okay i just noticed it's been like forever since i posted a blog, mainly because I've been prioritizing my sanity aka depression kicked in like nobody's business.
anyways...
let's start with the awesome fantastic adventure of what is known as Hurricane Harvey goes bipolar on Texas story.
from my job perspective:
three days before the storm even made landfall i was cracking jokes abut how people were so frantic about getting supplies that i was answering questions about water over and over.
biggest question for those three days "what's going on with the water, why isn't there more, you guys should have ordered extra knowing this was going to happen, etc"
finally stopped explaining it's about supply and demand and there's a lot of demand right now due to the situation going on.
here's where it gets to the line of okay i get you're going through hysteria into stupidland...
"what situation?"
seriously....
one day before the storm comes in, our bread and eggs were getting low. people all tripping out on us over that. "why isn't there more deliveries coming in for this, we need it!"
nothing is going to be shipped out when a storm is about to make landfall, it's for safety reasons, just get what you can for now. "why? what's going on?!"
seriously...
storm comes in, i can't go into work because it floods the streets and I'm stuck..
next day, the store is closed.
day one back at work, people are lined up at the door entrance, first thing out of their mouths is "omg where is the bread and eggs?" that's all we have for now. "why?"
then the milk starts going out. "when are you getting more of this stuff we need in?"
it will be awhile, our warehouses and trucks are kind of stuck in flood waters or behind them for now. "when will that be when they can finally get here?"
i have no idea. "why not?!"
seriously...
i have to interject at this point that a lot of canned meat goods were wiped out and not many selections available. chips were pretty much gone except for the brands nobody wants lol. most of our store brand sodas were gone, with the exception of 2 liters.
day two back at work, people lined up at the door again, we are having to inform them upon entrance we are limiting what we have left per customer and they flip out. "why?"
"i don't understand why we can only buy a certain amount, i have children to feed, etc"
it's so other customers can have a chance to get what's left until it's gone.
"why?" "why don't you get deliveries made?""why did you let all this stuff run out?"
we have a huge demand right now on the necessary food items, warehouses are still recovering from the flooding, water is still flooded on the highways and they trucks can't get in to the stores.
"can't you get it from somewhere else?""why? what's going on?"
seriously...
i got the pleasure of standing at the door when we closed on day two. customer walks up to me and says "i need rainchecks" on what item? "everything you're out of right now that i want" we won't honour any rainchecks right now. "why?" we're going through a state of emergency throughout the city. "what emergency would that be?" are you aware of what's been going on the past few days? " yeah it's been raining so what?!"
i had to call for a manager to come deal with her, flat out said "i have no capacity to deal with bullshit right now"
watched her blow up on him because he said the same thing i did for the same reason and she informed him that "I'm a regular customer i shop here every day"...yeah okay lady, good for you want a cookie?!
people and their I'm a regular customer status..whoopty doo..most customers in general across the board are awesome, but that one percent can just piss you off in a new york minute.
day three back at work, no line at opening, customers still asking "wheres the eggs, milk, bread?" "why don't you have these things yet?""what's going on" same answers given over and over, warehouses dealing with huge demand, trucks still can't make it in, etc...
they're not happy, want to talk to a manager, "this is bullshit" "I'm going to take my business somewhere else if this is how you treat your customers"
what part of we just had a horrible flooding event of our lifetime do you ignorant monkey fucks not get? how can you not see what happened to the other areas around ours? yes most of our water went down on day one, some parts are still flooded, houses are finally getting wet, starting to mold crap out of their homes, and you want to piss and moan because omg we have limited bread and water when it shows up sporadically. still no eggs, a little bit of random soy and almond milk, produce is getting sparse.
my jokes are starting up about you know it's become real when the limit is two beer cans per day, because that supply is going out. made some people laugh, others just stood there at me like what? huh? i don't get it?!
geezus lighten up will ya? you're stressed, I'm becoming bipolar because of everything, whine whine whine whine...f-u-c-k- off!
day four i took a personal day off, had to for health reasons.
day five back at it again, finally started getting some items in. customers still complaining about lack of selection.
some squabbling about prices not being changed, new ad sales aren't being honoured.
having to explain why that is going on. they're mad.
yeah get over it crybaby.
day six, same old tired ass shit, finally starting to see things filling up. why aren't you lowering your prices like the other stores are? i have no idea contact our corporate office to complain about it. "what's that supposed to mean?" just what i said, call the corporate number and tell them what you're telling me.
i actually told one person I'm not bothering my manager to answer that question again when I've explained to why things are the way they are right now, just call corporate and make your complaint to them.
seriously...
yesterday, "why aren't the sales matching the ad?""i want a raincheck" we're not using the ad that came out in the mail..reason explained.."why?" i just told you why. "it's not fair" it's perfectly fair you get the prices from the last ad, new ad will come out next week. "i came here specifically to buy what's on the ad" you can still get the same prices from last week "i want to talk to your manager"
i can't give you a raincheck for those sales in the current ad because we aren't using that ad this week. "why not?" reason explained again over and over and over
once this supply and demand from the storm and emergency is over we'll resume the normal store ads again. "what emergency?" from the storm causing shelves to empty out and not having product because of warehouse flooding or highways keeping our trucks from coming in. "why?"
seriously...
we ran out of propane, still waiting for that to finally get delivered. "why don't you have it?" reason explained.."but why?"
how about this, do it old school, make a campfire with sticks. "i can't do that" yeah i get it, not many people build fires anymore because using a grill is more efficient.
"no we use propane to bbq with"
yeah i know i just said that. "no you said grill, that's will charcoal"
duh?!
we had to limit no cash back for almost a week..that was really fun. same explanation over and over. atm machines ran out of cash. "why is this atm not working?" what do you mean? "it doesn't give me any money" it's out. "why?"
the banks can't make a delivery for the service provider. "why?"
had to stop giving out change because it's limited for store usage only. "Why? i need to wash my clothes" i understand that but we only have it for the store right now. "why?"
while all this shit going on at work, I'm trying to get some resemblance of rest around long shifts and constant lines for a few days at work. had allergies kick in right before Harvey came on land. then all the rain started, i was worried about not being able to get to work or being stuck there. whether my apt would flood which it did but it came in another way.
trying to make sure i had food to eat that would keep me sustained until supplies are back up and running. hoping that i won't get sicker where i would miss days.
general concern and worry about everything else going on around my city, people being rescued from high waters.
my empathy went on high overload, which is finally dying down.
these bits and pieces of the why why why, what's going on, really has me concerned about humanity as a whole.
how can you not go through something devastating like what we have gone through and still recovering from and not see the whole picture or at least some of it?
i gave up on trying to figure out it.
