There Are Visible FLAMES; I Repeat, Visible FLAMES!! by David Moss

I was in a meeting with my General Manager going over various activities that had been going on at our shopping center in Colorado during the beginning of the summer season. As we were in our meeting discussing the various occurrences our front office yelled back “Are you guys listening to the radios?” We politely answered “No, should we be?” To the immediate response of “you might want to turn them on, RIGHT NOW!” We turned on my manager’s portable radio to hear our security dispatch yelling “There are VISIBLE FLAMES, I repeat VISIBLE FLAMES!!” Needless to say this caused immediate concern as to where the flames were… So we immediately cleared the air waves and inquired as to what was occurring. The dispatch in its haste to call the local fire department could only get us “The security Jeep is on Fire in the West Lot north of Dillard’s!” He then cleared the air-waves as he was talking to the Fire department and Police department. We shot out of the office, down the back stairs, and out the service hallway to get outside to locate the incident that was taking place. As we cleared our JCPenney store we saw the Jeep on fire with smoke billowing up in big clouds, and the perplexed novice security officer that had been in the vehicle was staring at the vehicle in complete disbelief. As we got closer to the area that the vehicle was in we realized that the officer had LEFT THE VEHICLE RUNNING!! So not only is it on fire but the engine is still pumping gasoline closer to the front to help FEED THE FIRE!!

Within a short time the fire department showed up and jammed their hose up-under the hood and flooded the Jeep with several hundred gallons of water from the tanker truck eliminating the fire and of course allowing the vehicle to be shut off. It turns out the vehicle was over-heating and the officer had just turned back from the outer ring road patrol to go to the security parking area to let the vehicle cool down and switch the vehicle out with the other Jeep for exterior patrols when the flames erupted midway through the return journey. The officer ran from the vehicle (after putting it in park but not shutting it off of course) to his own safety and then clearing the area so no one was injured or near the area of immediate impact should anything have occurred. Just one more reason Friday’s are my favorite day of week! Just goes to show you that you should always listen to the radio incase you get to hear about Visible Flames on property!

Wrong Runway by Mark Klockner

You didn’t restrict me to anything current so this event took place back in 1978 at a regional mall in Ohio. Needless to say, the event is scarred into my memory still today. But like most stories, this one has a happy ending for me and the victims. 

It was a foggy fall morning that forced me to get to the mall a few minutes late. Like always, the day was fully in progress with work as usual. My maintenance superintendent met me in the service court and said the mall pick up was broken down and they needed to use my car to run errands. Off they went. 

Walking into the mall office I was thinking, this is going to be a great day. I wasn’t wrong. My AA, after five minutes, casually stated that a plane had just landed on the roof of the mall. Now, sitting at my desk reading the Wall Street Journal, my AA advises me that UPI is on the phone and wants to talk to me. My reaction now is…What kind of plane was that? She said, “A twin engine! I was wondering why you didn’t react differently”. (Model airplaner’s often used the field in back of the mall.) After finding out where the plane was, I took the call. They asked, ”do I have any comments on the crash.” Nervously, I state, “basically we have a problem”. That’s all I could say! 

Knowing that my car was gone, I commandeered my AA’s car. That is when I realized I should pay her more; the car was a disaster and full of junk and didn’t want to start. After finally getting it started, I’m now rolling to the front of the mall where I find the entire city mobilized around the Sears TBA.  It turns out that the plane landed on the roof of the free standing TBA, truly a feet most would have deemed impossible.  Bucket trucks, firemen, ambulances and traffic jam on the frontage road, reminiscent of Chicago or New York, were there already attending to the crash. 

Realizing there was nothing I could do by myself, I mobilized the entire maintenance team, and throw every crowd control barrel, rolls of yellow security tape and head back out to the disaster scene. Quickly we secure the entire area working in concert with the local firemen and police. 

This was none too soon. The mall owner’s corporate office shows up in their Cadillac’s, full to overflowing. They jumped from their cars looking for a familiar face. We were then praised for our quick call to action! (I knew better but never refuted) 

You may be wondering what happened to the people in the plane. It turns out that they mistook the lights in the parking lot for runway lights. The fog had blurred their vision to that extent! The pilot managed to put the plane down on the roof but came to a screeching halt when the plane slammed into an elevation change on the roof sending cement blocks flying in the inside of the building. A mechanic was injured inside and all four people in the plane were lifted from the roof in extreme critical condition. All eventually recovered from the crash. 

I can only look back and ask, “Model Airplane, duhhhhh”. 

It's A Good Thing She Didn't Steal A TV

An adult female shopper went into the department store on the second floor and began to shoplift armfulls of apparel merchandise.  The theft was caught on camera and security went out to detain the individual.  She ran out of the store with security hot on her heels, and when they were about to catch her, she threw all of the merchandise over the second floor railing, causing a very colorful shower of apparel on customers below.  (To this day we are glad she didn't steal a TV)  The security guard grabbed the woman's sweatshirt, and she spun around and backed out of it, leaving the guard holding the sweatshirt.  The woman who was by no means small in stature or endowment, wasn't wearing ANY clothing underneath the sweatshirt, and immediately proceeded to run out of the mall toward the bus stop, naked from the waist up!  Department store security radioed mall security to head her off at the pass.  She was pretty easy to spot so she was quickly apprehended near the bus stop.   I guess she thought she could blend into the crowd.

Blue Jeans Would Go Real Well With That Ensemble

Mall Security was called to one of the Department stores to assist in covering a shoplifting incident.  Apparently, the scheme was that one individual would go into the changing room with 2 pairs of new jeans, hand off his old pair to an accomplice, put on one of the new pairs of jeans, and then attempt to leave the store with the second pair in a bag.  Department store security detained the shoplifter after he attempted to leave the store with the jeans in the bag.  After the police arrived, the manager on duty checked the dressing room, found the tags for one of the stolen pairs of jeans on the floor, and then told the officer that the person was wearing a stolen pair of jeans, besides the other pair in the bag.  The officer replied, “You want them back now?”  The manager indicated that he did, and the officer obligated the shoplifter to remove the jeans and give them back.  The officer then directed his partner to drive the squad car to the other end of the mall, and then they marched the shoplifter through the mall wearing only a shirt, underwear, cowboy boots, and handcuffs.  I guess he wanted to send a message to anyone else thinking of shoplifting that day?

Another Day at the Zoo

In the earlier days of shopping malls, it was not uncommon to see a petting zoo in the mall for several weeks, together with some small carnival rides, as a promotion to attract customers.  The petting zoos typically contained small farm animals and a few exotics.   A pen was erected in the mall, and every morning and evening, the animal “wranglers” would march the animals through the mall to and from their cages in their travel trailers.  On one occasion, the petting zoo included a six foot tall ostrich.  The first several days of their performance went well.  The next night, the floor crew put down 2 coats of sealer and 4 coats of wax on the terrazzo floor from the entrance to center court.   I was walking the center with the operations director early the next morning before the mall opened, and watched the wrangler escorting the ostrich in from the trailer.  The ostrich, being a 2-toed beast started to slip on the freshly waxed floor as if it were in a skating rink.  The ostrich lost it, fell down, and rolled on its back into a defensive position, which apparently they do as a matter of instinct.  The ostrich had a common female name, like “Debbie”, and the wrangler spoke to it softly, helped it roll back over and get on its feet.  The ostrich made some headway, slipping and sliding, and after taking a number of gangly steps fell down again.  The wrangler rolled it over as before and helped it to its feet.  By this time we were near the stage at center court in front of the jewelry stores, and had almost caught up to the ostrich and wrangler.  The bird took another spill, and had apparently had enough of this.  When the wrangler made a move to bend down once again to help the fallen bird, the ostrich thrust out his 2-toed foot and struck the wrangler in the chest with such force that it made a loud “WHUMP” sound as it knocked him on his rear.  The wrangler immediately let out a blood-curdling yell and struggled to regain his composure and get back up.  Since the rest of the mall hadn’t yet received the new wax, the wrangler was able to coax the bird down to its pen at the other end of the mall.  Once we figured out that we didn’t need to call the paramedics, we laughed until we cried.  The promotion would probably have been more successful if we billed it as a "boxing ostrich and friends", instead of just a petting zoo.

Want a "Swirlie" with that?

My friend called me one day to read me portions of a lawsuit that he had just received, which pertained to the shopping mall he was managing.  It seems that there was an issue that arose due to a planned shutdown of the water main during construction.  The mall’s typical procedure, whenever a new tenant was added to the water system, was to have the security officer deliver a written memo to each merchant the day before, and have them sign off that they received the message.  A memo was delivered in this case by security, and each merchant did sign off. 

Unfortunately, the hairstylist’s employees didn’t share the message with the morning shift stylist, who had an early styling appointment the next day.  The employee applied the appropriate chemicals to the customer’s hair, and when it came time to rinse off the chemicals, the employee turned on the water , and to her horror found that there was no water pressure.  In a bit of a panic, the stylist dragged the customer into the restroom and began scooping water out of the toilet, over the hysterical verbal objections of the customer.  She ended up forcing the customer’s head into the toilet to rinse off all of the chemicals.  The customer was not impressed or amused and immediately filed suit.  Fortunately the mall team followed procedure to the letter and the tenant had to defend the suit.

For a couple of years after the incident I often inquired of my friend as to the going rate for a “Swirlie” at his mall’s hairstylist, and whether they were going to make that a “permanent” offering.