so I went up to my dad's for a couple of days
had a nice time. Came back Wednesday morning & went into work in the afternoon, typical routine...
...and then a water main on a major street busted. Flooded a good area & took down the water for much of the surrounding area. Big enough event to make it onto NPR.
They got the water running sluggishly around 1am & worked on improving the pressure throughout the day, elevated water tanks etc. But there was a boil water alert on until late Friday afternoon.
Now. I work, as some of you know, in a grocery store deli. We were one of the very few businesses that stayed open during this emergency, so you can imagine how extremely busy we were as people came in from all over to get water & food. They kept coming in waves, up until around 9pm or so, as they got home & found water out, went looking, we were open, etc. Again & again. So many businesses-and schools-were closed, lots of extra people at home.
And how, you might wonder, did we manage with a boil water alert on? We always have a supply of bottled water on hand in case of emergencies, so there was that. We had to pick & choose what to clean properly & what could be left-dishes, absolutely yes. Floors, no. Not enough water to go around, had to use Q-San on what we could. We boiled water in the bakery's rice cooker.
Then, when the water came back up, we boiled water in our ovens because we needed the quantity. Takes much longer but you could get enough to fill a sink or two at a time. But you couldn't necessarily cook anything else you needed.
The customers were at least appreciative enough that we were open at all so we didn't get many complaints. That was nice, about the only bright spot in the mess of these last few days.
I had to close the kitchen on Friday. I was SO glad the water was usable by the time I had to clean the equipment. It's hard enough as it is.
I'm used to much better disaster preparedness, coming from Florida. When you have to keep explaining to people that no, they shouldn't drink the water because of possible contamination that might contain fecal matter & yes, that includes ice from soda fountains & slushies, over & over...I boggle. Does nobody remember the romaine lettuce tragedy? Do they not understand the word "contamination"? Don't know what "fecal" or e coli means?
and I still have to get through the rest of my 7 day shift before I get a day off. Yikes.
...and then a water main on a major street busted. Flooded a good area & took down the water for much of the surrounding area. Big enough event to make it onto NPR.
They got the water running sluggishly around 1am & worked on improving the pressure throughout the day, elevated water tanks etc. But there was a boil water alert on until late Friday afternoon.
Now. I work, as some of you know, in a grocery store deli. We were one of the very few businesses that stayed open during this emergency, so you can imagine how extremely busy we were as people came in from all over to get water & food. They kept coming in waves, up until around 9pm or so, as they got home & found water out, went looking, we were open, etc. Again & again. So many businesses-and schools-were closed, lots of extra people at home.
And how, you might wonder, did we manage with a boil water alert on? We always have a supply of bottled water on hand in case of emergencies, so there was that. We had to pick & choose what to clean properly & what could be left-dishes, absolutely yes. Floors, no. Not enough water to go around, had to use Q-San on what we could. We boiled water in the bakery's rice cooker.
Then, when the water came back up, we boiled water in our ovens because we needed the quantity. Takes much longer but you could get enough to fill a sink or two at a time. But you couldn't necessarily cook anything else you needed.
The customers were at least appreciative enough that we were open at all so we didn't get many complaints. That was nice, about the only bright spot in the mess of these last few days.
I had to close the kitchen on Friday. I was SO glad the water was usable by the time I had to clean the equipment. It's hard enough as it is.
I'm used to much better disaster preparedness, coming from Florida. When you have to keep explaining to people that no, they shouldn't drink the water because of possible contamination that might contain fecal matter & yes, that includes ice from soda fountains & slushies, over & over...I boggle. Does nobody remember the romaine lettuce tragedy? Do they not understand the word "contamination"? Don't know what "fecal" or e coli means?
and I still have to get through the rest of my 7 day shift before I get a day off. Yikes.