Just a Bad Day

The employees at the Commonwealth Bank in Dandenong were to have an 8 a.m. branch meeting. They were having their before-work coffee and donuts in the break room when two masked men suddenly dropped through the ceiling.

They waved guns around, demanding money - but unfortunately, the vault was on time-lock. They had gone to all the trouble of cutting through the roof for nothing. The vault wouldn't open for almost an hour. Angered, the would-be robbers shouted a lot of obscenities and left by way of the fire escape, empty handed.

The employees immediately hit the alarm, and then all ran into the car-park building next door, locking the door of the bank behind them.

A few minutes later, a waitress who had come to use the ATM was astonished to see the police pounding on the door of the bank, trying to break in. She told them there were two bank officers having breakfast back at her restaurant who might be able to let them in. By this time there were eight police cars and law enforcement officers all over the place. They vacated the street, cordoned off the building, and started hunting for the staff.

By 11 a.m. the bank finally opened for business.

Copyright © 2001 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 11, No. 5, 5/01