HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Lines at gas stations and fast-food restaurants have stretched farther than usual in the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar. Much of the island is without power or water and front-line workers have been laboring to keep customers fueled and fed.
The Guam Daily Post spoke to Janine, a store lead at Shell Guam’s Tamuning location, who has worked at the gas station for nine years. She pointed out this was the first time customers have had to deal with such long gas lines in almost two decades.
“We had to fix the outside because the debris (was) everywhere, and then it was hard to contact employees,” said Janine, who asked to be identified only by her first name.
With power out and telecommunications networks either unreliable or down around the island, notifying employees to report to work was a challenge.
“If we open, we need to have a few employees, and we have customers getting mad. … It’s really hard to contact employees to come in during this time of typhoon and no service. Their homes are not looking too good. I mean everyone’s is, but their homes, some (are) worse than others,” she said.
When The Guam Daily Post arrived at the Shell location in Tamuning, only fuel was available to customers. Inside the store, employees worked together to bag up food products on the shelves. Damage from the typhoon was apparent, with missing ceiling tiles posing a hazard to customers and inventory.
“We cannot have this area open knowing this might fall on a customer’s head,” Janine explained. “Everyone has to be safe. So I told my staff to watch out also because, who knows, the ceiling might fall on their heads because some parts are wet.”
Customers ‘need to also understand’
With customers lining up for gas and patience running on fumes, she said workers are faced with maintaining their cool.
“It’s very hard because we are trying to be patient with them, but, like, they need to also understand,” she said.
The day after the storm, Janine brought her kids with her to work because it wasn’t safe for them to stay home without any means of communication.
“I had to ask them to stay in the car, so I know they’re secured, and then I can help the (customers) out,” Janine said.
It’s been a tough week for gas station workers, she said, due to limited or delayed delivery of fuel.
“We tell the customers that we only have this, so please be patient,” Janine said.
Only certain Shell stations were open after Typhoon Mawar. She said employees across the company were shuffled around to add more manpower to open locations.
“We made sure that these employees also get hours,” she said. “So we are sharing employees at the moment.”
She said island residents aren’t just filling up their vehicles, but also gas cans to run generator power at their homes.
“We have some rude customers. One of my co-workers, a pump attendant, I heard that one of the customers hit him with (a) gallon (gas container), just because we let him know (we were accepting) cash only,” Janine said.
She said it’s in those situations when she gets upset.
“I’m worried about their safety,” she said of her co-workers. “I just want customers to understand, to be patient because these employees … are really trying. We are trying to help everybody as much as we can.”
Fast-food frenzy
At fast-food restaurants, employees have been taking on heavier workloads since outlets opened to hungry customers in the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar.
Teryann Engichy, a KFC employee, said she, too, has had challenges.
“We came in first thing, it was hot,” she said. “There (were) some leaks, and we tried our best to clean up as much as we could. It was kind of hard because the water pressure wasn’t really good. The challenges I faced were mostly the heat, but also having to throw out some of the food that was spoiled.”
KFC Tamuning was open for takeout service only. The dining room was closed because employees had to take on additional tasks.
“There (were) a lot of leaks and a lot of gnats, and we got that cleaned up. … Also the restrooms, the water wasn’t running,” she said.
