying around, at the other.  We also had a client in the lobby, so my priority became getting her behind a door and out of the way.

Especially after the knife came out.  Now I know that this isn't some game of Ring Around The Rosies gone wrong.  My staff was on top of it, as no less than 3 of the 4 were on the phone with 911 by the time I was pulling the client through the door that leads to our breakroom.  The 4th was rushing to help me get the client to safety.

We didn't actually see the stabbing, and thank goodness, because no one wants to witness that.  We just knew that the guy being chased suddenly had blood coming from 2 places on his head and the chaser was running out the door.

The cops showed up within a minute.  That's the one nice thing about the neighborhood I work in; there's always a ton of crime, but it means the police are always near.

After the dust settled on the actual activity, the back story came out: Stabber's girlfriend was raped, Stabber thought Stabbee did it.  He showed up at Stabbee's doorstep and started attacking him.  Stabbee ran.  Why he ran to our office is so far beyond me, I don't even have a guess, but that's what he did.

Stabber came back with the girlfriend at some point before the cops left and turned himself in.  At least we don't have to worry about him coming back to silence us.

Of course, then the real excitement starts.  When the grapevine effect kicks in and the story starts circulating around, it takes some really interesting turns:

• Stabber's girlfriend also ended up getting stabbed.
• Client was thrown to the ground and kicked.  (Today, the story was she was taken away in an ambulance.)
• Stabber's girlfriend also got arrested.
• Blood was everywhere and they shut down the office. (The blood only got on his shirt.)

It was also interesting to see the differences in reactions to the events across the members of the staff:

• EVM kept swearing she thought Stabber was going to pull a gun and start shooting everyone.
• Lead Employee (again, she really needs a nickname...) just cared that client was fine, otherwise, it was Thursday.
• The two employees from sales just cared that the clients that were sitting in front of them would come back in (I'm not sure one of them will).
• I got mad.  

At first, I was mad at Stabber.  He was the apparent bad guy in this.  Then I looked at the video.  Stabbee ran into the office, yelled at the staff  that someone was after him and to call the cops (the yelling I heard), ran back out of the building and started yelling and pointing at Stabber, only to be chased back in by Stabber.  Now, I think Stabbee brought this on himself a little.

This coming from the girl that ran right into the fray.

Stabbee is fine.  He's got some stitches and staples, but he lives to lure potential murderers into the office another day.