Last Wednesday, I arrived at work to find the lights on, but the doors locked. That is not that unusual .... but it normally means there is a problem with the tills, or with the computer back-up system that controls them ( cannot open if the till do not work )... a case of gremlins in the works. Michelle's little helper came along and opened the door to let me in after a while, and I asked what the problem was. It transpired the problem was bigger than just gremlins, and didn't just affect the tills.
He had been called into the store @ 3am by the alarm company ( they monitor the store alarms - security and those connected to the fridges/freezers to indicate breakdowns ) for a freezer alarm. He arrived to find not just one freezer had alarmed out, but all of them ... closely followed by the fridges, one by one. When it came to open up, we had no tills or computer ... we had nothing except the lights. We had a major problem . Despite the lights, the store ( and it transpired, most of the surrounding area ) had suffered a power failure - a power cable had burnt out. It was now about 6.30am - the electricity company said they were fixing the problem and we should have power by about 9-10am. That was too late. We had a back up generator, hence the lighting, but it did not generate enough power to provide that and keep the refrigeration systems running too. If the power isn't restored within a few hours, then the temperatures in the fridges and freezers mean the stock in them would be unfit for sale ... we would lose the lot ... and unfortunately we did. It had to be removed from the cabinets, recorded, then thrown away and disposed of. We couldn't even move the stock to the back-up areas to try and save it because, with no power, they were not working either ( my ovens, of course, were out of action too, so no baking ). To cut a long story short, the power was restored eventually that day, but not by 10am - we got it back about 6pm. As a result of the problems, we were unable to trade for the bulk of that day, unable to place orders to start replenishing the lost stock ... and had to throw away £12, 000 worth of ruined dairy, chilled and frozen food ( the store should reclaim some of the money back through making an insurance claim ). It was like a war zone, the cabinets completely empty, ... not one of the better days I have had at work. It was all hands on deck to help with the clean up and disposal of all that food ... well, we couldn't do anything else ! .
We opened as normal the next day - well , except for another short power cut which left us with our hearts in our mouths and our heads thinking " not AGAIN ! " ... at least we didn't have anything to lose this time. We were open, but didn't have much to sell except cans ( and my bread - the ovens were working now ). We had no milk until that day's delivery arrived - and that didn't please the customers one little bit. My little section of the store is right next to the Milk fridge, so all I had all morning was moaning. ....
The store is not back to normal even now, almost a week later. Because of the way we create the orders, we are always ordering not for the next day, but a day or even two later than that. We could not accept the deliveries last Wednesday because we had nowhere to put them .... the orders for delivery Thursday and Friday had already been sent and could not be amended ... and they would not be enough to fill the cabinets as they were . The first order which took into account the breakdown was delivered Saturday... but that would sell as fast as it came in , as we would have had little stock left before it arrived - so it was a fun end to the week ... NOT!. We are slowing building the stock levels back up ... but it is taking a while. It is a
complete and utter nightmare - work is even less of a good place to be than usual.... and the customers are not helping ... but that is the way it is - just have to get on with it .
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