One Little Bulb

Greg M December 12, 2012 at 01:28 pm

I knew someone local had to be responsible. Nice of you to man up and admit it...lol.

Charles Ferrell December 12, 2012 at 07:41 pm

I was in Dollar Tree near the Wal-Mart Super Center in Beaumont when the power went off. I felt sorry for the poor manager of the store who had to tell a store full of customers he couldn't take their business while the power was off. As I left the center, I could see the smoke from the fire clearly to the West. However, when I read the article about the power outage in the Patch that evening, it said the problem was over by Banning Airport. That doesn't seem right, because Banning Airport is to the East of Beaumont. Note to Dave Castaldo: Nice of you to admit responsibility, but don't you already cause enough trouble in Beaumont without spreading your wings to cause the power to go out in major parts of Beaumont, Banning and Cabazon. Thanks for sparing White Water and Cherry Valley.

Charles Ferrell December 12, 2012 at 07:44 pm

A number of years ago when my dad still lived in our old family home out in the country east of Calexico, I came down one winter evening to visit. This was more than 30 years ago, and I had driven from my home in Gardena the five hours or so to Calexico. Dad wasn't home, but I had a key and went inside. I noticed he had just gotten his first microwave. I was considering getting one myself, but had never used one. I looked for something to heat up. My dad lived alone, as he still does, and ate most of his meals in town, as he still does, so all I could find was some peanuts. I put some in a cup, put the cup in the microwave, pushed on, and everything went dark. By that, I mean pitch black, as I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I looked out the window to see the town of Calexico in the distance, and it, too, was pitch black. I looked south for Mexicali, the Mexican town just across the border from Calexico, and it was pitch black, too. "Oh, my goodness," I exclaimed. "I blew the power to all of Southern California." It turned out it was a major blackout, of the regional variety, that happened the moment I pushed the "on" button the first time I ever tried to turn on a microwave.

Hopeful December 13, 2012 at 01:27 am

Are you being serious? Or does a dangerous fire just tickle your funny bone?

Washy December 13, 2012 at 10:41 am

How hard is it to walk with the perpetual stick up your bum? You are one of the most judgmental people. Funny story Charles. (you should end it....With that one push of the button I realized the power I held LOL for the grand kids when you have them)

Washy December 13, 2012 at 10:43 am

Weren't there two separate incidents One on Hathaway and one near Highland Springs?

ATC December 13, 2012 at 03:41 pm

Pretty sad that the store manager couldn't have gotten out a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, and figured out his customers' totals by hand. Hello? Each and every item is 1 dollar! And this is the manager? We have now raised a generation of people who can't function without electronic crutches, and they are actually in management positions. That's scary. Adding up price totals, adding the tax, making change...it really isn't rocket science. It isn't even rock science. But it obviously is way over the heads of many people now.
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Charles Ferrell December 13, 2012 at 04:10 pm

I think this was a matter more of company policy of not doing business when there is no electricity than the manager or his staff's inability to do math and figure out people's bills, especially at a Dollar Tree where everything is the same price. At least that is what I hope is the case. As it stood, I was the only happy customer to get what I wanted after the power went off. I wasn't there to purchase something; I was there to exchange five things we had bought but as it turned out didn't want. They don't do refunds at Dollar Tree, just one-for-one exchanges. I had five items in my cart and in a bag I had the five items I wanted to exchange. After the store manager announced that the store could do no business with the power off, I asked if I could do my exchanges. I gave the clerk the five things I wanted to return, she put the things I wanted to have back into my bag and I left the store happy. Anyway, I would like to know what caused the outage. Was it the fire west of Beaumont or an incident near Banning Airport east of Beaumont? Or both?

Mariana Zuelsdorf December 13, 2012 at 04:41 pm

The store registers are electronic. What was the manager suppose to do with the money? Stuff in his shirt? Every single penny must be accounted for, and the totals must agree with the register tape. This is not rocket science. It's common sense. @Charles, love your story!