Tough Granny Takes a Licking and Keeps on Ticking

I think there's just one thing to say about 91-year-old Florence Critelli: don't mess with her. Ever.

This ridiculously tough great-grandmother put men and women decades younger than her to shame Thursday when she fought off a robber while working her shift as a Rite Aid cashier in East Northport, NY.

The drama all started around 11 a.m. when a man gave her a dollar to buy a candy bar. After she opened the register to complete the transaction, the robber pounced and grabbed an unknown amount of cash.

But Critelli didn't just stand back and let him at it. On the contrary, "I grabbed his hand to stop him from taking the money and I just screamed," she told the New York Post.

And what did she get in return? The cruel robber punched her right in the chest.

Now, folks a lot younger than her might have been down for the count after such an encounter, but Critelli was so tough she not only refused medical attention, she insisted on completing her shift and then driving herself home.

"He hit me good, but it didn't hurt," said Critelli, who added that she hopes her attacker is caught, "because I want to smack him."

Attacks aside, it's pretty clear that Critelli is one strong great-grandmother of 13. She works 35 hours a week at Rite Aid, enjoys visiting the local casinos and knits and crochets mittens that are distributed to needy Long Islanders.

And you gotta love her attitude toward life.

"If you just stay home every day, you feel like you can't do anything and you don't want to do anything," she said. "It's just not the right way to be."

Photo by Ildar Sagdejev via Wikimedia Commons.