A would-be robber who tried a new tack was foiled early Wednesday by a gutsy clerk who dismissed the mug’s mumbled threat and note as a joke instead of a threat and called the coppers, according to state police at Reading.

The caper began near Reading when a man, wearing a paper plate over his face, emerged out of the frost-filled darkness around 3:15 a.m. to stand at the front door of the Pricestone Sunoco, 3123 Pricetown Road, Alsace Township in Berks County. When the man approached the counter, the suspicious clerk informed him that he had to remove his paper mask before she could serve him.

“The actor mumbled and placed a note on the counter which told her to give him money and act normal,” police said.

The courageous clerk hit the silent alarm instead and told Plate Face the police were on their way. Plate Face turned tail and ran out the door toward Oley Road, police said.

The quality of the criminals lately is dismal…I blame the school system.