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customers fight over water
Fight breaks out as customers grapple over bottled water
Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, November 17, 2006
Vancouver Sun reporter Randy Shore was at a city Costco store today as the region reacted to a boil-water order. This is what he saw:
A fight broke out and several people were knocked to the ground as customers grappled over limited supplies of bottle water at the Grandview Highway Costco Friday morning.
Several hundred people had lined up, some of them as early as 4 a.m. for the store's 10 a.m. opening, in a bid to get safe drinking water after a boil water advisory was issued on tap water in the Greater Vancouver area Thursday. Some people had already found water sold out at the Real Canadian Superstore just down the block and Canadian Tire stores on Kingsway and at Lougheed Highway and rushed to Costco in hopes of finding a supply.
The surging crowd was unsteady on the concrete floors slick with rain water. Costco staff tried to control the situation as people scuffled over cases of fruit flavoured mineral water after the 20-litre bottles of regular drinking water and cases of 500 ml bottles ran out.
The store placed no limits on the quantities customers could purchase. Racks containing large jugs of water were stripped bare within three minutes of opening. One man bloodied his hand in the struggle.
The police arrived to help control the crowd by 10:15 a.m.
A distressed Asian woman begged store staff to wade through the crowd to get a case of bottled water for her, as she was unwilling to leave her child behind sitting in her shopping cart on top of two cases of Perrier. Others grabbed cases of fruit flavoured mineral water from piles that other customers had pulled from the shelves and were trying to protect.
Some customers waiting in the aisles jammed with carts shook their heads at the scene and muttered, "This is crazy." Costco staff were similarly disgusted by the display as they looked on with a uniformed police officer.
"It's raining outside. Put out a bucket," said Kitty Brodie, whose cart was one of the few that did not contain any sort of water.
Those who were in line early enough pushed flat-bed trolleys piled high with large bottles of drinking water and cases of mineral water to the cashiers.
Others who were not so lucky settled for cases of more expensive sparkling Perrier and Pellegrino. By 10:30 even those shelves were cleared and staff began rolling out fresh pallettes of the high-end beverages.
Lisa Jenkins headed to the cashier with six cases of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water in her cart after she was unable to get near the regular drinking water.
"There was such a panic near the shelves you couldn't get near it."
Jenkins had already tried to beat the crowds by going to Canadian Tire first, thinking it was a less obvious source for water. Others had the same notion and earlier. The cost of the imported water was of little concern to her.
"I have no idea how much it costs," she said. "But the water at home is yellow and brackish."
Store staff told disappointed customers still streaming into the store just before 11 a.m. that water was sold out and to check back later in the afternoon.
Samira Assaraski asked this reporter to pass a message to store management to implement quantity limits, particularly on people buying large quantities for their businesses.
"I have a niece and a son, who is three years old who can use this water," she said. "This is not a time for business, it is a time for people."
As we spoke a man rolled his shopping cart wheels over my feet.
Down the street at the Superstore, large jugs and bottled water sold out just after 9 a.m. Employees distributed large refillable water jugs to a frenzied crowd at the back corner of the store straight through the door to the warehouse.
The cry "Water's all gone" went up just a few minutes after the store opened and the shouts were relayed through the store.
© Vancouver Sun 2006
Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, November 17, 2006
Vancouver Sun reporter Randy Shore was at a city Costco store today as the region reacted to a boil-water order. This is what he saw:
A fight broke out and several people were knocked to the ground as customers grappled over limited supplies of bottle water at the Grandview Highway Costco Friday morning.
Several hundred people had lined up, some of them as early as 4 a.m. for the store's 10 a.m. opening, in a bid to get safe drinking water after a boil water advisory was issued on tap water in the Greater Vancouver area Thursday. Some people had already found water sold out at the Real Canadian Superstore just down the block and Canadian Tire stores on Kingsway and at Lougheed Highway and rushed to Costco in hopes of finding a supply.
The surging crowd was unsteady on the concrete floors slick with rain water. Costco staff tried to control the situation as people scuffled over cases of fruit flavoured mineral water after the 20-litre bottles of regular drinking water and cases of 500 ml bottles ran out.
The store placed no limits on the quantities customers could purchase. Racks containing large jugs of water were stripped bare within three minutes of opening. One man bloodied his hand in the struggle.
The police arrived to help control the crowd by 10:15 a.m.
A distressed Asian woman begged store staff to wade through the crowd to get a case of bottled water for her, as she was unwilling to leave her child behind sitting in her shopping cart on top of two cases of Perrier. Others grabbed cases of fruit flavoured mineral water from piles that other customers had pulled from the shelves and were trying to protect.
Some customers waiting in the aisles jammed with carts shook their heads at the scene and muttered, "This is crazy." Costco staff were similarly disgusted by the display as they looked on with a uniformed police officer.
"It's raining outside. Put out a bucket," said Kitty Brodie, whose cart was one of the few that did not contain any sort of water.
Those who were in line early enough pushed flat-bed trolleys piled high with large bottles of drinking water and cases of mineral water to the cashiers.
Others who were not so lucky settled for cases of more expensive sparkling Perrier and Pellegrino. By 10:30 even those shelves were cleared and staff began rolling out fresh pallettes of the high-end beverages.
Lisa Jenkins headed to the cashier with six cases of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water in her cart after she was unable to get near the regular drinking water.
"There was such a panic near the shelves you couldn't get near it."
Jenkins had already tried to beat the crowds by going to Canadian Tire first, thinking it was a less obvious source for water. Others had the same notion and earlier. The cost of the imported water was of little concern to her.
"I have no idea how much it costs," she said. "But the water at home is yellow and brackish."
Store staff told disappointed customers still streaming into the store just before 11 a.m. that water was sold out and to check back later in the afternoon.
Samira Assaraski asked this reporter to pass a message to store management to implement quantity limits, particularly on people buying large quantities for their businesses.
"I have a niece and a son, who is three years old who can use this water," she said. "This is not a time for business, it is a time for people."
As we spoke a man rolled his shopping cart wheels over my feet.
Down the street at the Superstore, large jugs and bottled water sold out just after 9 a.m. Employees distributed large refillable water jugs to a frenzied crowd at the back corner of the store straight through the door to the warehouse.
The cry "Water's all gone" went up just a few minutes after the store opened and the shouts were relayed through the store.
© Vancouver Sun 2006
Comments
Especially because they've already lifted the water ban in most places. Mine's still a little yellowy, but doesn't smell like dirt anymore. I've just been drinking soda... ;)
I don't wanna take no shower in mud =( Argh...
Hell, a Brita water filter would work fine I'd think.
I just took the easy way out and made sure anything I drank was orange juice or the like. :D
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Addendum:
I was thinking today, though, that this is actually a relatively minor inconvenience in an industrial nation, and even so it makes you stop and realize how many things you do every day that depend on all this technology, and how easily things could screech to a halt.
Consider that we have the ability to boil water to make it safe - what if we didn't have electricity to easily do that in the first place?
It starts to give you an appreciation for some of the real difficulties that face people in Africa, for example, although it only scratches the surface to have a boil-water advisory cause relatively minor trouble.
I can't agree more... I was thinking about that also, and there's just so many little things that we take for granted and never even think about it twice. I mean, I'm pretty ok and I'm not panicking (Though I just don't feel nice taking a shower in yellow brownish water), but just a little water problem and people are fighting and stuff. Man, just think about other stuff that we take for granted, if they suddenly stopped... Food? =)
Would not wanna be in that place :D
Have a good night and take care...
If you've ever lived in a small community, or depended on well-water, you'll know what bad can be!