The Bank Heist

In the summer of 1968 a friend of mine got me a job at the CIBC at Granville and 13th.  It was an older bank and each of us tellers was in a little cage that could be moved out for cleaning etc.

Every morning like clock work, Mr. Szasz from his Deli across the street would knock on the door at 8:45 am and deliver two large bags of hot blueberry muffins that had been cut in half and lavishly buttered and individually wrapped.

We stopped what we were doing and made for our lunchroom in the basement of the bank.  They were the best blueberry muffins I have ever tasted too!

One Friday morning we were all getting our cash ready and waiting patiently for Mr. Szasz to come over with our muffins.  Someone said that they could see him coming so we started to lock up our cash and get ready for coffee and muffins.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and the front door shattered into a million pieces…an angry looking young man came in right behind Mr. Szasz with what appeared to be a gun in his right hand that he had in his jacket pocket.

He pushed the old man out of the way and came up to the wicket next to mine. I stood there frozen looking at the young man who was shaking in his boots. My friend Heather was in that cage.  He shoved a piece of paper at her that said:  THIS IS A STIKUP. GIVE ME ALL YOUR CASH AND ALL THE OTHERS TOO!

Without missing a beat, Heather said in a snotty voice….you spelled STIKUP wrong and I will have you know that you are interrupting our coffee break.  The young fellow looked at her for a minute and then in a little voice, he asked her if she was gonna give him money. She replied NOT!

Our boss was still in his office and we could see him pressing the silent alarm as hard as he could.  Within seconds we could hear the sirens coming and the young fellow turned and ran out of the bank and down Granville towards Broadway.

Mr. Alley came running out of his office and over to where we were still standing in stunned silence.  He was really mad that Heather put all of us in danger by refusing to give the kid the money and he fired her on the spot.  Our Assistant Manager stepped in and calmed him down and told all of us, Heather too, to go downstairs and take Mr. Szasz with us.

We were all pretty shaky but managed to have our coffee and muffin.  The bank was closed for the rest of the day and we had two policemen standing guard at the front door until the door was replaced.  We all went home early and actually got danger pay for the day.

The young bank robber?  He was so stupid that he decided to hold up the RBC at Granville and Sixth after he left our branch….sure had bad luck because two off duty Vancouver City Police were in the branch at the time and arrested him…he did not have a gun but a piece of wood shaped like a gun.  The story made the Vancouver Sun for the Saturday edition.

Heather was not fired but was reprimanded for her foolish act.  You might all wonder if bad luck followed me around…I do not really know but I can tell you that this is a true story.  I have never ever forgotten that morning.