The desk guy was definitely in on it.
Think about their miserable, scum hole lives though.
Smack head addict: is as good as dead anyway, and no one will miss him because he'll have robbed or f*cked over anyone who's ever tried to help him out.
Sidekick: no less dismal, being managed by smack head. Neither of them can have any employment potential because if they had, even a minimum wage job would give a better and more reliable yield than that mindless, high risk carry on.
Muppet on the desk: is spending his days working in a garage for a start, and if thats not pointless and soul destroying enough, he's all entangled with these scroats, whether intended or not, who'll never let him shake them off as long as theres any chance of eeking any cash out of the passing visitors. Plus he's at a fixed location, so his days of operation will be numbered, either by the local bigger fish or the police.
For all of them, wrapping their doomed fingers around your cash card and your steering wheel is the only way they can ever sample what you've got, but the second they take it, its rotten, because its not and never will be theirs, and they know it, even if they do briefly 'get away' with it. To them, everyone around them has more, they're desperate. For you, it can and will be yours again and again, your own (earned) pad, your own (earned) car, friends, family, dignity.
The first three you were luckily able to save (bargain) by acting fast and having your health intact, but you protect your invaluable body and the last three by NOT going after them. Save your evil tokens for if and when someone comes after the last three.