Employees at a Butler convenience store are wondering if they should be getting hazardous duty pay.

They wonder if they're going to be on the job the next time the store is robbed. And they wonder if the next time could be their last.

"We're concerned we're not going to see our babies before it's time for us to go home," said Donna Cogley, manager of the Honey Bear store on East Jefferson Street.

A favorite target of robbers, the store was struck again Monday night.

The latest holdup at the Honey Bear marks the eighth time the store has been robbed since 2001.

"Has it been that many? Cogley asked. "We lost count."

Butler police said an unknown man wearing a red, hooded sweatshirt at 11:12 p.m. Monday walked into the store and pulled out a large, straight-edge knife and demanded money from the lone female clerk working at the time.

The clerk handed the robber an undisclosed amount of money from the cash register. The man ran out of the store and the clerk was not injured, police said.

The woman does not know if the robber used a vehicle in his getaway.

The robber is described as in his late teens or early 20s, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall with a thin to medium build. He had red hair cropped short and a freckled face.

The man's sweatshirt had black stripes on the sleeves and an undistinguishable emblem on the front of it. He wore dark baggy pants and white sneakers.

Sgt. Mark Peffer said there are no suspects in the robbery; however, he said police are hopeful that a suspect could emerge from the store's surveillance camera that caught the crime on videotape.

"We got some fairly good images of (the robber)," Peffer said.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call police at 724-287-7743.

Cogley of Kittanning, Armstrong County, has been working at the store for the past five years. She's not about to quit despite the rash of robberies, and she's not about to lose her sense of humor.

"It's a fun place to work," she said. "We have good customers. They stop in all the time. They're just as concerned for us as we are for each other."

Cogley's husband is especially concerned. The couple has two sons, ages 13 and 7.

"He's worried that I might get hurt," she said.

Cogley has not been at work during any of the robberies during the past three years.

But earlier this year, a co-worker and friend working at the counter was hurt when hit in the face with pepper spray used by the robber.

The robber disabled the clerk before making off with about $200 in the Jan. 6 robbery. The clerk's eyes were later flushed of the pepper spray at Butler Memorial Hospital.

Nine days later, city police arrested Norman Kendall, 23, of Butler for the crime. Kendall, who is also accused in the Jan. 7 robbery at Neff's Country Store in Oakland Township, faces robbery and theft charges in Butler County Court.

The Honey Bear store was robbed twice last year, once in 2002 and three times during a one-month period in 2001.

Richard Kamerer Jr., 25, of Butler is serving a 4- to 12-year sentence in state prison for robbing the Honey Bear on Jan. 10, 2003, as well as robbing the E-Z Stop convenience store on North Main Street in Butler on three separate occasions.

The other Honey Bear robberies remain under investigation, but are unsolved.

The store's owner, Richard Franks of Connellsville, Fayette County, has previously talked with employees about the robberies, but solutions to ending the crimes have been hard to come by, Cogley said.

Franks, who could not be reached for comment, has decided to get rid of a pay telephone outside the store.

Employees think some of the robbers have feigned using the phone, waiting for the store to empty of customers before committing the crimes.

After dark, the door is locked and only opened when a customer arrives.

The location of the store, away from downtown and somewhat secluded, makes it an inviting target, according to employees.

They also wish police would better patrol the area.

"You don't see them until there's a robbery," Cogley said. "They'll start patrolling more for the next two or three days but then it ends. We'd like to see them drive through the parking lot once in a while to let people know they're here."

Butler police Chief Tim Fennell said he is sympathetic to employees' concerns.

"We do what we can up there, and we can certainly try to do more," he said. "But we can't be there the whole time they're open."