Bones? No power yet?
I've heard some of the suburbs are starting to get power; haven't checked in w/Baltimore for a day. Didn't want to drain her cell phone.
Did it cool off there, like it did here last night? Pretty bad when 90 sounds "cool", huh?
Thanks, P.R.
The electricity kept fluctuating with the power company turning it on, then off, then on, then off again. Drove my neighbors nuts and they were either banging on my door or calling my cellphone asking me what was going on and why. As it turned out, several members of my CERT group were called out for deployment and I was one of the team. This was my very first experience working in an actual Emergency Operations Center. I had studied it, in theory, when I was taking classes to become qualified to do this and now I had the opportunity to actually see it in action. My team helped to answer the phones to refer storm victims to various resources nearby.
One caller did NOT like the answer she was getting and kept calling back in the hope of getting the answer she wanted. (Never happened.) She called in to inform us that a tree had fallen onto her vehicle and it was completely totaled. Unfortunately, she only had liability insurance on it and she also made it a point to tell us she is a renter, not a home owner. Then she demanded that she be given restitution for her totaled vehicle!
(Huh? *Scratches head*) It was explained that the EOC is unable to provide that kind of assistance. She did NOT like that answer and demanded to speak to someone higher up! (At the time she called, all of the higher ups were in the midst of a conference call with other officials across the state to coordinate what needed to be done next for this emergency.) The first CERT member informed her of this meeting and that she would get a call back as soon as this meeting concluded. She did NOT like that answer either as she demanded IMMEDIATE RESTITUTION! She hangs up and immediately redials, hoping to get a different person with the answer she wanted. That's when the second CERT member picked up the phone and had to give her the same answer as the first CERT member. (We were all sitting together, taking turns answering the one phone so that no one would get burnt out and we could brainstorm possible solutions to this one headache.) Needless to say, the caller did NOT like the answer she got from the second CERT member and DEMANDED that we pull the supervisor out of the meeting IMMEDIATELY because she was entitled to an answer NOW!
The second CERT member calmly explained, again, that the supervisor could not be interrupted and that she would get a return call as soon as the meeting was over. She hangs up and immediately calls back a THIRD time and I was the lucky one to get her. (By then, I had become familiar with her scenario and recognized the call as soon as she started up with me.) I told her to "please hold while I consult with other emergency workers", which placated her temporarily, and CERT member number two picked up the phone and explained, AGAIN, that she would get a call back as soon as the meeting concluded. About a minute after that call, our supervisor returned and we filled him in on what was going on with this one caller. (I did not envy his having to call her back as I knew that she was NOT going to like the answer she was going to get......the EOC is NOT in a position to GIVE her a NEW vehicle for free! She gambled with purchasing only liability insurance and, unfortunately, she lost the bet!) *Shakes head*
BTW, here is today's "Dear Abby". Sounds like it is themed on N's!
http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/?uc_full_date=20120702
