Will it ever end?
Jun. 18th, 2010 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ostarellaThe myriad of trials I have had since starting this job, I mean.
Last night I left for work knowing that there was a big thunderstorm on its way. I new this not only because of the forecast but because when I left, instead of the sky being just slightly pinkish with the start of sunset, it was black like midnight. Six miles out of town, I hit the storm. And I mean hit. No little sprinkles and growing breeze to introduce itself. No. It broke down the door. The rain came down in blankets (sheets would be too light) and the wind nearly knocked the truck off the road. Even driving with my brights on, I could only see maybe 30 feet ahead of me. I wanted to pull off and try to wait it out, but I was afraid I wouldn't see where the shoulder ended and would go into the ditch. The only way I knew I was on the road was the occasional glimpse of the white line along the side. Akin to driving in a blizzard.
So - max speed for almost 20 miles was about 35 mph. My knuckles, shoulders and back were stiff when I finally got to work. Electricity was out in one town I drive through - and when I got to work, the entire area where the store is located was blacked out. Including the store. The only lights in the building were the emergency/security lights, so about every fourth aisle was navigable. Apparently they'd lost power some time before, and all the coolers on the floor were covered with cardboard and plastic to try and keep the food cold. We were absolutely forbidden to go into the big freezers (to keep them cold as long as possible). So everybody had to work only in aisles that had lighting, use flashlights to check bar codes (after using them to find where things actually were). The managers were making arrangements to have reefer trucks come to store the frozen and dairy products in - and we would have had to move everything to the trucks (max time the freezers can be without power is 2 hours). If the power still didn't come on, they would have to get an emergency generator (max time in the reefers another 2 hours).
Well, the power did come on about an hour later (just before the reefers were due to arrive). We were able to start working on the frozen foods right away (the freezers on the floor have doors on so they stayed cold), but the dairy had to wait until their coolers had gotten back down to the right temperature. When that happened, every associate (except those of us working on the frozen food already pulled out) had to go and tear off the plastic and cardboard and clean up.
On top of all that, we had 7 pallets to stock - a normal keep-working-or-we-won't-get-finished night is 5 pallets. Soooo, yeah - half again as many pallets as normal and we lost almost two hours to boot. It was really, really fun. (But we did finish them all! LOL)
So got home this morning, expecting to see tons of branches (and possibly a tree or two) down - but apparently the main storm stayed north of us, so we only got about a half-inch of rain and not much wind. Thank God for small miracles.
Gotta love the midwest though - the weather will get you no matter what time of year it is...
Last night I left for work knowing that there was a big thunderstorm on its way. I new this not only because of the forecast but because when I left, instead of the sky being just slightly pinkish with the start of sunset, it was black like midnight. Six miles out of town, I hit the storm. And I mean hit. No little sprinkles and growing breeze to introduce itself. No. It broke down the door. The rain came down in blankets (sheets would be too light) and the wind nearly knocked the truck off the road. Even driving with my brights on, I could only see maybe 30 feet ahead of me. I wanted to pull off and try to wait it out, but I was afraid I wouldn't see where the shoulder ended and would go into the ditch. The only way I knew I was on the road was the occasional glimpse of the white line along the side. Akin to driving in a blizzard.
So - max speed for almost 20 miles was about 35 mph. My knuckles, shoulders and back were stiff when I finally got to work. Electricity was out in one town I drive through - and when I got to work, the entire area where the store is located was blacked out. Including the store. The only lights in the building were the emergency/security lights, so about every fourth aisle was navigable. Apparently they'd lost power some time before, and all the coolers on the floor were covered with cardboard and plastic to try and keep the food cold. We were absolutely forbidden to go into the big freezers (to keep them cold as long as possible). So everybody had to work only in aisles that had lighting, use flashlights to check bar codes (after using them to find where things actually were). The managers were making arrangements to have reefer trucks come to store the frozen and dairy products in - and we would have had to move everything to the trucks (max time the freezers can be without power is 2 hours). If the power still didn't come on, they would have to get an emergency generator (max time in the reefers another 2 hours).
Well, the power did come on about an hour later (just before the reefers were due to arrive). We were able to start working on the frozen foods right away (the freezers on the floor have doors on so they stayed cold), but the dairy had to wait until their coolers had gotten back down to the right temperature. When that happened, every associate (except those of us working on the frozen food already pulled out) had to go and tear off the plastic and cardboard and clean up.
On top of all that, we had 7 pallets to stock - a normal keep-working-or-we-won't-get-finished night is 5 pallets. Soooo, yeah - half again as many pallets as normal and we lost almost two hours to boot. It was really, really fun. (But we did finish them all! LOL)
So got home this morning, expecting to see tons of branches (and possibly a tree or two) down - but apparently the main storm stayed north of us, so we only got about a half-inch of rain and not much wind. Thank God for small miracles.
Gotta love the midwest though - the weather will get you no matter what time of year it is...
