Hurricane frenzy

Of course, no one took advantage of the two tax-free weeks in early June to buy hurricane supplies. The wait until a Category Four monster nicknamed Dennis the Menace is on Florida's doorstep to start buying things. Good Lord.

Wal-Mart gave resembled some demented ghoul's version of bedlam today. People were yanking flashlights, batteries, lanterns, cases of water and anything else they thought they might need off the shelves faster than anyone could stock. They eventually gave up and just started pulling pallets of merchandise out for people to paw over.

People kept calling the Service Desk asking for generators. Umm, if you didn't buy a generator by now, you're out of luck.

Of course, as these things go, only one Customer Service person showed up today. So, one person ran the floor and me and the other girl ran the Service Desk. When she took her lunch, I ran the desk by myself for an hour and 15 minutes at noon. GOOD LORD!

Thankfully, there were no repeats of the bloodbath drama yesterday, but it was hopping like bunnies in heat! Topped off by a $1700 moneygram! YIKERS!

Thank god they paid in big bills. I had a $1000 money order one time where the customer paid in tens and fives. Now just imagine how many tens and fives it takes to make up $1000 dollars. I counted it three times and then made another girl count it again. I was convinced something was funny about all that money.

It only got worse at the day went on. I fundamentally do not understand the fact that people cannot prepare. I admit, I don't have a generator, but I don't have a house either. I do have flashlights, candles, batteries, canned foods and bottled water stored up. It comes from experience of 7 years of living on the coast. Also, I know that if it ever did get truly bad, the place I work for would still have to publish, and they would provide some basic essentials for us. But I could manage a week easy on what I've got at home.

But people were coming in today just tossing down money like it was water and building hurricane kits from scratch. It was amazing. And kind of scary. And it looks like Dennis is going to landfall somewhere on the coast. Good luck all.