(One morning there is an electrical fire under the city streets that blows out power to the entire downtown core. Our store is completely closed, dark, and the roads are blocked off by the hydro company and firefighters who are tackling manhole fires. People still managed to get to our doors nonetheless. One tries to come in behind our manager as she is returning and locking the door.)
Customer: “I just need my coffee. Two milk, two sugar, please.”
Manager: “Sorry, sir, we’re closed. We have no power.”
Customer: “That’s fine. Just pour the coffee and give me the rest on the side.”
Manager: “Sorry, but we have no coffee right now and we won’t be open until at least noon.”
Customer: “How do you not have coffee?”
Manager:“Because we’re closed. We haven’t had power for three hours.”
Customer: “Well, can’t you just ask them to turn it on quick?” *points to the city hydro truck and workers on the street*
Manager: “They said it won’t be back until at least noon.”
Customer: “Can I just come in and see what you have?”
Manager: “We have no power, so we can’t use our tills, or sell you anything here.”
Customer: “I’ll just start going to the other store, then!” *the other store is two blocks down, also without power*
Manager: “Sure. Have a good day.”
(The outage lasted about nine hours and knocked out every utility in radius of about 10-15 blocks in the core of downtown, including stores, traffic lights, and even complete road closures due to fires. People still couldn’t comprehend that we couldn’t sell them coffee all day.)
