Call Me!

A young robber leaves his business card

It's just after eight in the morning. A young man walks into car repair shop in Chicago.

18-year old Ruben Carate is wearing a mask. He is carrying a gun. He looks very scary.

Carate waves his gun at the employees behind the counter. ‘Open up the safe,’ he orders. ‘And give me all the money.’

The employees look nervously at each other. ‘We can’t do that,’ they tell the robber. ‘Only our boss has the combination to the safe. And he’s not here yet.’

The young robber now looks confused. This is a problem he isn’t expecting. ‘When is he coming in?’ he asks.

‘We’re not sure,’ says a worker called Tony Diaz. ‘Some time before lunch.’

‘But I can’t wait here all morning!’ complains the robber. ‘I’ve got things to do.’

Here's my number

‘We could call you when our boss gets in,’ says Mr Diaz bravely.

There is a moment of tense silence. Mr Diaz looks at the gun. He is regretting his joke. He expects to be screamed at or worse.

But to everyone’s amazement Carate nods his masked head. He carefully writes down his mobile number. ‘Call me on this number as soon as he gets in,’ he says.

‘Okay,’ says Mr Diaz.

Happy with this arrangement, Mr Carate backs out of the shop. He is still waving his gun at the employees. 'You guys must call me!’ he warns them. ‘Otherwise I'm going to come back to shoot you.'

Later that morning they do call Carate back. They also phone the Chicago police.

'I'm back!'

Just before midday Carate returns. Plain-clothes Chicago police officers are waiting for him. ‘Stay at the back of the shop,’ they tell the employees.

Carate walks in. He’s wearing the same clothes and the same mask. ‘I’m back,’ he shouts. ‘And I want the money now.’

But the man now standing behind the counter is a police officer. ‘Put your hands in the air!’ he tells Carate.

The look of amazement on Carate’s face quickly turns to fury. He does not put his hands up. Instead he tries to attack the police officer.

The police officer shoots. He wounds Carate in the leg.

‘It's pretty funny now, but it wasn't at the time,’ Diaz says.

‘No one could make this up," adds a police spokesman.

Carate is treated in hospital for a gunshot wound. He is then charged with attempted armed robbery and assaulting a police officer.

Read about another funny story involving a thief and a mobile phone here