Though I never have much of a schedule to keep, I sometimes grow impatient in the Gas Station Chicken Store. It mainly centers on people using their cards for trivial payments. The technology there is a bit lacking.
Monday, my favorite cashier was working. Not her usual day, but she'd missed the weekend because she was sick. I was happy to see only two people ahead of me. The lady set her stuff on the glass-topped counter, and motioned for a man to go ahead of her. Then I'd be next.
Dang it! That dude was buying lottery tickets! So much for getting speedy service. Of course I don't take long to buy MY tickets, heh, heh. But this guy was cashing in about 10-15 draw tickets. It took a while. Then he only bought two scratchers.
The lady stepped over next. I'll be darned if SHE didn't also have a passel o' draw tickets to scan. She was also paying for gas, had a fountain soda, and asked for a pack of cigarettes. After she re-did her malfunctioning card, she stepped aside to tear off her red tickets for the weekly gasoline draw, leaving her junk on the counter where I couldn't see the scratchers. So annoying.
Oh, and Lady kept talking to the cashier! Not fair. Her time was up! There were four new people behind me in line. But Lady asked about the "colored water." Cashier said she had not noticed before she came to work. I was too busy inwardly fuming to dwell on it. Until Tuesday, when I saw a story on the Facebook page of a city news station.
Hillmomba has a water problem, that being BROWN water coming out of the taps. One lady said after she and her husband finished their coffee, they turned on the sink faucet and saw that the water was the same color as their coffee! Another showed a picture of a bathtub full of gray water, and said she couldn't give her son a bath. A man commented that the water went from brown to gray to a variety of colors like an oil slick.
City officials said that the issue was related to a flush test on certain fire hydrants. Sediment got stirred up in the pipes, and that caused the discoloration. That they were flushing the whole water system to correct the problem. They "did not think" that such water was a health hazard...
Seriously. I'm pretty sure I would not want to drink water with sediment in it. Citizens complained that they had no notice of the hydrant test, nor the subsequent flushing of the lines. They suggested a notice on the future water bills of the schedule for future tests. Seems fair enough.
Farmer H says that most cities will issue a boil water order when there's sediment. Makes me really happy that we don't have city water. Just our cold, clear, well water.
We have one giant water mains pipe at the front of all the unit blocks and it has dual pipes with clean water for the flats and recycled water for the gardens. Sometimes the "plumbers" make a mistake after doing repairs or other maintenance and switch the wrong way so the stinky recycled stuff comes out of our kitchen and bathroom taps. It's usually fixed within an hour because of the sheer volume of complaints going to the housing office.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do all get notice next time about the hydrant flushing and I am glad you have beautiful clean well water.
isolation as its priviledges
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm glad they get your problem fixed in a hurry. The city could, at the very least, put an electronic message on the sign at the stoplights in front of the Gas Station Chicken Store. I can't imagine it would cost much for a few days. It catches your eye, with the color-changing background, and other advertisements on there. Plus it has a captive audience. Most people have to pass by there while entering or leaving civilization!
***
Kathy,
Fresh water is a big one!