Rampant storm stupidity

[MoonCat]

Self-scan: If something is very light, like a gravy or drink packet, I just put my hand in the bag with it and tap the bottom of the bag hard enough that the machine registers the item going into the bag.

Gas stoves & water heaters: Last time we had the power go out (freak October storm in '06) we were able to cook & make coffee on the stove burners because we could light them with a match. We were afraid to light the oven, though. And for hot water, if you have a modern gas water heater, they usually have electric ignition, which means your hot water might be out, too.

Everybody in the direct path of Sandy, stay safe!! They're only expecting heavy rain and high winds up here, they even said that as far as the pressure goes (millibars), we've had more powerful storms. Quite possible that electric lines & tree branches will come down, though.

[sms001]

I'm waiting for the post where some bright bulb decides to return a bunch of microwave meals for a refund b/c they weren't told that a microwave won't work if the power's out.

Extra bonus points if they are THAWED microwave meals. . .

(Mom had a bad experience when she and Dad were first married w/a gas stove and she has not used one since.)

Two people meet about 1000 feet in the air.
Guy plummeting earthward: "HEY! You know anything about parachutes?"
Gal rocketing skyward: "NO! Do you know anything about gas ovens?"

And, if you have a gas range, that means you have a gas water heater,

I've had a gas range, electric oven, electric water heater, and gas furnace in one home. Odd combo.

I was waiting for a storm related thread.

Also, here.

[BrenDAnn]

Thanks, sms. I've been keeping an eye on that thread as well. My thoughts to everyone out there!

[scruff]

Fortunatly our local supermarket has a 'are you using your own bag?' option on their selfscan. it asks you to put the bag on the shelf and hit 'done' when you do. Means it can deduct the weight from your shopping (still has a problem recording light stuff like salad, but its a start.)

We used to have power cuts every winter as a kid. Both our neighbours had 100% electric kitchens, and all our heating, although using gas as a fuel, needed electricity for ignition and to run the controls.
Usually it wasn't a problem, as the power cuts mostly lasted one evening, so just go to bed early with a candle for light.
The one time the power cut lasted days, we were the popular neighbour, with the gas stove on full to warm the house slightly (with the oven door open and tinfoil wrapped around the knobs to stop them melting.) After that, I'd never live anywhere totally reliant on the national grid (UK mains electricity). I'd love some local energy generation, give me a wind turbine or solar panel on my house, with battery backup and I'd sleep easy. :-)

[malmalthekiller]

Self-scan should go the way of the dinosaur. Too many people are too stupid to use it properly. & then when directed that they need to do this, this & NOT that, what do they do? Why, they do what they did to screw it up to begin with thus giving the person watching the self-scan an uneeded headache.

No no no no no no no no no no no no nono nooooooooooooooooo.

Sorry, but on my day off (if I even get one a week), I do not want to be forced into social interaction. Self-scan is my best friend.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

People are unfortunately predictable. Even living smack in the middle of a Hurricane zone where you'd think people would understand the importance of being adequately prepared (especially having lived through Katrina), it never fails that as soon as the first alerts go out people swarm the stores to load up on supplies.

I admit that I was guilty of this to an extent when Isaac came, but we at least had the basics taken care of beforehand. (canned food, clean water, medical supplies and plenty of lights/candles and batteries, as well as a portable radio).

[shopgirl15]

Hey, I like self-scan. But the idiots (this would include my own mom as a repeat offender) really make things miserable.

[Sonoma]

How many generators are going to be returned once the storm is over & the power is gone? If I lived in an area where power outages were common or expected, I think I'd buy one and then keep it, so I didn't have to keep re-buying it when the panic hits.

My house is all electric, but I have a covered patio, along with a propane BBQ, and a propane camp stove, so heating water/cooking during a power outage is not a problem. Camp gear easily becomes winter storm survival gear in the off-season. Lanterns for light, super cozy sleeping bags for warmth, and the ability to make dinner & hot chocolate (with some Peppermint Schnapps) make power outages comfortable.

[Jay 2K Winger]

I don't know what the return policy is at other places, but when I worked at the wholesale club, generators were explicitly "NO RETURNS." This is because the generators would not able to be resold, because the store couldn't guarantee that gasoline hadn't been put in them, and keeping them in the store if they had any gasoline left in them at all would constitute a major fire hazard.

Thus, the receipts stated "NO RETURNS" for the generators, and nothing a Sucktomer could say would change that stance.

[pltkcelestial18]

I agree that self-scan should stay. I work it regularly and while I completely understand how frustrating it is dealing with customers who come through it and have no clue how to use it, most days I prefer it to dealing with a regular register. Despite all the frustrations that come with self scan, there are many customers that only use self scan and are completely competent at it. I think those that suck at it give the rest of the customers a bad name.

Growing up, my parents always had a gas stove and water heater, but we never had that many problems with power outages. The only time I ever remember that coming in useful was when I was a sophomore in high school and we had a really really bad ice storm (which is uncommon in Texas) and the power was out for several days. We were able to take showers and cook a little and have some heat. We brought a couple of mattresses into the den and had a gas heater in there and were able to keep warm. We were bored to death but at least warm, showered and fed warm food.

[Dreamstalker]

Microwave meals? During a hurricane when a likely scenario would be LOSS OF ELECTRICITY, which powers the microwave???

My thoughts exactly. When I was in college and we had a power outage, I somehow managed to run a coffeemaker off of a UPS for a short time, but I wouldn't dream of trying a microwave. Some microwave dinners do have explicit directions on the box "do not use a conventional oven".

What likely happened is that they adjusted the "hours worked" forward so that the second half hour was recorded with the first half hour, while the actual time spent on the clock didn't change.

I'm pretty sure that's what happened/will happen. I'm keeping track of my hours for Saturday and Sunday and plan to check with SM at my first opportunity to make sure everything's kosher (especially with the confusion on Saturday).

It was CRAZY. I got tossed rather unceremoniously on register when I arrived (wasn't even supposed to be ringing); a co-irker asks me "What are you doing right now?" I don't even get a chance to answer before he signs off his register (with a customer waiting) and boxes me in. Manager R goes along with him and leaves a few minutes later; I'm stuck. I'm sensitive to high EMF fields, and the register I got stuffed on is the worst of the bunch for that. I ask manager AN (rather, tell him) that I need my break at 7; he first says fine, then sends the co-irker on break at 7 Finally at 7:10, manager C can see that I'm about to fall over and sends me on break. On my way back from the break room (just reheating my coffee, it's warmer up in the office) SM says: "So have you killed anyone yet?" I did get some real food though (yay I got an hour break).

At 10 PM it finally died down, and all of us were just standing around looking at each other like "WTF was THAT?!" The only thing left in the bread aisle were a few bagels and 'sandwich thins'.

[taxguykarl]

Microwave meals? During a hurricane when a likely scenario would be LOSS OF ELECTRICITY, which powers the microwave???

Most of the Healthy Choice meals, which Mrs. TGK lives on during tax season, have some instructions for conventional ovens...they take a lot longer. Seriously though, you live in a hurricane-prone area and don't have a kit?! Are they bucking for a Darwin award or what?

[Seshat]

I can understand those on the northern half of the US Eastern Seaboard not having a hurricane kit. At least here, we usually hear of Gulf of Mexico or southern E. Seaboard hurricanes.

So to me, a hurricane hitting New York/New Jersey et al is analogous to a cyclone hitting Sydney: jaws would drop all over Australia. Hell, when a cyclone tail hits Brisbane it's newsworthy, and Brisbane is a long way from Sydney.

But anyone living in the gulf, and anyone from about halfway down the coast to the southern tip of Florida, has no excuse for not expecting to be hit sometime.

[Merriweather]

I stopped by the wholesale club yesterday to say hi to some folks. It was as busy as I've ever seen it outside of the holiday season. They even had a sign taped to the doors "Sold Out Of Generators."

When I mentioned it to my friend Demo Lady Vickie, she told me they'd been sold out of generators since Thursday morning.

I pity the person in returns.

One winter we had a bad snowstorm on the way, some idiot was even telling the news reporter on live TV (ok, maybe it wasn't live, anyway...), looking oh so pleased at his own cleverness, now every time there's a bad snowstorm predicted, he buys a generator to have on hand just in case the power goes out, then returns it after the storm if it wasn't needed.

Which granted, is better than those who buy them, use them, and return them - at least he said if he ever did actually need to use one once, then he'd have one permanently.

[Jetfire]

I can understand those on the northern half of the US Eastern Seaboard not having a hurricane kit. At least here, we usually hear of Gulf of Mexico or southern E. Seaboard hurricanes.

So to me, a hurricane hitting New York/New Jersey et al is analogous to a cyclone hitting Sydney: jaws would drop all over Australia. Hell, when a cyclone tail hits Brisbane it's newsworthy, and Brisbane is a long way from Sydney.

But anyone living in the gulf, and anyone from about halfway down the coast to the southern tip of Florida, has no excuse for not expecting to be hit sometime.

Thing is, while the NE Seaboard doesn't get Hurricanes usually, they DO get Blizzards, and Ice Storms and Nor'easters, all of which warrant a preparedness kit as well. Those kits would be tilted more heavily towards keeping warm of course and handling ice; but the basics are all the same.

(And that said, I'm guilty for not having much of a kit prepared either. Luckily they're only calling for 50mm of rain in my area out of Sandy)