Who would have thought electricity was essential?! *sighs*

[customersruinmylife]

Hi everyone! It's been a while! The sucky customers have not stopped for me, but I just have not had time to sit down and write about them! Very busy with my own business and everything at the minute. So here goes.

It's the Easter break in the UK at the minute, and the weather has been great. The pub has been very, very busy because of this and it hasn't been fun. I was in the middle of working the lunch rush, taking meals out to customers. It was hot, it was very busy and the staff were starting to get stressed. Suddenly, the kitchen lights started to flicker.

Kitchen Co-worker: Now what?

And just like that, the power went out. EVERYTHING went, even the emergency lighting. The kitchen was so dark I literally could not see my hand in front of my face. The extraction fans went out, so the temperature shot up immediately. Boss Lady burst into the kitchen. She ran over and shut off the gas using a torch light on her phone.

Boss: Right, everyone out the kitchen! This is too dangerous!

We all evacuated the kitchen and stood at the end of the bar. The bar was also in absolute darkness. Boss lady came over.

Boss: How many meals did we have on?
Kitchen: I don't know, there were loads! I'd say about twenty meals. Don't worry, I pulled everything out the grills and fryers before we left.
Boss: We're going to have to go table to table and refund all these people if the power doesn't come back on right away.
Me: We should ring the power company.

The phones were dead as well. We managed to use one of our own and called them. They said there had been a surge and it would be out for an HOUR.

So Boss, myself, a co-worker and I went to each table, telling them they would have to get a refund. Oh my. Can you imagine the reactions??

SC: But I've been waiting for 15 minutes already! And now you're telling me I can't eat?

SC2: My children are hungry!

SC3: Where else can we go? Can you call another pub and make a reservation for us???

SC4: I don't understand why the power being out affects the kitchen! Isn't everything powered by gas???
Me: Certain things are but without the power the gas has been shut off.
SC4: What does that mean?
Me: Look, we just don't have any power. We can't cook.

I was starting to lose patience. Not ONE customer was understanding. And it's not like they were unaware there was no power. The pub was in darkness!

SC5: I don't want a refund! I want my meal! When will the power be back?
Me: Not for at least an hour.
SC5: I can't wait that long! I have places to be!
Me: Then I will get you a refund.
SC5: I told you! I don't want a refund!
Me: *snapping* WHAT do you want then??
SC5: Fine. Just give me my money back.

The customers were gradually leaving the pub. Rather than completely evacuating the pub right away, Boss lady decided to stay open and let people drink. The cooler and fridges were still fine, so as long as people had the exact change, they could get a drink. She was refunding people using money from the safe, as she was unable to open the registers.

Pretty much every customer left except the regular alcoholics. I went on the bar and stood with my co-workers.

SC: Can I still get a beer?
Me: If you have the right change, yes.
SC: Ok. I'll have one.
Me: Remember, I need the exact amount of money. I can't take notes.
SC: OK.

He handed me a £20 note.

Me: What did I just say?
SC: You mean you can't change it? Well, I guess it's free then.
Me: No. I guess you're not getting a beer then.
SC: Fiiiinnneee! *hands me correct change*

Customers still kept entering the pub. I greeted them as they entered.

Me: Hi there. There has been a powercut-
SC: Oh we know! The whole street is down!
Me: Yes, so we can only serve drink at the moment, and only if you have change, just so you know.
SC: WHAT??? WE'RE LEAVING!!

More customers arrived.

Me: Hi there. Just so you know, there has been a powercut-
SC: Oh that's fine. We've only come in for lunch.
Me: We cannot serve food without power.
SC: Why not???

I gave up on greeting customers and let Boss lady do it. I went and sat out the back with the kitchen co-workers. Boss lady stormed out the back and screamed.

Boss: These fucking morons! Why can't they understand that in order to cook food, you need electricity! Argh!!!

It went around in circles like that for an hour. The power came back on ten minutes before the end of my shift, and like locusts, the customers swarmed back inside and up to the bar. I ran out the doors when my shift ended.

[eltf177]

SC: Can I still get a beer?
Me: If you have the right change, yes.
SC: Ok. I'll have one.
Me: Remember, I need the exact amount of money. I can't take notes.
SC: OK.

He handed me a £20 note.

Me: What did I just say?
SC: You mean you can't change it? Well, I guess it's free then.
Me: No. I guess you're not getting a beer then any change back. Thanks for the generous tip!
SC: Fiiiinnneee! *hands me correct change*

Fixed that for ya!

Seriously, the power's out and people wonder why they can't get food? What planet do these idiots come from and what can we do to send them back?

[emax4]

Why didn't boss lady just close the place for the remainder of the hour after the last patrons left?

[Mondestrucken]

Any time we have power failures, or massive computer shutdowns, we get this.

But all I need is: to renew my license, to get a car titled in my name, what ever! What am I supposed to do?

Wait. Wait until we have power or computers. And don't you dare tell me that you are under some ridiculous time constraint, as in you need to show the judge that you have gotten your license or you are going to jail. No court case gives you 15 minutes warning. You have known for months, and this last minute shit is your own making. Deal with it.

[Sheldonrs]

Anybody else hearing "HEY YOU GUYS!!!" in their heads?

[Trixie]

We had our power go out once and people didn't understand no power, no service. There was a brief mention of writing down UPC's and only accepting cash for product but yeah didn't happen. We got everyone out of the store and pretty much sat around in the dark hoping the power would come back on before the refrigerated pharmacy stuff went bad.

About an hour or so later power came back on and the second we opened the doors people started pouring back in still wondering why they couldn't get out quick enough ya know because the registers still have to start up again. In my whole time at my store that's the only time the power went out for that long. We've had the lights flicker and go out maybe a couple minutes at a time.

What I can't get over is how people take it so personally when things like that happen. Power outages should fall into the category "Things Beyond Our Control" and yet...people think you've gone out of your way to ruin their lives.

[XCashier]

Power outages should fall into the category "Things Beyond Our Control" and yet...people think you've gone out of your way to ruin their lives.

It's absolutely baffling how SCs think, isn't it? Logical people would understand that a power outage is beyond the store's control, but SCs use logic like a fish uses a bicycle.

Me, if I went to the pub and saw the lights were out, I might ask any employees I saw what was happening, and when they told me "power outage," I'd understand, wish them luck in getting their power back quickly and go elsewhere for lunch. It doesn't require genius-level brainpower.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Reminds me of the convenience/grocery store near my family's vacation cabin. Northwoods Wisconsin, rural as all get out. Severe thunderstorms took out the power. They did have a backup generator, but it only served the grocery section and was primarily for the refrigeration. The C-store, registers, etc were lit with camping lanterns and they were doing sales using notepads and a battery powered calculator. People were dealing with it fairly well, except for those who wanted to buy gas. After the second violent tantrum resulting in an arrest, the sheriff gave up and stationed a deputy at the store.

[telecom_goddess]

This may sound like a dumb question, but in instances like this, where power goes out, and there is the possibility of foods and medicines and whatnot going bad, is there some kind of insurance that would cover that loss?

[Firecrackers Not Included]

No place I have worked at would remain open in a power failure. No power = no cameras.
Store closed.

[Evannah]

And everyone wonders why I hate people.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

This may sound like a dumb question, but in instances like this, where power goes out, and there is the possibility of foods and medicines and whatnot going bad, is there some kind of insurance that would cover that loss?

Not a dumb question at all . . . I know grocery chains carry insurance and they can file a claim for loss due to extended power outages.

Example of this would be: early 2000's at Winn Dixie on Cone. We had lost power for almost 2 days due to an ice storm and even though we had backup generators, they only powered emergency lighting and registers and main office computer. We had lost refrigeration, couldn't use the handheld scanner units, etc (had our coffeemaker plugged into one of the orange outlets in the back conference room as I had both a store manager and co-manager who simply could NOT function without coffee.)

Anyways, due to the refrigeration loss, we had amassed quite a bunch of deli/frozen food/dairy/fresh meat items that even though we had tried to save some of those by storing them on a reefer trailer (NOT that kind of reefer, get yer minds outta the gutter) they had been compromised due to the power loss.

All of this merchandise had to be scanned out using a front end register set up in training mode, transferred from buggy to buggy as it was scanned (tedious process in itself) and photos had to be taken of each basket of product scanned out, as well as all register receipt tapes kept. The photos and register receipts were sent into our Corporate office for transfer to whichever person handled the insurance claims and claim was made.

We had several instances while I worked at that location (from 1999-2003) where we had lost a considerable amount of product due to winter storms. IIRC the larges amount of loss we had suffered at one time was around $80,000.

My store manager explained that yes, we carry insurance for such losses and that was why we kept the register tapes and took pictures to send in. Not sure how much they were insured for but they did receive money back on the claim AFAIK.

[MoonCat]

God, how can people be so f*cking stupid!! Most gas appliances these days have an ELECTRIC starter! *sigh* Really, I've lost all hope for humanity. There isn't a spare brain cell to be had.

[siskaren]

God, how can people be so f*cking stupid!! Most gas appliances these days have an ELECTRIC starter! *sigh*

And even if that wasn't the case, the kitchen was pitch dark. Apparently, the SCs thought that it wasn't necessary for the cooks to actually see what they were doing.

[LillFilly]

No place I have worked at would remain open in a power failure. No power = no cameras.
Store closed.

I know some chains have a policy that if their other stores in the area are open, that they must remain open. Also that if you're in a mall and a certain percentage of the largest anchor retailers are open, you must also stay open.