Manager Versus Mother Nature

I work in a big box retail store, right in the middle of Tornado Alley. As a result, hearing the town’s tornado sirens is common.  

The tornado sirens start blaring just after 6 PM. The sky is dark and angry. The customers are making for the exits, and we all start to follow them.

Our new manager, assigned from another state and not familiar with the seriousness of tornadoes, says to us:

Manager: “What are you all doing?!”

Me: “Don’t you hear the siren?”

Manager: “What about it?”

Me: “It’s a tornado siren. If you hear it, it means find shelter. Our nearest shelter is the hardware store’s basement; a two-minute walk.”

Two coworkers are near the front, watching the alerts stack up on their phones.

Coworker: “[Hardware Store] has already got their customers in the bunker.”

Manager: “Nobody’s leaving until closing time. We’ve still got twenty-seven minutes and a cart full of un-shelved spatulas to stock.”

There’s a moment of stunned silence. Then a gust of wind slaps against the glass doors hard enough to rattle the frames.

We all start moving.

Manager: *Shouting.* Where do you all think you’re going?!”

Coworker: “Somewhere that values human life more than $4.99 spatulas.”

Me: “You can stay and guard the spatulas. We’ll go and not die.” 

We all file out. He stays behind.

Thankfully, while there was a tornado, it stayed outside of town. We all go back into the store to see the manager, looking smug, having shelved all the spatulas by himself, as if that was some kind of flex.

We called the head office and explained how [Manager] expected us to work during a Tornado siren. He was given a visit by a regional manager and a lesson in weather-related safety procedures the very next day.

Related:
Customer Versus Mother Nature, Part 3
Customer Versus Mother Nature, Part 2
Customer Versus Mother Nature