So yesterday and today, I spent most of my time probing behind the shelves with a long metal rod, in search of books that might have literally slipped through the cracks. And in fairness to the GM, we've turned up a handful of things. I found a two-year-old copy of Anime Insider magazine under one of the shelving units, and a pair of those tiny little gift books that, if the date on the price label is to be believed, have been lurking behind the fiction stacks since 1999. I've also found one pornographic magazine, five Pokemon cards, a lot of shrink wrap, and several tons of dust. Fun.
In retrospect, it's no surprise that the week went out with a whimper, because it started with a heck of a bang. On Monday morning, I was up at my register when I heard what sounded like a voice being broadcast over a loudspeaker. I looked out the window, trying to find the source of the noise, when a police car came racing by, pursuing a small sedan. Looking across the parking ot, I could see another police cruiser coming toward the sedan, which turned down one of the lanes and then pulled into a parking spot. As the first police car slowed to a stop, a Sherrif's deputy jumped out and leveled a rifle at the sedan. The second police car pulled up on the other side of the sedan, and another rifle-bearing deputy took aim.
Over the next few minutes, three or four other police cars came racing into the parking lot. One by one, four men exited the sedan with their hands above their heads, and were made to lie face down on the pavement. Then each was handcuffed and placed into one of the police cars. It was all very exciting, if a little baffling. Why the suspects thought it would be a good idea to turn into a parking lot while trying to elude the police is beyond me. And I still don't know what led to the chase in the first place. None of the local papers had anything about it. Damn our insufficiently sensationalistic news media! As one of my customers that day commented, if we'd been in California, there would have been a dozen helicopters hovering over the parking lot, and saturation coverage on every TV station.