The last thing we need right now (@Calgary, AB) is heartless comment & attitude

[Mission]

I am sure all of you know to a certain extend about the flooding situations in Alberta. Last Friday when we were declared as State of Emergency, me and my friend went to get bottled water. Obviously, it was sold out everywhere, finally we found some flavoured water @ SDM (that's all they have left, no regular distilled or spring water). So we thought whatever, if we need it, when we need it, we will have it, just in case. Even if WE don't need it, ppl that have been evacuated will need them for sure. At that time, there were already over 75,000 ppl were evacuated. All schools closed. Lots of roads were just submerged. And ppl that were at evacuation center asked for blankets, clothing (underwears & socks), ready to eat food and most importantly bottled water.

Yesterday I found @ another SDM has trays and trays of regular distilled spring water 24's for $1.99 (no limit). So I thought these would be great for donations and I can get more of the reg. ones to donate by returning those flavoured ones as they were three times as much. But I didn't have the flavoured water in the car at the time, so I just get the regular water first and plan to return those flavoured ones some other days.

Today as I was packing stuffs for donation, I remembered I need to return the flavoured water. Went to SDM, she asked if anything wrong with them, I said, no, just at the time there were no reg. ones, I just get whatever left. She then made a “snorkelling” sound and said, “Yup, ppl panicked. What’s the point ? “ Before I replied, I want to give her a chance to clarify, so I asked, “what do u mean by what’s the point ?” She said, “it’s not even the same part of the city, what’s the point of rushing to get water ?” I was just furious, yes, we lived in the north side of the city that was not evacuated, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be affected as it is the same river, same reservoir that we drank from and at the time we bought the water, there were still a body floating in it that cannot be reached. I then said, “If you chose to drink from tap, that is your choice but what I do is none of your business and I don’t appreciate that kind of comment especially times like this, ppl lost their homes, their pets and even their lives. We are not directly affected doesn’t mean we don’t have to care. We should by all means lend a helping hand wherever we could. That kind of comments were totally unprofessional. And I wish you have more compassions for the ppl who have lost so much !”

[loftywater]

I live in Edmonton and we also stocked up on water but didn't get much nasty comments. But that's true, I feel some people feel the need to say so much when it's not even their place. I've heard lots of horrible things happening as a result of the flooding in Calgary. Like some guy on kijiji selling bottle of water at $6 PER bottle. He even stated on his ad "I'm taking advantage of this situation and I've already brought ALL the water in this area" so pretty much saying he's a total a-hole! Seriously, you never know with theses weather warnings when it might be your area next. So it's good of you to stock up

[tjthemanto]

Good to see , they are going ahead with the Stampede..lot of jobs depend upon.

Ofcourse the first priority has to be to help people who are badly in need and affected by this tragedy.

[seylz_gurl]

I live in Edmonton and we also stocked up on water but didn't get much nasty comments. But that's true, I feel some people feel the need to say so much when it's not even their place. I've heard lots of horrible things happening as a result of the flooding in Calgary. Like some guy on kijiji selling bottle of water at $6 PER bottle. He even stated on his ad "I'm taking advantage of this situation and I've already brought ALL the water in this area" so pretty much saying he's a total a-hole! Seriously, you never know with theses weather warnings when it might be your area next. So it's good of you to stock up

Those taking advantage of people who need basic supplies could be charged. "Under the emergency management act in province of Alberta, price-gouging or price-fixing above normal levels during a state of local emergency is illegal and it would take some co-operation between ourselves and police, but individuals could be prosecuted for that,” Burrell, the fire chief and head of the Calgary Emergency Management Association.

[Candini]

Good for you!

People are heart-less and outspoken. Looks bad on SDM.

Write that on their Facebook page and see how long that woman has her job.

[torontogal12]

[vesper]

People have long memories when it comes to being screwed over in desperate times.

In 2003 the Big hotel at Lake Louise would not let my girlfriend in to use the bathroom as there was a huge new years party inside, a ticket was required. I won't ever have anything to do with that hotel.

They called the RCMP on me for bustin in with her and standing firm in front of the bathroom! Lol!

Any company that screws people in these days will suffer!

[idonovan]

what i thought was bad was the insane markup of water some businesses did $50 for 24 bottles... like common taking advantage of people like that.

[beckie.c]

what i thought was bad was the insane markup of water some businesses did $50 for 24 bottles... like common taking advantage of people like that.

I can't be sure because I was not in Calgary at these stores, but I think some of these lash outs on social media about the $50 water maybe a little undeserving. Wait, let me explain! (hides from the flying Rotton Tomatoes!) For example, in the small town where I had my wedding, it was super hot so I went to buy botted water for those helping me out all morning. The store was all out of the normal flats of bottled water that you buy for $4-$5, so I bought a flat of Aquafina for $48.00 (24x591mL bottles at a retail price of roughly $2.00/bottle does equal $48.00). So yup, on a normal/non-emergency day I've paid $50 for 24 bottles of water, just like if I were to get them out of a vending machine, (but all those people helping me were totally worth every penny.)

If they were upmarking the regular flats of bottled water, then they truly deserve the hate. I saw the $20 ice all over twitter too.

Now, taking off my devils advocate hat, even the flats of $2-591mL bottles of water, could have been discounted once the cheap water flats were cleared off the shelves. It is a disaster/emergency after all.

OP, I'm sorry about that rude cashier. Its a time to be pulling together, not being rude!

[xox2010]

Rude cashier... Good for you for donating. I'm sure they need all the help they can get!

[tjthemanto]

http://www.thestar.com/business/2013...o_economy.html

Lot of damage ..1.5 Billion dollars worth !

Luckily the human loss was minimal if you consider the size of it.

[Ciel]

@vesper-my understanding of private rentals of venues is that whoever rents the facility is allowed to keep the facility open only to his/her guests. The facility is not open to the public unless the venues themselves direct/have signage indicating where the public may access said facility. The public is not part of the contract for the rental on event day, yet access is attempted. The only other access permitted would be with the consent of facility staff who might arrange a viewing of a facility in use with the renters' permission.

I say this with knowledge of seeing public attempting to use a rented hall (bathroom access) that happens to be open to the renter/guests who are setting up while public is using a water feature nearby but the public access washroom in nearby public building is closed as no municipal worker or library worker is on duty on Sunday. Just saying this is happening. Can't imagine how fast tempers will fly if our part of Hamilton were ever to get flooded out and public clamors for bathrooms, evacuation centres, etc.

[CrazyQT]

My nephew and his wife are still not allowed to go back to their home in High River. They left with a pair of shoes and a change of clothes. It's so incredibly sad to not know the state of your home

[FallenPixels]

what i thought was bad was the insane markup of water some businesses did $50 for 24 bottles... like common taking advantage of people like that.

In their defense, the person did buy 24 single bottles and not a case.