Rainier Valley

Video store clerks often deal with pissy customers, seething over the self-inflicted sting of late-fees, but last night, a clerk at Rainier Video had an experience that makes me glad I retired from video retail.

A 27 year-old woman —who asked not to be named— was filling in for the store’s owner, watching The Hollow Man 2 and reading books in the store with her 9 year-old son. Around 7pm, a man —wearing nothing but red boxer shorts and socks— threw a firebomb through the front door of the store. It was the woman’s second day on the job.

“We were reading a book and I just heard a bang. There were flames all over the ground and on the candy rack,” she said. The woman and her son escaped from the video store unharmed.

Police aren’t releasing the man’s motive, but he’s been booked into King County Jail and charged with arson.

“I don’t think I have any enemies,” the woman said. “I’ve only worked there for two days.”

Despite her brush with death, the woman says she’s ready to go back to work. “I don’t know if I’d bring my son there again,” she said.