Store Clerk Defends Himself Against Robber With Barcode Scanner

The uses for a barcode scanner may be quite varied but being used as a weapon to defend your business against a robber has got to be the most daring of all.

This story starts at a Family Mart convenience store in Osaka, Japan at 4am when a young male in his 20’s comes in and asks the 41-year-old clerk for a pack of cigarettes. According to the clerk’s statement, while he was behind the register scanning the barcode on the cigarette pack, the customer pulled out a knife and a bag. The customer-turn-robber threatened the clerk with the knife and demanded the money from the register be emptied into the bag.

While Japan is a very safe country with almost no gun usage, larger cities do have instances of robbery and theft most commonly with the use of a knife.

What follows is the surprising part when the clerk used the barcode scanner to knock the knife out of the unsuspecting robber’s hand, and yelled, “Stop it! Get out of here!” Obediently, the unsuccessful robber did as he was told. He grabbed his knife with nothing else and ran out of the store.

Police never did find who the wannabe robber was but I’m pretty sure he’ll think twice before getting any where near a place that has a barcode scanner.