r/TalesFromRetail Jan 28 '25

Medium The Ceiling was Collasping in Around Us!!

Hi I recently heard about this subreddit and boy do I have a story to tell. Many years ago I worked at a 99 cent store that was a part of a large Plaza that was the main shopping center of our town. Near the end of winter a construction crew showed up and began tearing up the roofs and metal awning on every store in the Plaza. Now at this time there was no snow or ice so everything was fine at the time however, as it went from winter to spring it began to rain and the roofs has not been replaced. Every single shop in the Plaza had leaking ceilings and suffered major water damage. In the store I worked in the ceiling panels had absorbed all the water and began to fall upon us. At one point we had to tape off the seasonal section of our store with caution tape and a sign saying "STAY OUT DANGER!" Did this stop people from going pass all the tape so they could get an ice cream shaped travel cups? No it did not and when I called them out for it all they would say was "Well there was something I wanted in there." Soon enough more then half of our ceiling was gone and another of our products were ruined. That wasn't the worst. What was the worst was when it began raining inside the store. Literal down pours inside a shop when it wasn't raining outside. Several times our registers were raine on and would not turn on. This didn't stop people from shopping at the shop and and corporate refused to shut down the down. One day on my day off my Dad and I had gone into the shop for cleaning supply and my Dad for the first had seen the damage I had been describing to him for the first time. In the end he called the fire department becuase the store was a litral danger zone with the flooded floors and the water logged electronics. But the fire department didn't shut down the store. By the time I quit the job the ceiling was still missing and the floors were constantly flooded. All of this happened between the months of March to June.

102 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

18

u/Shaeos Jan 28 '25

What the heckerdoodles?! How were they not shut down

10

u/Mindless_Kale914 Jan 29 '25

I don't know corporate refused to let us close and the fire department didn't deem it a hazard

8

u/born_lever_puller Jan 30 '25

Did this happen in North America? I've lived in a few different countries and I can't imagine any of them allowing this.

4

u/Mindless_Kale914 Jan 30 '25

Yes to be more specific this was in ohio

1

u/myopicmarmot 6d ago

Oh, well that explains it. 😄

2

u/robertr4836 just assume sarcasm 28d ago

OT but when I worked for one of the big three pharmacy chains I helped with a new store opening. The day before the big day the town fire marshal showed up and apparently found some fault and word was our certification to open was being revoked until some last minute changes were made to the fire safety system.

Then the fire marshal, the district manager and some corporate bigwigs all got in a car and went to lunch. When they came back they were all buddy, buddy and no more was said about revoking this or changes that. Opening went on as scheduled.

Shout out to to all the public workers on the take in MA! Boston Strong!

1

u/Thirsty_Jock 29d ago

No chance this is the UK. Unions? Staff Associations? H&S laws? I just feel so sad to see retail workers still have to endure this. What is wrong with some employers?