Notch one for the grandmothers of the world. A tough-talking, 96-year-old shop owner from Wisconsin, Margaretta Wolf sent a would-be, knife-wielding robber packing earlier this week using only sheer willpower and stubbornness.
“I said, ’I’m not opening up that cash register, and that’s it, I’m not opening it.’ I said, ’You can have all the Tootsie Rolls you wantm but I am not opening that cash register,’ ” she said, recounting in The Associated Press what she told the armed intruder.
The store is a Marshfield, Wis., fixture, a family owned business that’s operated for 54 years.
A man wearing a silver mask and carrying a knife tried to rob her earlier this week, apparently thinking the elderly Ms. Wolf seemed a simple target.
“He said, ’Walk in the back of the store.’ I said, ’I’m not walking no place, I’m standing right here,’” Ms. Wolf said, in the AP report.
And when he flashed his knife, she said she told him: ’I’ll press a button, and I’ll have somebody here in seconds.,” AP reported.
The would-be robber looked frustrated, she said. But after spotting a security camera, he fled.
Ms. Wolf said she has a message for the suspect: “I think you got some punishments coming, and it will be a little more than scrubbing the floor,” AP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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