So yesterday was an adventure. Not only was it the end of the Grand Prix in Edmonton (the first one ever!), but it was Sunday: the BUSIEST grocery shopping day of the week typically.
So, not only were there an extra 70,000 people in the area for the races, but well… the people-traffic at my work was rather unusual. You see, Sunday mornings are only moderately busy usually (church, staying out late on a Saturday night, and other factors contributing) especially if it's a beautiful day. This summer, if it's gorgeous outside, it's likely to be incredibly slow actually during the day, and then everyone just rushes the store at night (when the sun is about to go down or afterwards) to stock up on groceries.
Well, what with the Grand Prix, it was even slower than usual for a bit… then it picked up to the busy-ness that it ought to be on a Sunday (and I was helping a new cashier learn the ropes also… quite fun). And while that in itself could be construed as unusual (especially since I got to watch the service desk for a while, which I like since it's a change in my routine), things got a bit more unusual rather quickly.
You see… we had a situation at work. Essentially a bomb threat, but at the time most people did not really know it. Remarkablly we kept the customers rather calm when we were telling them that they may not exit the store through the exit doors or that they may not go to their cars if they were in the parking lot, later having them leave by an emergency exit and even later dropping EVERYTHING and just plain vacating the store quickly.
Then we uh… spent quite some time hanging out by 104th street with cranberry juice (blech!) and cookies… plus a wonderful co-worker lent me some cash so I could get a frosty (I love the kids' sized versions personally).
After a lot of waiting… and worrying that we wouldn't be able to get back in for our personal belongings (like ID, keys, money etc.) for a long time… we were finally allowed to go back once the danger passed… and well… the customers seemingly beat us back to the store for the most part.
It was nuts from then on… I even worked some overtime to keep the masses reasonably well served. Simply put, everyone looked extra stressed following that episode. Not only that, but I simply had to get out and do something after THAT crazy of a day.
Thanks to Shauna and Jackie for helping me get my mind off of the craziness. I'm just so glad that I don't get all overwraught by it all. And a good night's sleep did help.