Nanaimo store employee jokingly calls in bomb threat to avoid working with coworker

Nanaimo RCMP aren’t too pleased after a bomb threat at a Nanaimo business turned out to be a bad joke.

Police said they were left scratching their collective heads after a woman “thought it would be funny” to call in a bomb threat to get out of working with another employee.

The incident occurred at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 11th, at the Pomme Natural Market.

They say she jokingly texted a different employee telling her to call in a bomb threat – because she didn’t want to work with a certain person.

The woman didn’t call in the bomb threat, but did report the incident to the police. An officer and a police services dog and his handler arrived at the business and closed it until they found there were no explosives.

“We’re not known for our humour when dealing with police incidents, especially those involving explosives, “ said Constable Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP.

The officers spoke directly to the woman, and made it very clear what they thought of her attempt at humour, and how it could have led to criminal code charges.

O’Brien said the woman was “mortified”, and apologized to everyone involved.

No charges are pending against the employee involved.