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Earthquakes are fun!
For those who haven't heard, this morning the city I live in (Christchurch) was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. That's very nearly the same strength that recently decimated Haiti, although thankfully we've gotten off VERY lightly so far. The quake occurred at 4.35am, and once it was light I wandered down to the petrol station I work at to assess the damage.
....
You ALL know what's coming, don't you? The entrances were coned off, with caution tape strung between the cones. Most of the city was without power, some roads were/are undrivable and there is rubble EVERYWHERE. So how many dickheads ignored the caution tape? During the roughly half an hour I was there, 3 vehicles drove in, despite the tape. One drove THROUGH the tape, got waved away and left, one parked at the pump and tried to get petrol (!), one backed up to a trailer.
The manager went outside and asked Trailer Guy what he was doing.
TG: Yeah, I want to hire a trailer mate.
M: We're closed. We have no power and no tills. You can't hire a trailer.
TG: I only want it for a few hours though.
M: You need to leave.
Thankfully, he did.
Of course, there was an almost endless stream of people who assumed that, since they were pedestrians, the caution tape, cones, and generally closed nature of the site didn't apply to them. They got told very politely to piss off for the most part - we did sort of open for people who needed baby supplies or bottled water on a cash only basis, but we quickly shut even that down for safety reasons, locked the doors and shooed everyone away.
It's been a bloody awful day. For the most part, people were fantastic (fear does that to you I guess) and very polite, although I am hallucinating the sound of the phone ringing, it went off so bloody often. Towards the end, two SCs really pissed me off - the guy who accused me of stealing from him by ringing his milk up for more than it was supposed to be (specials don't get rung up til the Total key is hit, which I explained to him) then cracked a joke as he left like it was all fine. Asshole.
Then there was the guy who cut me off as I was trying to explain something to him to ask the same question of my (male) coworker - clearly, being female, I couldn't possibly know the answer to his question.
Minor grouches, I know. But like I said, it's been an awful and bloody scary day. I've never been in a decent earthquake before and this was a doozy. It's now midnight, the aftershocks still haven't stopped, every single one scares me, and we don't know when the city will be back to normal. Prayers would really be appreciated.
There was one AWESOME part to the day though - no bloody fuel sales or gas bottles! They were worried about a possible tank rupture, since a few sites had their tanks rise right out of the ground (!!!!), so all of the pumps were surrounded by caution tape. I was dying to see some dickhead drive straight through it and try to get fuel, but no one obliged me
.
....
You ALL know what's coming, don't you? The entrances were coned off, with caution tape strung between the cones. Most of the city was without power, some roads were/are undrivable and there is rubble EVERYWHERE. So how many dickheads ignored the caution tape? During the roughly half an hour I was there, 3 vehicles drove in, despite the tape. One drove THROUGH the tape, got waved away and left, one parked at the pump and tried to get petrol (!), one backed up to a trailer.
The manager went outside and asked Trailer Guy what he was doing.
TG: Yeah, I want to hire a trailer mate.
M: We're closed. We have no power and no tills. You can't hire a trailer.
TG: I only want it for a few hours though.
M: You need to leave.
Thankfully, he did.
Of course, there was an almost endless stream of people who assumed that, since they were pedestrians, the caution tape, cones, and generally closed nature of the site didn't apply to them. They got told very politely to piss off for the most part - we did sort of open for people who needed baby supplies or bottled water on a cash only basis, but we quickly shut even that down for safety reasons, locked the doors and shooed everyone away.
It's been a bloody awful day. For the most part, people were fantastic (fear does that to you I guess) and very polite, although I am hallucinating the sound of the phone ringing, it went off so bloody often. Towards the end, two SCs really pissed me off - the guy who accused me of stealing from him by ringing his milk up for more than it was supposed to be (specials don't get rung up til the Total key is hit, which I explained to him) then cracked a joke as he left like it was all fine. Asshole.
Then there was the guy who cut me off as I was trying to explain something to him to ask the same question of my (male) coworker - clearly, being female, I couldn't possibly know the answer to his question.
Minor grouches, I know. But like I said, it's been an awful and bloody scary day. I've never been in a decent earthquake before and this was a doozy. It's now midnight, the aftershocks still haven't stopped, every single one scares me, and we don't know when the city will be back to normal. Prayers would really be appreciated.
There was one AWESOME part to the day though - no bloody fuel sales or gas bottles! They were worried about a possible tank rupture, since a few sites had their tanks rise right out of the ground (!!!!), so all of the pumps were surrounded by caution tape. I was dying to see some dickhead drive straight through it and try to get fuel, but no one obliged me
.
I hope that people have enough supplies that they don't need to come and harass you more before you're able to open up.
I'd be freaking out a lot too-- and 7.1 is the Scary Zone. Hyndis has a point, most people die because of stuff in a city/ inhabited areas, like buildings, resulting fires, fouled water... Keep us updated on how things are going, yeah?
He is my Black Dragon (and yes, a good one) strong, protective, the guardian. I am his Silver Dragon, always by his side, shining for him, cherishing him.
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