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  • Tales from the Blackout

    We had a major blackout last Wednesday. It started at 1am and took out the entire Darwin-Katherine grid. Power wasn't fully restored until about 3pm on Wednesday. People have whined about it since it wasn't weather related but due to something breaking. I got called by work at 7:20am to not come in but be on standby for the office got power. My house got power back at 7:40am. I still hadn't heard anything from work by 11:15am, so I decided to go into the office. The CBD was without any power so I hung around my friends that own a bakery.

    My friends had decided to take their BBQ and generator into the bakery and sell bacon & egg sandwiches. The BBQ was set up out the front of the store nearly on the footpath. This would allow them to get rid of stock that might go off and make some money. The menu choice was a bacon & egg, egg & bacon, bacon, or egg sandwich. A few people where didn't like the choice and went looking for something else. Most went for the bacon & egg sandwich but of course there were a couple of SC's.

    SC#1 - Allergic to Eggs
    I know that people do have serious food allergies but her reactions where over the top.
    SC: I am allergic to eggs can I get a bacon sandwich that hasn't been anywhere near the eggs.
    Friend: I am sorry but we are cooking everything on a small BBQ and I can't guarantee a egg free sandwich.
    SC: But I want a bacon sandwich and I AM ALLERGIC to EGGS.
    F: We can't help you as the bacon is right next to the eggs. There is no power inside so we can't prepare just a bacon sandwich that hasn't been near the eggs.
    SC: THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.
    SC was last seen storming down the street complaining about the difficulties of getting food that wasn't contaminated. A lot of people living in the city couldn't even get a hot meal.

    SC#2 - You are ripping me off
    A couple in a car see the BBQ and people hanging around. The pull over and get told the menu. Then the question of price comes up.
    SC: How much for the Bacon & Egg sandwich?
    F: $6
    SC: How much for just an egg sandwich?
    F: $5
    SC: And how much would they be if I was here on a normal day?
    F: The same price as this is our normal pricing.
    SC: I can get a pie for $5 and more work goes into those. An egg sandwich must be cheaper?
    F: It is your choice: pay the price or go somewhere else.
    SC: YOU ARE RIGHT THAT IT IS MY CHOICE AND I AM GOING TO A PLACE THAT DOESN'T RIP ME OFF.
    The SC's wife was looking upset when she discovered that she wasn't getting a sandwich. She had been getting drinks and had missed his rant. In terms of cost of items an individual pie has more ingredients and takes longer to make than a sandwich. The difference is that the bakers can make a hundred pies in the time that it takes to make ten bacon & egg sandwiches.

    The nice customers
    The customers that were very thankful to get something to eat and thanked the crew for being open.

    The guests from the hotels nearby that had been forced to evacuate the buildings early in the morning. They saw the BBQ, wandered over the road and got a sandwich with no complaints or fuss.

    The people who would ask politely about the food & drinks and decide to go looking elsewhere with no fuss. Most apologised for not buying something and wandered off with nice goodbye.


    My friends calculated that they cooked between 150 to 200 bacon & egg sandwiches. The BBQ allowed about four to be cooked at the same time. Luckily they were able to save most of their food stocks by moving items into freezers and having a generator running a small fridge. They made the TV news as they were the only place that the news crew had found open. Future plans for blackouts include a large BBQ and a bigger generator so they can turn on the coffee machine.

  • #2
    That's actually pretty smart

    But people living in/near a CBD anywhere, well, better not step on their precious toes or you (and everyone on earshot) will know about it

    Comment


    • #3
      On that last note -- They could always scrounge up an old-school metal coffee pot or two and just heat the coffee right on the grill ^_^ No generator needed.
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

      Comment


      • #4
        Quoth TopEndDave View Post
        The menu choice was a bacon & egg, egg & bacon, bacon, or egg sandwich.
        What? No spam?
        "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

        Comment


        • #5
          Egg allergy woman had a (minor) point: she couldn't get a hot meal either. But she had no right to yell at you.

          If your friends do it again with two grills, it would be helpful for the allergic people if they used one grill for bacon and one for eggs: though if that was going to make the whole process slower/harder, it becomes a matter of balancing the needs of the many over the needs of the few.
          Seshat's self-help guide:
          1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
          2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
          3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
          4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

          "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

          Comment


          • #6
            This is making me want a bacon and egg sandwich....

            Comment


            • #7
              Frankly, if she was that allergic to eggs, she shouldn't even have bothered asking once she knew they were serving eggs at all. There's always a possibility of cross-contamination from utensils and such.
              When you start at zero, everything's progress.

              Comment


              • #8
                It's also possible there was egg in the bread so having the bacon cooked separately wouldn't have done her any good.
                Figers are vicious I tell ya. They crawl up your leg and steal your belly button lint.

                I'm a case study.

                Comment


                • #9
                  A quick reply:

                  Egg woman - The possibility of contamination was very high. The BBQ was small and all the utensils had been in contact with egg. The best that could have been done was slices of bread from an unopened loaf. Wanting food with no egg at all - not sucky. Yelling at people when they say it can't be done - sucky. Also she was the only person to mention an allergy.

                  Coffee - I think that may people wanted a coffee from the machine but I will mention a kettle/coffee pot arrangement. The problem that they had on the day was a lack of space on the BBQ.

                  I forgot to mention that the grill caught fire twice during the day due to the build of bacon grease. No real danger but it did slow down the supply of bacon.

                  I was told the next day that one of the bigger office buildings in the city had power from a backup generator. The coffee shop on its ground floor did a very good day of trading. It is at the other end of the CBD from my friend's bakery and is hard to see from the road.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth TopEndDave View Post
                    SC#2 - You are ripping me off
                    In terms of cost of items an individual pie has more ingredients and takes longer to make than a sandwich. The difference is that the bakers can make a hundred pies in the time that it takes to make ten bacon & egg sandwiches.

                    Future plans for blackouts include a large BBQ and a bigger generator so they can turn on the coffee machine.
                    Here's another difference: the pies will last a lot longer than the egg sandwiches before they go bad. Plus, the ingredients for a pie are a LOT cheaper than eggs and bacon.

                    So yes, the prices were quite reasonable.

                    Quoth TopEndDave View Post
                    A quick reply:

                    Egg woman - The possibility of contamination was very high. The BBQ was small and all the utensils had been in contact with egg. The best that could have been done was slices of bread from an unopened loaf. Wanting food with no egg at all - not sucky. Yelling at people when they say it can't be done - sucky. Also she was the only person to mention an allergy.
                    Don't know about your place, but when we had the 3-4 day blackout in my area last weekend, the local House O Waffles was where I got a ham and egg sandwich. The store itself was dark, minimal light. So being able to operate and prevent cross contamination would have been very, very difficult. It's just better for the egg allergy folks to get their food elsewhere under such circumstances. Is it "fair?" Probably not. But it is reality.

                    Quoth TopEndDave View Post
                    I was told the next day that one of the bigger office buildings in the city had power from a backup generator. The coffee shop on its ground floor did a very good day of trading. It is at the other end of the CBD from my friend's bakery and is hard to see from the road.
                    We had a number of food places that were open, including most fast food places. The lines were unbelievable, yet understandable. Most people could not cook at home, and wanted to keep the cold in their fridges. Understandable.

                    I definitely have to look into making sure I have an alternate source of heat for both warmth and cooking that doesn't involve electricity.
                    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post
                      I definitely have to look into making sure I have an alternate source of heat for both warmth and cooking that doesn't involve electricity.
                      The secret is to bang the rocks together, guys...

                      (Sorry, I couldn't resist )
                      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
                      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
                      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
                      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
                      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
                      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
                      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
                      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Quoth Sapphire Silk View Post

                        I definitely have to look into making sure I have an alternate source of heat for both warmth and cooking that doesn't involve electricity.
                        Well, I am, as well as probably others onlist, probably well able to make intelligent suggestions. I think perhaps we should start some sort of thread?

                        Here we go!
                        EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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