Writer's Block: Set the Scene
Jun. 16th, 2009 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drewkitty[Error: unknown template qotd]
ATM machines. Convenience stores. Kitchens. The first two are dangerous at night; the third is dangerous all the time.
The ATM machine is the perfect place for a strongarm robbery. It is the one place where an alert crook can notice an inattentive person whom the crook knows to now have cash. Despite cameras, lighting, control of shrubbery and careful placement, the ATM is the perfect 'watering hole' for the crooks. Care must also be taken to avoid a potential carjack when parking nearby and while returning.
Convenience stores are a stupid place to commit crimes, which is why only giggling losers do so. The store management carefully trains their employees, uses drop safes, cameras, lighting, mirrors, audio monitoring and all sorts of other measures to try to cut down on the hazard -- but the fact remains that some moron can and will rob the place. At this point the only thing to do is to allow said moron to complete the crime hopefully without hurting or killing anyone. If he were a half point brighter, he would steal inventory rather than threatening the clerk's life for a handful of spare change.
Kitchens are a common place for family arguments. They are also full of weapons and dangerous objects. A kitchen is a place to process meat. We are made of meat. Knives, rolling pins, saucepans . . . all can be used to kill. A malicious person can make far more deadly items in a kitchen with just a little bit of ingenuity, from the dreaded chemicals-in-the-face that has cost many a flatfoot their eyesight to the kind of explosives that can cripple a Terminator. Underneath the kitchen sink is a mess that genuinely frightens hazardous materials experts, especially if used "in a manner inconsistent with its labeling." Industrial kitchens are better kept but contain higher levels of hazard. Open fryers, stoves, slicers, even dishwashing equipment can maim and kill. Or if you really want to dispose of someone, lock them in the walk-in freezer and wait. If you doubt any of this watch the movie "Under Siege."
ATM machines. Convenience stores. Kitchens. The first two are dangerous at night; the third is dangerous all the time.
The ATM machine is the perfect place for a strongarm robbery. It is the one place where an alert crook can notice an inattentive person whom the crook knows to now have cash. Despite cameras, lighting, control of shrubbery and careful placement, the ATM is the perfect 'watering hole' for the crooks. Care must also be taken to avoid a potential carjack when parking nearby and while returning.
Convenience stores are a stupid place to commit crimes, which is why only giggling losers do so. The store management carefully trains their employees, uses drop safes, cameras, lighting, mirrors, audio monitoring and all sorts of other measures to try to cut down on the hazard -- but the fact remains that some moron can and will rob the place. At this point the only thing to do is to allow said moron to complete the crime hopefully without hurting or killing anyone. If he were a half point brighter, he would steal inventory rather than threatening the clerk's life for a handful of spare change.
Kitchens are a common place for family arguments. They are also full of weapons and dangerous objects. A kitchen is a place to process meat. We are made of meat. Knives, rolling pins, saucepans . . . all can be used to kill. A malicious person can make far more deadly items in a kitchen with just a little bit of ingenuity, from the dreaded chemicals-in-the-face that has cost many a flatfoot their eyesight to the kind of explosives that can cripple a Terminator. Underneath the kitchen sink is a mess that genuinely frightens hazardous materials experts, especially if used "in a manner inconsistent with its labeling." Industrial kitchens are better kept but contain higher levels of hazard. Open fryers, stoves, slicers, even dishwashing equipment can maim and kill. Or if you really want to dispose of someone, lock them in the walk-in freezer and wait. If you doubt any of this watch the movie "Under Siege."
