I woke up to the start of what was already a long day as I had agreed to cover another manager in the morning and my shift was booked in after his, the day itself was a normal day the evening however I was not so lucky when a pipe burst in the ceiling.
At this point in my life I was working as a duty manager at a family entertainment centre called The Big Apple with bowling, laser quest, an arcade and several other child and adult activities, I had not been working there for long and it was a disaster from the start with an alarming amount of safety issues including several out of date fire extinguishers too demanding we repair a hole in the soft play area netting floor. I should have run then but I felt a sense of responsibility to stay and do what I could, the other managers well nobody there had any clue about health and safety or fire safety I however had a lot, the person responsible the general manager and owner abandoned the site spending most of his time internationally.
Seven o'clock in the evening and I am behind the bar serving a customer when I hear a loud bang, I look and first see two teenagers they could see I was looking which caused them to point to the ceiling just behind them and I see a stream of water failing luckily just missing all the arcade machines below.
I call through the radio for a colleague to turn on the main lights and the music off, I then call out asking everyone to leave via the bowling reception to get a free game voucher if they were in the middle of a game, once everyone has left I close the doors and during this other staff members had all collected items to catch as much water as possible.
I call the owner to ask if I can call a plumber out and he initially agrees but when he heard the cheapest quote I could find was eleven hundred he refused asking if I can stay all night to change the buckets, bins and bottle bins that was catching the water, although I started at ten am that morning I agree but what was worse was I was on the open the next morning and at one point I was in the ceiling crawl space trying to plug the burst cap on the junction of a turn in the pipe as it turns out it was the fresh water supply waste pipe and I got soaked but luckily enough my little sister brought a spare change of clothes.
Nine am and I had no sleep I go into the hotel to shower while I wait for the plumber but it didn't take long, it took just as long to fix it as it did for them to come after calling and that was on half an hour before, I call the owner and tell him the good news and he tells me to immediately open but not before telling me he is going to tip them a hundred pounds for coming so quickly. The plumbers were just about to leave when the same pipe burst but over the hotel which only delayed everything and it wasn't until three that afternoon that I was able to go home.
Payday comes and not only did he treat me in the same manor as he did the plumbers but he didn't pay me for the time I spent over night which sent me of the rails, I decided I had enough and get my own back for everything, normally I would attack the person but god knows where he is let alone being able to get to him regardless the best way to get to him is through his money.
With little planning needed because I am closing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The routine would be I would collect the takings from several areas and machines, bag them into a banking bag a slide it into a drop safe we had no access to but know one checks until midday Monday. The first night was nice and easy and it wasn't long before I'm sat in the shed in the back garden with my two brothers counting over three thousand pounds in every denomination available from fives to fifties, the shed full with weed smoke when my mother enters money every she asks where it came from, I tell her and even give her two hundred and fifty pounds with the promise of more over the next two days.
At work again the following day and I should have known, should have realised when I received a call from an officer that wouldn't discuss the matter with me and only the other manager. Locking the building from the inside and leaving via the hotel reception I exit the building, just as I was about to turn right I see the first police officer so I turn left but there was another one and it wasn't long before the both have a hold of each wrist, the one on my left placing me under arrest.
The officer on my left places his spare hand through the strap of my back pack gripping hold so that he can take the backpack off without letting go, the officer on the right went to do the same thing but I dropped my arm to allow the back to drop to the floor, I was so calm that the second office let go completely to let the bag drop and I took my chance, I dart towards the first officer jumping over the foot he put out to trip me and I break free.
Running as fast as I can the two officers hadn't bothered to chase knowing its not likely to catch me, that and they had numerous vehicle's available but that didn't stop me nor did it stop the bouncer from Weatherspoon chasing me, I run to the bottom of the road and turning left knowing there is an alleyway leading past a Hilton hotel and across a main road, I run into the carpark of a block of flats over a fence and into the Basingstoke canal, I find a canoe on small stilts which allowed me to hid behind while the police scratch their heads searching for me.
Forty five minutes later and I decided its safe to leave, I take the woods out of where I was in when I realised I still have money on me so I double back and head back into the town centre to catch a taxi, luckily on my way I stopped to ask someone for a cigarette having left everything being in the backpack the police have, the women also gave me a hoddie changing my description so I walk into town with my hood up, three different police cars drive past and nothing.
In the taxi getting it to drop me away from the house and I take the back route home in case they are watching the house, I climb through the fence and everyone is in the kitchen losing their minds when I come through the back door, we smoke a quick joint and I jump in the shower then back out to the shed to smoke more when I had a though, it's now three o'clock in the early hours and I walk into the living room where my mother is sweeping which raised alarm bells. I ask my mother not tell them I was back and just as she is telling me she won't the front door starts shaking with kicks from the officers, I run to the back door but couldn't run because my brother is already in handcuffs so I give up and let them arrest me.
In the back of the police car the officers tell me that it was my mum that told them about the robbery and that I had a plane ticket booked landing in Barcelona nine am local time. For the offences of theft from employer, escaping lawful custody and possession of a class b substance I received nine months in jail.