the Informer

Courant.com

Last Saturday, approximately five hours after my part-time job regained power, the lights went out again while I was hurriedly bringing a patron their chicken wrap and fries.

As I quickly put my iPhone’s flashlight app into use near an elderly couple so they would be able to at the very least see the meals in front of them, the man turned to me and said, “so how long is this going to take?”

It’s vexed inquiries such as these that Connecticut Light and Power, the Connecticut government and even administration at the school received in a constant stream throughout the week of no power.

While my place of employment was in one of the hardest hit towns in the state – 98 percent was still without power on Saturday, and hundreds reported regaining power only to lose it again – I was forced to politely tell my irritated customer that I, more or less, had absolutely no idea.

The anger of this particular customer brought to my attention the overwhelming increase in expectations and complaints that people have in a time of crisis. The storm left over 66,000 residents of the state without power, and about 58,000 of them expected to be living in the light again by the following afternoon.

There’s a snowball effect in aggravation during times of need. By the first 24 hours of darkness, people wanted to know “when” it was going to be restored, and the reality was nobody knew. The same presumptions came within the University community. Frustration grew throughout the week stemming from uncertainty about classes, assignments, when students were allowed to move back in, but the reality was without information from CL&P, it was impossible for anything to be set in stone.

Similarly, drastic anger with CL&P escalated throughout the week to the point of arrests. One Avon man called the company falsely claiming downed wires had shocked him in his driveway just to get a quicker response, according to police.

Another woman called CL&P threatening to shoot herself on Tuesday night because she was still without power. Numerous workers were threatened over the course of the week.

Regardless of the 11 days that some were forced to sleep in the cold, crews were working around the clock to restore power. Workers weren’t sitting on the side of the road waiting for their coffee to cool off before getting to work. And although CL&P pushed back their projected times for power restoration more than once, they were using what resources they had, even calling in outside companies.

The work done to help those in a time of need is pushed to the back of peoples’ minds while anger and frustration weasel their way in far too often. During the past week efforts of individual towns, government assistance and even the University goes unnoticed. While refugees of the Village complained of having to sleep in Gengras, RAs were working extra hours and ARAMARK employees stayed on campus to feed the few who didn’t flee home. In towns in the surrounding area even those with power in their homes offered their assistance at shelters.

Next time the state goes into a storm-ridden panic – and I’m sure it will, 2012 isn’t getting any further away – hopefully people will put down their guns and appreciate rather than complain.