Pizza shop owner's....should carry?

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esmith

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I work in a small pizzeria in my local neighborhood. Tonight I worked until we closed down for the night, which is around 10 o'clock or whenever we get everything done. Around 9:30 two guys pull in the parking lot, one comes inside and grabs a menu, then returns to his truck to decide what he and his buddy want to eat. They come back in and place their order and as they were talking with me, and later with each other, a big feeling of awkwardness had lodged within my gut. When they had made jokes with me their facial expressions did not match the feeling they were trying to convey and i just had a weird feeling that something wasn't right with this situation.

I later asked my boss if he felt the same way and he agreed with me, he too felt odd with what was going on. After making their food we eventually got them out of the door and discussed what had just taken place. We dismissed it thinking they were buzzed from an alchohol high. But I often hear stories of people having an initial gut feeling that something isn't right with some other persons they encounter, and then later that person who was deemed awkward goes off and kills someone or commits a crime.

So, what's this have to do with guns? Well i really think that business owners that deal with a lot of people everyday SHOULD BE CARRYING or at least have a firearm for defense somewhere within the compound if something goes haywire and someone say, tries to rob the place. There's a ton of people out there and there is no way i can trust them just from they way they look. I talked to my boss about the idea and he said he has thought about it before, but he doesn't seem to feel that its necessary. Any ways to convince him?

Does anyone else have any stories similar to this? Or even stories where someone had to defend themselves in a business situation?
 
Of course you should have a gun there. Every year many robberies are broken up by the fact that the targeted establishment was armed. Everyone with access to the firearm should be properly trained though.
 
hatchetbearer said:
a friend of mine keeps a snub .38 under a circle of dough, in one of those "we make the pizza in front of you type places"

Either they have terrible pizza dough or that piece is printing badly.
 
Maybe they were drunk. Maybe they were casing for a future hit. Pizza places always get robbed. They're nearly as bad as liquor stores. Reason being? They're open late, they have lots of cash on hand (especially the weekends), and the people are largely young and inexperienced, especially the chain places. I'd certanly go armed if I worked in one.

A new place opened next door to my work, and I went in to get a sub. Not only was the back door wide open, but no one was wary of the guy standing there waiting on his order (me). I probably could have robbed the place myself, and certainly a two or three-man team could do it. I didn't see any cameras, though I wasn't really looking for them. Register was behind a shield. Not really in arms length to grab cash from an open till, but you could certainly grab the register and yank if you leaned over the counter.
Obviously I didn't/couldn't see a cash-drop safe or 12gage deterrent, and would look suspicious if I commented on their set-up. But I was glad they hadn't put up a Gun-Free Zone sign yet. Hopefully no one gets killed before they learn their lesson.
 
torpid said:
I bet it's an unrolled dough ball.

I hope so, but the dude said "circle." Either way, it would be better to put it under a counter. Besides, it's a waste of dough and there's starving children in Indiana or Ethiopia or wherever.
 
I probably could have robbed the place myself, and certainly a two or three-man team could do it. I didn't see any cameras, though I wasn't really looking for them.

We do have camera's, but that may not stop someone who is determined. Another member on THR works with me there and will probably chime in with some more information shortly.
 
We do have camera's, but that may not stop someone who is determined

I wasn't thinking of cameras so much as a deterent but more as a justice tool. Good quality digital cameras are cheap and non-intrusive now, and it doesn't take much to set up a recording system. By the time the camera comes into play, the deed is done. Your hope is to catch the bastards before they hit someone else and someone is killed.
 
I've worked in a few pizza joints, and to my knowledge, none of my bosses has carried. That's not to say that they didn't - just if they did, I had no idea.

There was an incident at one shop I worked in - I wasn't on shift at the time, but a crackhead walked up to the building, and tried to get in the door. He spent a few seconds trying to open the door (which was locked - we only kept one door open after a certain time of night) and banging on it with a small snubnose revolver but by the time he realized it wasn't going to open and started for the unlocked door, the owner of the shop as well as three cooks were piling out of the back door (every one armed with sharp-as-f**k chef's knives) to meet the fella around the front.

Luckily for him, he realized it wasn't worth continuing, and ran off down the street with the cooks and my boss in pursuit. The cops found the guy later that night, when he tried to rob the gas station down the street.

I plan on opening my own bakery once I finish school and we move out of state. When I'm able to open the shop, I will be carrying at all times (as will my wife) while at the shop (and probably everywhere else as well) and there will be at least one firearm on the premises in an area accessible to staff at all times. For people who own a small business, especially a food-related one, it's too important to go unprepared for a robbery.
 
Not really in arms length to grab cash from an open till, but you could certainly grab the register and yank if you leaned over the counter.

It is most likely bolted down to something or at least screwed into a table.

And if you wear a mask, and cover your skin....I don't see how cameras are that much help if any help, unless they show the vehicle.

I don't understand why the owner of the store doesn't feel the need to be armed, or at least have a gun on premise. He has been in security positions, in the army, and I believe was "jumped" in his youth.

Everyone with access to the firearm should be properly trained though.

This part would be a big problem. Only three of over 10 people are knowledgeable about firearms, and training is another strory. And with new people being hired with questionable pasts it would be hard to have a pizza shop safe from robbery and from employees.
 
Bartkowski said:
This part would be a big problem. Only three of over 10 people are knowledgeable about firearms, and training is another strory. And with new people being hired with questionable pasts it would be hard to have a pizza shop safe from robbery and from employees.

Make it a prerequisite for management positions. There's always a manager on duty and typically managers are people who have been around for awhile and are trustworthy. I firmly believe that only trained individuals should have access to the firearm. I've seen plenty of scenarios where Kwik-E-Mart employees have grabbed the "on duty" handgun and started spraying wildly at the bad guy even when there are innocent by-standers. It's a terrible liability.
 
If you read America's First Freedom, one of the NRA publications, you'd see a section called, "The Armed Citizen" that gives real life examples of how armed citizens stop crimes. Nearly every issue has a pizza delivery guy in it. You should absolutely carry.
 
You should absolutely carry.

I would, but i am underage. It would probably be best if there was just a gun somewhere where only me, my two bosses, and my friend could get it. Or anyone else who is responsible enough to handle the weapon.
 
I bet it's an unrolled dough ball.

its about enough dough to make a 12"pie but in a 6" circle, so its very thick and while visible, i just assumed an air pocket building from the yeast, until i helped him close up one night to have him pull it out and blow the flour off, made me wonder if he shot it, would you smell toast?
 
I don't think you have to have a license to carry if you are on your property, or the property of someone else who is letting your. So the landlord would have to allow you to carry in the shop in this case.

The boss who works the most, like I said was in the army and served in Iraq so has a pretty good understanding of guns...again, I don't know why he doesn't.
 
My dad ran a small business located next to kind of a bad neighborhood for over 30 years. Never robbed or burglarized. Every other place of business within a half mile was burglarized multiple times.

My dad carried every day, and always had a gun close by in the shop. Every single person in the bad neighborhood treated him with the utmost respect - even the toughest thugs. A lot of it was because he treated them with respect too, so long as they didn't do anything to lose it, but another reason was that it was well known that he was usually armed to the teeth.

So, in a nutshell, "speak softly and carry a big stick" is good advice in my experience.
 
It could have been open carry...but I see what Zip7 is saying.

Where the shop is located is hardly a bad neighboorhood, not much happens there and you never hear of robbery.
 
Yeah the neighborhood is a pretty safe place to be, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. My boss should know this, he worked in a pizza shop that was in a not-so-good neighborhood.
 
Cameras aren't an answer. They don't deter and a lot of times don't solve anything. When I got robbed at the restaurant I worked at, we employees found out that the cameras weren't even hooked up to anything...
 
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