The After Christmas Staredown

Hello folks, let’s chat… The tree is bare, presents have been opened, and there’s a solid chance that large amounts of sugar have been consumed. Fa, la, la, la, la, and all that, but if you have little ones afoot, I hope you have a good stare down skill. You may find it helpful right about now.

A good stare-down is hard to teach. Personally, I think you either have it or you don’t. I was somewhat successful with mine when my kids were at home, but my stare down skills never did come close to Mama’s. As my sisters can attest, the Queen of Us All had the stare down perfected back in the day. No one wanted to be on the other end of Mama’s evil eye. Mama could make a CIA agent sing like a canary. I’ve always thought Mama’s stare down was in a class by itself. That is, until I saw that recent news story from out of Florida. Perhaps you missed it, what with the lovely chaos of the last couple weeks. Allow me to recap.

An unidentified suspect approached the register of a convenience store, piled a small amount of candy on the counter, and handed the clerk a bit of money. So far, so good, only when the clerk opened the drawer, the robber pulled out his gun, aimed it straight at the clerk and demanded all the cash. The clerk, and now I’m quoting from the actual article, was “wholly unimpressed.”

I would say so! I watched the video of the ensuring standoff. The clerk stared down the assailant, and his gun, with nary a word. The clocked ticked. Seconds later, the robber’s gun holding hand began to shake. The stare down continued. Shortly after that, the would-be bad guy grabbed his candy and made a run for it—without his heist. The police stopped short of condoning the clerk’s reaction. And I concur, it was dangerous and I’m definitely not recommending it. Mama, on the other hand, I think she wanted to high-five the clerk, privately, of course.

Happy New Year Hugs,
Shellie