Danny Rosas-Salas

Doctor Haslam

English 1010

September 18, 2021

Gang Members at the Office

People in our lives ask us all the time, “Hey how was your day?”, and then right after

they would ask, “Did you do anything interesting today?” We would usually respond with, “It

was good”, or instead we would say, “It was alright”. Today was different. Not a lot of people

experience what I have gone through today at work, especially when a gang threatens and tries to

storm into the facility that I work in.

Before I continue my story let me introduce myself for a brief moment. My name is

Jimmy Salas, and I’m from Michoacan, Mexico. Notorious for their delicious and natural

avocados, for we are nicknamed the capital of avocados in Mexico.

I work as an accountant for highways and freeways. It might sound strange, but in some

parts of Mexico they charge people to have access to certain freeways or highways. I work in an

office counting the money, and making sure that the highways and freeways are receiving the

right amount compared to the amount of cars that pass through.

The way we keep track of the cars that go by is with security cameras. Where we check

the people that are charging the cars, and with them keeping track of the cars that are passing by.

We also have cameras that see what cars are going through the highway or the freeway.

During work this past week I have been hearing news lately about the gang violence that

has been occurring. Where gangs have been killing each other's members by the dozen, and this

issue has been occurring for a while. Where it is not even a surprise anymore when there are
mass shootings of gangs killing one another. It’s sad that it has to be that way, but there has been

a lot of cartel and gang violence throughout the years that we got used to at this point because

there hasn’t been any efforts to stop it.

Yesterday a guy came to the rusty security gates of the facility that we work in. Through

the camera he looked like he was trying to find something, and he found what he was looking

for. Where he stared straight into the camera, and then he started to yell at the camera.

“Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?” he said. Which we can, and we could also speak to him

through a microphone that is attached to the camera.

One of my co-workers responded by saying, “Yeah we can hear you. What do you want?”

“I want your camera footage from last night,” as he said in a demanding voice.

“Why would you need it? These footage can only be used for employees only.”

“Listen, I don’t want to waste my time anymore. Give me the footage now and there

won’t be any more problems.”

“Well, sorry pal we can not give you the footage unless there is a reason behind it.”

“Alright I will give you a reason. We need the camera footage from the highway posts

that you charge to see what cars passed through. Those people that went by have murdered some

of our members, and we’re looking for them to seek our revenge. Now, give me the footage at

this moment, or me and the rest of my gang will come and kill every single person in that

building and burn this building into ashes!”

My co-worker was now getting anxious, and was in silence trying to come up with words

to respond back. We were not going to give him the footage, and even if we wanted to we don’t

have access to it unless we ask for them from a judge. As I looked at my co-worker he was
starting to sweet and was breathing heavily. I’m not going to lie, I was scared too, and I was

starting to get goosebumps just hearing and listening to him.

Then we took a while with our silence, and the gang member responded by saying,

“Okay, I see then. I warned you I will come back tomorrow, mark my words!”

My coworker and I were both scared at first, but we told ourselves that hopefully it was

nothing serious. That it was only a guy with his group of friends trying to get something

important from us with just a threat.

Then the next day came, and it felt just like any other day during August. Everything

seemed normal at first, yet I was having that threat repeating in my subconscious constantly

while I was working. I was worried at first, but as time went on I did not hear or see anything or

no gang members coming through our cameras. I can’t let my guard down at the same time. I

was just counting and looking at the clock constantly counting down the seconds that were left

until I had lunch.

Then I jumped out of my seat as I heard an alarm, but it was just the alarm from my

coworker telling him that lunch had started. As I heard the alarm I told myself that I can’t be

paranoid for this long, and I have to continue with my work after lunch. That day I forgot my

lunch at home just thinking about that stupid threat that wasn’t even real. I left my desk to go

have lunch away from the building that I work in to eat somewhere close by.

As I leave the building through the rusty security gate I see that there is no one, no car,

and not even a bird coming towards our building. At that moment I felt assured and calm that

nothing was going to happen. I was able to get lunch at a nearby restaurant close to my work.
 After I ate my lunch in peace and silence I was approaching the facility that I work in, but

then I saw a gang heavily armed with assault rifles and pistols trying to get into the same old

rusty gate that the man was demanding us to give him the tape.

As soon as I saw that I quickly turned my car around with a sharp u-turn. Then going as

fast as I can not trying to crash, and checking my mirrors every second that I can to see if they

were not following me. At the same time my younger sister and nephew were calling me through

my phone and I couldn’t answer the phone, so I had to let my phone ring as I’m getting away.

I was fortunate enough that as I was driving no one was following me as I made it home

safely. Then an hour passed by, and I turned on the only television in our home to see the news.

As I was seeing the news they talked about the building that I worked in, and the situation

that occurred. The gang got past the rusty security gate, and went all the way to the front desk

where we checked in for work. Fortunately the local armed forces came, and stopped the

situation before it turned into another mess that was going to occur because of the never ending

violence of gangs.

Then I remembered that I had to call back my sister and her nephew because I missed

their call earlier, and as they called me they thought I was on my break because I would’ve been

working by that time. They were surprised that I was at home early, and they quickly asked me,

“How was work?” Well, you know what my response was.

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