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Wednesday, September 3, 2003

Code Seven.

I found out tonight what a Code Seven is at Walgreens.

It is not a reference to the number of stores at which one has had to stop in order to find a monthly bus pass, though that's true. I mean, they had them at the Montgomery Street BART Station, but the line stretched down the hall and up the stairs, and I had to run back to the office to finish the Impossible Project. Improbably, I managed to finish the first part of it.

Code Seven is not the same as Code Brown.

It is not a reference to the number of paper cuts, chemical burns and inhalation poisoning near-misses that one sustains on a weekend-long cleaning binge in anticipation of having guests over. Maybe I've gone a little overboard. But there will be room for seven visitors in my living room if I have to remove a wall to do it.

Code Seven is when the security guard grapples with a man trying to shoplift a bunch of Giants hats under his shirt. The wiry guard managed to keep hold on the man without getting hit in the face by his flailing arms, and they somewhat slowly wrestled their way back to the register where I was standing, trying to be out of the way. The manager leapt on the intercom and announced "Code Seven at the front; Code Seven at the front."

"I can help you here," a woman behind the counter said, a bit shaken but plainly stated, as if nothing was happening. I told her I needed a fast pass, never taking my eyes off the scuffling pair, who edged closer step by step. Hats were liberated, the man was ejected. The check machine failed to work, so we had to wait for the manager to finish dealing with security in order to manually enter and approve my Commuter Check. That was when I realized what Code Seven means. It means, "Go about your business as usual, even if it isn't."

Tomorrow is part two of the impossible project. Code Seven at the office.

12:54 AM PST (link)