Ocean's 4

A gaggle of firefighters came to our center today.  And by gaggle, I mean four.  Would that be a "pride"? Since one of my job responsibilities is to "interface with groups of public servants visiting the center unannounced that number more than 3, and up to 7," I greeted them.

Seems they wanted to learn all about the Center, in case of actual fire.  They wanted to see our exits, how our alarm system worked, get a schematic diagram of our layout, get emergency contact information, explore our attic, and get our alarm code.  They also made many of the women working in the office swoon (get the vapors?), but that wasn't a stated goal of the visit.  They spent thirty minutes exploring and taking notes.  One firefighter took pictures of random things with his phone (like the carpet and letters of support we have on display).

All in all, it was very proactive.  In case of fire (or fire alarm), they would know where to enter and egress, how to turn off the alarm, and what our carpet looks like.

Or...as it occurred to me after they left, they just did the best job of "casing the joint" ever.  These "firefighters" now know everything they need to know to come back after hours and burglarize the HELL out of this place.

Granted, they showed up in a fire truck and wore what looked like actual real firefighter costumes.  But wouldn't a really good crew of thieves be able to procure these things?

The thing is, we are a children's mental health agency, and we don't really have that much to steal.  We did just get two new laptops.  And we have a little over $100 in petty cash.

But what if this building was built on top of a stash of gold? Stolen from some armored car / bank vault robbery thirty years ago and then buried here?  And the "firefighters" were just biding their time until the circumstances were just right to retrieve it?  OK, these guys would have been toddlers, but what if they heard stories from their bank-robber-crew-dads, and decided to find the missing gold?

I clearly have been watching too many heist movies.  It's all just crazy speculation until I come back from a long weekend to find a giant hole in the middle of our waiting room.