My Restaurant Caught Fire: Expenses and Tears!
To say I am exhausted is an understatement. I am tired. Every day, there is something to spend funds on. While this is not an issue as we work to be able to afford these expenses, it becomes super annoying when it seems like you are mostly working to just pay bills and expenses.
You cough and it’s a debit alert, you sneeze and your ATM card is being swiped through a POS. Sigh!
Story of My Life
My morning started just like every other day. I made a list of my activities for the day and time blocked each task. I was super optimistic to set out and make the day productive. Next thing, I received a call that my restaurant was burning. I started to panic as I grabbed my keys and dashed out as swift as possible.
I got there in no time and they were able to put off the fire before I arrived. I probed and asked what really happened. One of the kitchen staff narrated that he was using the electric cooker to fry chicken which was plugged into the socket on the wall just 3inches above the electric cooker.
Next thing, the oil from the oil bubbled and the wire above started to spark. While he was trying to put off the cooker and remove what was frying, a fire broke out. He said he immediately began to shout for help and the chef came in with the fire extinguisher but did not know how to use it.
At this point, they were able to get hold of the security officer who was standing outside the restaurant and she was able to use the fire extinguisher to put off the fire. By then the fire had done a good amount of damage to that part of the kitchen space.
The electric cooker had totally burned to the point of no redemption, the wires, the ceilings, and the sockets were a complete write-off.
I honestly felt like crying. Truth is I cried. It is bad enough that the country is not favourable for start-up businesses and against all odds, we are still pushing to stay afloat, maintain a certain standard, not compromise service delivery, and provide jobs for people yet it is either the taxes are trying to kill you, or the expenses are just ridiculously high and attack you from all corners.
Sigh! I feel like escaping reality sometimes!
This is the unglamorous part of a business that people don’t know about. They hear you have a business and they suddenly believe you are swimming in money. No one knows how much effort, tears, sweat, blood, resources go into it on a daily basis just to keep it running and someday make it profitable.
Human Error or Electrical Error?
Looking back on this situation, I kept thinking, could this have been avoided?
For one, the plug of the electric cooker is not long enough. Hence, someone can only use it with a socket that is within its reach. The electric cooker also does not regulate for some reason. It is either super high or super low.
From a cost-effective perspective, we use the electric cooker more than we use the gas cooker because we run on an estimated post-paid light bill, the cost of cooking gas is high, and there are some things that are better to use the electric cooker for. Basically, we try our best to manage the cooking gas as much as we can when necessary.
Way Forward
Oh well, I am a big believer that experience occurs to teach us something new. I realized that all staffs both front office and kitchen staff would be given another HSSE training with an emphasis on how to use a fire extinguisher. Thankfully, the security officer was around, more damage was averted, and no life was lost.
Also, I had to add this to the list of priority expenses that require immediate funds and start figuring out how to raise these funds. Hmmm… I might just powerdown LEO and Hive. It might not be much but it would go a long way.
This further reaffirms the importance of investing in a couple of viable tokens especially cub, polycub, xpolycub, etc because how is someone really able to just survive with all these urgent unexpected expenses. Sigh!
Till I come your way again… Thank you for your precious time! Have an Amazing and Fire-Free Day!
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