folks grabbing money from a register in park slope

just a heads up to any retail folks in the slope. yesterday i was in a shop on 5th ave and a guy in front of me, along with a guy outside, were running a set up on the worker behind the register. the guy in line was buying a soda, originally paid with a $5 and then was like "wait, i have exact change" and as soon as the register was open he walked away from the register a bit and started reaching behind the counter, leading the employee to walk away from the register (still open) to see what he was doing. as soon as she did this a guy from outside stepped in the door which was right by the register and grabbed all of the $20s out of the register. i don't think anyone else saw him, but i stepped towards the door and told him to drop the money. just his arm and shoulder were in the door, and i thought i'd have to slam the door on him to get him to drop the money, but when i told him to put it down (in my best teacher voice) he just dropped it and took off. the clerk closed the register and told the other guy to leave.

so yeah, if someone is acting weird when you're ringing them up, changes his mind about how he wants to pay, and then starts reaching behind the counter make sure you close the register. their strategy was well worked out and i'm impressed that it pretty much worked, but based on the fact that the guy just dropped the money i'd imagine they aren't pros - maybe just folks (they were both around 50-60) feeling the economic crunch at christmas time and getting a bit desperate.