The Night of Tornadoes

During the second tornado warning, I snapped this picture of some Meijer team members huddled in the break room, watching the progress of the storm on television.

I'll be honest. It doesn't appear that any real tornado touched down in the vicinity of Meijer. The damage that I witnessed leaving Meijer was more or less high-speed wind damage... still, it was crazy nuts damaged.

Anyway, my day:

8:30am: Began my CS 425 exam. Between this time and 10:20am, I would learn what "mental anguish" really meant. Painful exam, to say the least.

10:40am: Began my shift at Meijer, 50 minutes early.

3:00pm: By now I'm fairly certain that I hate the day, as I'm bored out of my mind. Good thing the sky began to darken by now.

4:30pm -- 7:30pm: Yes, that's a three-hour chunk of time carved out.

I can't quit remember the exact time, but around 4:00 or 4:30 the team leaders at Meijer began what I call their "freak out" phase. Carts were collected from the lot, the Garden Center shut down, and with the first tornado warning issued (I learned about it, after being in denial for 30 minutes, via the county warning sirens), everyone in the store was shuffled to the back.

This first drill was a complete joke, thanks in part to management that blew the situation out of proportion, didn't collect enough information about the situation before making decisions for our customers and team members, and in general acted before thinking. After a solid half hour of resting "in the back" with Dale, we returned to our usual posts.

Closer to 45 minutes later, a second set of storms moved in, and this was the mother lode. Wind, hail, rain, funnel clouds, and the biggest visible factor of all, darkness, consumed two hours of what basically amounted to "chill-out" time in the Systems Office. With a few dozen customers packed into the team center and the break room crawling with team members, I opened the Systems Office for a few friends to pile into, which resulted in card games, drinks, laughs, and of course, a mustard packet all over my leg.

It was one of those moments where you're forced to make the best of a situation, and with pitch-black storm clouds raging just outside the window, it was nice to gather friends and co-workers in a space and shoot the shit for a few hours (getting paid of it didn't hurt either). I can already recall this as one of my most favorable moments in my five-plus years at Meijer. Dustin, Laura, Amanda, Korinne... and everyone else that I can't remember right now... thanks for a great night.

I love storms to begin with, and I hope we have a very active season this year.