New things that are racist and other assorted EW's

[mattm04]

Nothing like a power failure to bring out the crazy's. A substation a ways away recently decided to have some major problem and safety shut down knocking out power for about 8K people, or about 1/2 of our section of town. Inducing the local shopping area with several strip malls. I am in the back when the lights flicker than go out. The stores generator fires up and we have emergency power. MOD begins to make the needed phone calls and the employees move in to place to monitor all the perishable departments (dairy, frozen ,deli, meat, bakery and produce). We are quickly forced to put up the plastic over the refrigerated cases and close frozen aisles.

Now enter the SC's...
...upon walking into the darkened store

SC: What's going on? I lost power at my house and the store is all dark.
M: we lost power also. We are open with the exception of our perishable depts.
SC: What about ice cream?
M: Frozen is closed.
SC: Well that's just great! I came to buy food and you won't sell it to me. *stomps off*

Now if you don't have power, why would you come out to buy ICE CREAM, which need to be FROZEN to brig it home to a non functioning freezer?

...I'm calling the Police!
SC: Whyyyyyyyyy are you open?
M: ...
SC: You are letting people killlllll themselves with spoiled food.
M: Ma'am, as you can see we are not selling any food which requires refrigeration or cooking now. We are carefully watching temperatures and will discard any potentially spoiled food.
SC: I'm calling the police and having you arrested!

Apparently she did, because a cop did show up to investigate a call about a disturbance at our store.

...(racist) mother of the year
The SC barges thru a line of shopping carts and "CAUTION" tape to get to dairy section.
CW: Ma'am, we can't sell this now. We have no power.
SC: *rips down part of the plastic we had up, grabs a packages of shredded cheese, throw sit on the floor* Fine you stupid F***ing racist C**T! *screaming to male pushing cart wth infant* Hey, let get the F**K out of here. These employees are F***ing racist bitches!
They stomp out.

...can i leave?
I am near the door when SC approaches.
SC: Hi.
M: Can I help you?
SC: Can I leave?
M: Sure, door is *points* that way?
SC: I didn't know if, they, like, uh, hermetically sealed when the power went out.
M: No. They have backup power, they will open.
SC: Ok.

I literally answered approx. 50 similar questions like this in a hour or so, and shooed a dozen or so SCs out of the closed sections.

Yeah! The powers back!

After a hour or so power is restored, however the refrigeration has to be conformed running and temps correct before we can open the case. We have to record two temp readings manually and the max. temp recorded electronically.

I get to guard one end of the frozen foods dept.

M: *try to sneak by* Ma'am, Frozen is closed for now. We lost power and MOD had to confirm the temperatures before we can sell product.
SC: But you have power!
M: Yes, but we still have not confirmed that we have refrigeration running yet.
SC: Is it plugged in?
M: Our system is a little more complicated than a home refrigerator. We don't know if it is working yet.
SC: *sigh* Fine!

This repeated is self in varying forms for almost 20 minutes until we got the green light to open up certain cases one by one.

Despite 95% of the people big total SCs/EWs, the reaming 10%, mostly men, were pleasant and once they realized what was happening and very sympathetic to us.

[ShootMePlease]

Of course if they were allowed to purchase any food during the power outage and got sick from it that would be all YOUR fault.

I weep for humanity.

[plantlvr]

Wow, too bad you couldn't have just yelled 'All the previously cold and frozen food is free!'. Maybe then a lot of SC's would have just been in the bathroom for a few days and left you in peace.

[BrenDAnn]

And each and every one of them would've tried to sue the store/company. Why do people insist on going out in situations like that? I mean, why do they decide, 'oh hey power's out I think I'll go grocery shopping'? I don't understand it. Also, that 10% that was nice? They probably have worked on your side of the register/aisles before. Just saying.

[Rena_Muffin]

Wow, that one crazy lady who called you raciest...just wow. Of course you must have been raciest, depriving her of her life giving shredded cheese. Who needs shredded cheese that badly? Well, please feel better, you are a wonderful person for not going crazy.

[mattm04]

And each and every one of them would've tried to sue the store/company. Why do people insist on going out in situations like that? I mean, why do they decide, 'oh hey power's out I think I'll go grocery shopping'? I don't understand it. Also, that 10% that was nice? They probably have worked on your side of the register/aisles before. Just saying.

I have been shopping during power outages. Both when I had power and home and didn't. The former, I had no clue until I got to the store or was in the store when it happened. If a employee told me that something was unavailable I believed them. I was also able to get the hint that the plastic over the cases and the caution tape meant that I wasn't supposed to be their.

If I had no power and went shopping AND the store had no power it was for essentials I needed or non-perishables like bottled drinks.

[crazyofficeclerk]

We had this happen the other day. Estimated time of power being restored 20 hours later. We are a small store and had a staff of 5 that day. We had to empty our dairy and cram it into the cooler which was holding at temp and unload our meat case and put it all in a refrigerated truck that they brought in. Twenty minutes after we finished loading the truck, the power came back on. Actual power outage time 8 hours. It took another 5 hours to get everything back into place because several of our cases wouldn't come back on.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Your stories remind me of the aftermath of the northeast blackout of 2003. The day after it happened I went to the supermarket (which did have power, though sporadic blackouts were still occurring) to pick up some flashlight batteries.

A lot of the shelves and whatnot were picked clean and people were seriously freaking out.
The funny thing was they weren't freaking out because they couldn't find necessities, they were freaking out because they couldn't buy ice cream or cheetos or chips ahoy or some other non essential food products.

This occurred during the middle of summer during a warm but not brutally hot period. We didn't even get a drop of rain before the lights came back on for good. It's not like it was 30 below in the winter.

God bless my grandmother for keeping plenty of food in the house but even I know to keep a few days worth of food handy just in case.

[jjc927]

Yes, it's racist to sell dairy products when there's no electricity

[Lots42]

I am boggled that the customers could not deal with the concept of 'employees are being extra cautious about food being safe'.

[Jetfire]

Last night, I stopped at the Superstore on the way home and then grabbed dinner at McD's. While I was eating, the power went out, and stayed out. Frankly, I was pretty impressed by how everyone handled it.

People who had ordered but not gotten their food got cash refunds; those of us with food just ate, and the manager kept the workers busy (but with safety in mind). The closest to suck I only half heard was the manager apologizing at the drivethru window to the people in the drive thru, but there wasn't much suckiness there.

I do wonder what the people at the Superstore were going through since it is a grocery store. But I didn't want to add to their troubles. I just walked home, put my yogurt into the fridge, and waited until the power came back on.

[Caractacus_Potts]

Despite 95% of the people big total SCs/EWs, the reaming 10%, mostly men, were pleasant and once they realized what was happening and very sympathetic to us.

Simpson's: Homer at Bat

Hypnotist: You are all very good players
Team: We are all very good players.
Hypnotist: You will beat Shelbyville.
Team: We will beat Shelbyville.
Hypnotist: You will give 110 percent.
Team: That's impossible no one can give more than 100 percent. By definition that's the most any one can give.

Why do people insist on going out in situations like that? I mean, why do they decide, 'oh hey power's out I think I'll go grocery shopping'?

Not my story but an employee wrote about a sudden storm/hurricane with flash flooding that knocked out power and closed the highway/roads. Said the employees and shoppers caught in the powerless store were hunkered down waiting to see when it would be safe to go home when they saw a woman wading through knee deep water in the parking lot. They thought she was a pedestrian caught in the storm seeking shelter. Turns out she had been stuck in her car stranded on the highway next to the mall and decided that since her car wouldn't move she would walk to the mall to do some shopping (and she wasn't happy they weren't open).

Yes, it's racist to sell dairy products when there's no electricity

No, no, no. It's racist to NOT sell dairy products when there's no power!

[wolfie]

After a hour or so power is restored, however the refrigeration has to be conformed running and temps correct before we can open the case. We have to record two temp readings manually and the max. temp recorded electronically.

I get to guard one end of the frozen foods dept.

M: *try to sneak by* Ma'am, Frozen is closed for now. We lost power and MOD had to confirm the temperatures before we can sell product.
SC: But you have power!
M: Yes, but we still have not confirmed that we have refrigeration running yet.
SC: Is it plugged in?
M: Our system is a little more complicated than a home refrigerator. We don't know if it is working yet.
SC: *sigh* Fine!

This repeated is self in varying forms for almost 20 minutes until we got the green light to open up certain cases one by one.

Just curious, but was ALL frozen merchandise "off-limits until temperatures were confirmed? I'd think an exception would be made for ice - if the cubes are still recognizable, and there's no puddle in the bottom of the bag (both can be verified visually), it should still be good.

[Dreamstalker]

Now if you don't have power, why would you come out to buy ICE CREAM, which need to be FROZEN to bring it home to a non functioning freezer?

One of the great mysteries of the universe, I swear. If there's a storm forecast with a potential for power outages, everyone in town heads for the store to stock up on...frozen goods I wonder how many of them try to wiggle a refund out of the store when everything melts/spoils...

[Caractacus_Potts]

I'd think an exception would be made for ice - if the cubes are still recognizable, and there's no puddle in the bottom of the bag (both can be verified visually), it should still be good.

Around here ice is usually kept in a separate freezer up front. Even if it's with the food:
1)If the ice is in the same case as food you don't want to keep opening and closing the door until you confirm the unit is working and back down to a reasonable temp.
2)Sounds like it was hard enough to keep people out of the food with the whole section closed, probably impossible if you were making exceptions on some items (or even just ice).