Oh here it comes boy.....

Last night at work, we had to close early. Technically, we didn't make it to close in the conventional, normal, routine way we do every night. We had an electrical fire in the back by the kitchen, freezers and all that stuff which caused a massive meltdown in our computer system. Most of our monitors (where we read the orders) flipped out and shut down. Our system we punch in at wasn't working. The credit card terminals weren't working. The whole system we have in which we input orders and process everything wasn't working. Nothing we actually need was working. The assistant manager was saying he thinks our system is fried. I hope he's wrong.

At first, there was a popping noise and then smoke in a front area where we have the clock in and credit card terminals. There's a sink by there and smoke was dwindling out from up there first. The smell hit and we figured it was something electrical.

Our GM was called 7 times and didn't respond or call back. We had to call the big boss (my dad, lol) and wake him up to see what he thought might be going on since the AM was a little freaked and didn't know what to do. So I called my dad on his cell, got no answer. I called my mom, quickly tried to explain and asked her to go wake ol' dad up. She did, he called me, I explained and had him call AM. My dad instructed him on something to do. Then one of the cooks got our attention and told us there was a shit load of smoke coming up from the back. We looked and the back walkway where the breakers all are was loaded with smoke. And there were sparks and flames. Plus the much stronger smell that comes with an electrical fire. I yelled at AM to get off the phone with my dad and call the fire department. I think he was just frazzled because the first thing he said was, "I can't hang up on him, he's the supervisor." He told him something and quickly got off the line. Then he asked, "What's the number for the fire department?" I told him to call 911. He did. Then asked a minute later what the address was because the dispatcher was asking for it, lol. Then myself and the other girl working with me yelled at him to get out. We grabbed our shit from the lockers, I turned off some of the machines, we hauled outside and we waited. Not for long though. Cops came first. One made a joke by asking me if we had been trying to a new way to cook or something. I replied back, "Yeah, guess it didn't work out so well huh?" He just grinned at me and kept walking.

It happened around 11:25 PM. We close at midnight during the week. We couldn't go back in until around 12:30 AM to put things away, turn everything off and get everything clean. The smell in there was horrible. I was getting light headed and a little queasy. The first fifteen minutes or so we were cleaning by very little light and the help of flashlights since they had everything turned off. I got out of there around 2:10 AM. Normal week nights, the latest I'm ever there is 12:20 AM at the latest.

It's 4:00 AM now and my dad and the assistant manager who was working the shift last night are both still there. Trying to get what they can taken care of so we can hopefully open up on schedule later today. Or at least open up at some point today. We have to have something flown in from Oklahoma though so I dunno. Plus, the fire chief told us we had to have a licensed electrician in there to do the transformer, which is obvious to me. You would want a licensed electrician to fix things after a electrical fire. One would think anyway. ;) Of course, I know he had to say that and was just doing his job so I can appreciate that. They were all really nice.

As much as I might like a Friday night free from work, I really need the hours so I'm hoping everything works out. Oh and no one was hurt or anything. We only had two customers there at the time and they were gone before the big show in the back happened. We had only the assistant manager and four employees (including me) working until close. We had three more customers come while we were waiting on the fire department but I told them all what was going on, apologized and sent them on their way. One group of guys thought I was bullshitting them but oh well. We had a few more cars pull up while all the cops and fire vehicles were there but no one stopped. Then we had two people come after we had all the outside lights off. One of the firefighters went and told one of the customers we were closed. It always makes me laugh when customers come after close, all the lights are off and we look closed. Then they come anyway and ask if we're closed. It's like hello, the lights are all off for a reason. Ah well.

So I'm tired as hell now. I need to pass out but I have a massive headache. I think it's from the fumes still. Nothing like a boring work night turned exciting. Though I could have done without that kind of excitement. ;)

Happy Friday Y'all!