The Convenience Store - the corner shop. Everyone's got one, quite local to them, usually on the corner of the road. Always there, always open, except when you run out of milk at 2am or the cat's just come in and wants feeding, then they're closed. We take them for granted, and then moan when they close down because the new supermarket that opened recently that's about 2 miles away, has taken all the custom, and they can't afford to compete and stay open.
It's not easy to run a little corner shop - ask anyone who's tried it, and they'll tell you all about it. I know, I manage one. Let me give you an example of a typical working day. Do I hear you say "That's boring"? Not likely. Just try this for size.
The shop opens from 7am until 10pm at night, every day, seven days a week, all year round. There's no rest for the wicked - just that I'd like the opportunity to be wicked once in a while. :-)
Things have been ticking along nicely just lately, which is usually a precursor to something happening. I was at a loss for anything to write about this time, and was ready to say - "nothing to report", but the gremlins have decided otherwise. Nothing too serious, you understand, but, afterwards quite funny. See for yourself.
With certain misgivings, I decided to have a week's holiday. If you've been following this column, you will know what happened last time I tried for a break - we had a robbery! No news on that one, I'm afraid, accept the whole thing seems very strange, and very typical of "it could only happen to us". It seems the guy responsible, who managed to circumvent our electronic keypad door lock to the back of the shop, robbed us of the day's takings, and calmly walked away, attempted suicide immediately afterwards. He is known to the local police and apparently this is his customary behaviour. No money was found on him or at his address, so there is no proof it was him, either, although he claims responsibility for it. So you can see the reason for the apprehension, but, I'm pleased to say that a week's break went without a hitch.
Duly rested and refreshed, I returned to work and picked up the reins again. The staff (all credit to them), had managed well, the shop hadn't fallen down, and no staff had left, and we could show good takings for that week. On opening the shop that first morning, I commented that I thought I could smell something burning, but I was informed that the smell had been present for a few days, and must have been due to a neighbour having had a bonfire in the middle of the previous week. I found nothing unusual happening to any equipment or stock in the area where the smell was the strongest, so I accepted the reasoning.
During the day, the burning smell seemed intermittent, worse some times more than others, so, being a curious person, investigation was required. After a few hours, I tracked the smell down to the milk chiller, and the smell was at it's worse during a defrost cycle. I put it down to a dusty heater, maybe, which was probably used during defrost. In the evening, I went home, not mentioning my findings to the staff, as they all seemed accustomed to the smell.
A few hours later, the phone rang. All I could hear was the sound of a high pitched alarm. Eventually, after much shouting, I could hear one of my supervisors trying to compete against the noise. It appeared that the fire alarm had been set off by the smell, and, as the fire brigade had arrived, and found nothing wrong, they wished to reset the alarm, and she didn't know how.
This alarm is new, fitted around 6 months ago, and although we test it and have practise drills, we have never needed to reset it. I abandoned everything, and rushed to the shop.
The firemen were disassembling the light fittings in the shop trying to find the source of the smell, having been unable to find anything visible which could have activated the alarm, and not wishing to log a false alarm. After explaining that I thought I knew what the problem was, they did reassemble the light fittings and I tried to reset the alarm.
Silence was brief and it took us a while to understand why it would not reset permanently - one of the girls had used one of the "break glass to call fire brigade" gadgets on the walls. When this happens, the alarm waits for 30 seconds and then sounds again. As I had no replacement glass available, a piece of cardboard had to be utilised instead.
The firemen checked the chiller, which was just below the smoke detector which had been triggered, and agreed that it was the possible cause. They switched it off and left, leaving us speedily transferring all the milk and yoghurts to the other chiller, to prevent deterioration. It looked a mess, but at least the stock (and customers) were safe.
On viewing the CCTV, primarily for any visible signs of smoke from the suspect chiller, it was gratifying to watch the staff following the procedures faultlessly, but amusing to see the consternation on their faces as they thought about summoning the fire brigade. It never occurred to them to dial 999 from the shop phone but, the phone receiver was used to hammer the "break glass" until it broke.
Satisfied, the staff left the shop to stand outside near the door until assistance arrived. Customers stood with them to watch, thinking they could see the shop burn down! One or two of these customers had been shopping in the store, and had exited with the goods, unpaid for. It took a few minutes before it occurred to them, and they hurriedly departed with their "free goods"! Thanks a bunch, whoever you were, you rotten lot.
The staff were very disappointed that they lost around an hours trade, as the off- licence just over the road to us, had closed early that night, and they were hoping for an upturn in sales of alcohol for the evening. The reason for their early closure was that the manager had been locked in the office by two customers, whilst, it was thought, they robbed the place. She phoned the police, who came to release her!
On checking her CCTV coverage though, nothing had been taken! No stock seems to be missing, all the takings were still in the till, and although the two men had a good look at all the shelves, they took nothing with them. She is still puzzled as to why the men locked her in the office. She's not the only one.
I called the chiller repair company the following day, who sent two men to check out the chiller. On inspection, it was discovered that a fan motor was stiff, and covered with dust. When the fans start during the defrost cycle, the fan motor ran hot, heating the dust.
"No cause for alarm, then?" I asked.
"Well, yes. You were probably around 20 minutes away from a fire. Good job you switched it off when you did." they replied. I made a hurried exit, thankful I still had a store to run (and a job, of course).
It didn't stop there, Oh no. Today, just a few days after the alarm escapade, one of the tills started behaving strangely, shutting itself down without reason. No problem, just restart it, I thought.
Well, I did just that - twice! Now the printer shows an error light, and the screen informs me there is an unknown printer error. I know it's unknown - I can't find anything wrong with it. I walk away thinking it will stay off, and I'll call an engineer tomorrow, when the cashier calls me back.
"There was a bang!" she said. "I was just serving a customer, when the monitor fell off" There is the monitor, face down on the counter, luckily unbroken.
"I guess it's out of use, then." I said. I will have to call the engineer now. I just wanted to go home as I'd been there for 11 hours, being short staffed, with three on holiday, and having had a very large stock delivery to put out single-handed.
When I went to get my coat, I found the supervisor had made me a bed by the back door, using wine crates, a toilet roll for a pillow and cage wrap as a blanket! I guess they're trying to tell me something here. I take the hint and call it a day. I'll sort it all out tomorrow.
At least I know I'm not the only one having a bad day. Just as I'm putting my jacket on, the PC "pings" to inform me I have been sent an e-mail. I decide I'll just take a look, in case it's something urgent. When I stop laughing, I show it to the others, who can't help but laugh too.
Message reads:
'To the Area Manager
Just to let you know that Wages have paid an ex-employee, who only worked for me for two weeks, an amount of £10003.40 leavers pay, minus holiday accrued of £87.02, so gross pay of £9916.38.
I have been in touch with Wages, who say it is not right but they cannot get into their system until this afternoon when they will ring me back.
I'll let you know more when I know more.'
She has my sympathy, but she makes me feel so much better, right now. I can't imagine how they can get that back - if it's their mistake.
Now, I wonder what tomorrow will bring............................
