Noises In The Store
When you work for any retail establishment for any given time frame, you acquire tribal knowledge. This knowledge includes customer history, store history, or anything that would happen in the store. Our Sears store was over twenty years old, and everyone that worked in the store said things would be weird at times, and most of the employees acknowledged the store had paranormal activity. We have everything from spirits who know they are deceased, locked in a loop, and a few poltergeists. You would learn that you either accept this or you feign ignorance. Most of us knew what was happening but generally would try to ignore it so we could do our job. We all had things happen to us either first thing in the morning or late at night. So our story starts one night after closing. My co-manager and I knew weird stuff happened in our store and experienced it. Usually, we try to ignore the activity, but this night the spirits decided we would not ignore it.
This story happened during the holiday season when we stayed open later so people could do their holiday shopping. We closed at eleven that night, and my co-manager and I had a system going. We would lock the doors after the last customer left, then we would get the employees closed down, and everyone would exit through the office. We verified all the register bags were there for the morning people and that all the employees were out of the building by 11:20 p.m. We should have just labeled that night as odd because up until the closing time, we were super busy with holiday shoppers. Then it took forever for all the employees to get their jobs done, so by the time we had the employees out the door so we managers could finish our tasks, it was already a lot later than usual. As we were closing, we heard noises, but when you work in buildings like ours during the winter, you get used to it.
Most of us managers and supervisors did not like staying on the floor after the store closed. With the lights out and mannequins and displays, most of us felt like the floor was watching us. Well, that night, my co-supervisor and I started to close the store for the night after being so busy during our shift and went through our holiday closing routine. First, we got all the customers out of the store and walked the floor to check all the spots in the store people could be hiding. Once we were sure there was no one in the store, we went to work in the back office, and our associates finished up and left to go home. Our co-workers needed no encouragement to go home as it was the holiday season, and they wanted to spend time with their families. Most of us are lucky if we get to see our families during the holiday season because most big companies don't let you take off for anything. If you're fortunate enough to get some time off, most stores will use it against you.
After we let the last of the employees out for the night, we went to the safe room to put away money bags and high-value jewelry because it was the holidays. The thing about the saferoom is we can hear everything outside the door. Even knowing that we were the only two people in the building, leaving the saferoom, we heard banging and footsteps from the warehouse. First, we heard a loud bang in the warehouse and rattling coming along the high-value and repair cage. It was so loud that we ran into the stock room, thinking either someone had snuck back there or we had forgotten an employee. To answer the question your thinking, yes, it has happened before.
We looked all through the warehouse and could not find anyone. So we went to the office to continue with what we were doing. When we walked back into the office, the door to the employee break room slammed shut. We look at each other, and he runs one way, and I run the other, and after searching the store again, we find no one there. While we are completing our work, we hear banging every ten minutes. No matter how much we searched, we could not find anyone else in the store.
We finally decided to call corporate so the loss prevention team could check the cameras and see if they could see anything. They heard all the noises we heard, but they could not find anyone or anything on camera. Loss prevention told us to announce we were leaving over the PA after calling the Store Manager and setting up the security system, then lock up and leave the building. We called the Store Manager and told him what was happening. He checked his email and already had an email from loss prevention. He told us to make the PA announcement and leave. So we went to the phone next to the security panel, and I started our announcement.
"Attention to whoever or whatever is making all the noise in the store. Whatever you are, you have caused us to leave very late. We had fun chasing you all over the sales floor and in the stock room, but we are tired and are going home now. The security system is on, so if you set it off, you will deal with another Manager and the police."
We set the security system and left the building closing the gate to the back door behind us. We waited about 10 minutes in the parking lot after we left the store and waited to see if maybe someone had broke in or was trying to distract us so they could break in. We thought we would get a call from the security company, and loss prevention was watching our cameras. We went down to where the loading bay doors were and heard things banging and doors slamming consistently for 10 minutes. Since we didn't get a call from the security company or corporate security watching our cameras, we headed home. My co-supervisor called me later that night and said he had swung back past the store and listened, and it was quiet. The next day we asked the store manager if he had heard anything from the alarm company or Corporate Security to explain what happened the previous night. He said he had not heard anything and told us he was lucky it happened to us and not to him. I don't know what happened that night. I am glad I don't have to close that store anymore.
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