Awful Phone Call (long)

17 years ago

Last night my sister called to let me know that my dads paint store was on fire. My dad, alerted by a random phone call from a passerby who called him instead of 911, arrived with the fire department. They took his keys, and not understanding the lock was a little "quirky," managed to break the key off in the lock, so they axed through his glass storefront instead.

The fire dept. determined that the wiring shorted out and started a rug and nearby garbage can on fire. Had the fire not been put out so quickly, they would likely still be fighting it. The building contains over 20,000 gallons of highly flammable materials. The fire spread to the front desk and to some nearby inventory. Amazingly, of all his inventory, only one aerosol can of orange paint was ignited. It exploded and was propelled right through the ceiling. It was stored right beneath a shelf full of thinners, MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone), varnishes and more. All the labels on those insanely combustible products melted or were burned off.

As it is, the store and much of its inventory (paints, hundreds of rolls of wallcoverings, displays, etcÂ) are unsalvageable. But it could have been so much worseÂ the whole back of the store is a warehouse with wooden floorsÂ shelves stacked high with combustibles and plenty of oxygen feeding a potential blaze from beneathÂ

This simple hometown store has been in the family for over 50 years. My sister and I spent many a Saturday at it while my dad took care of business. What I remember most about it was its pop machine: it was one of those top-opening chest jobbies that housed an inventory of small glass bottles, suspended by their necks. I used to have to scootch my selection down a thin row of bottles and pull it through the turnstile. My parents were loathe to give me the 15Â¢ or 25Â¢ to buy a bottle becauseÂ in spite of my assurances that it "wouldnÂt happen this time Â I promise!" ÂI couldnÂt drink out of these bottles to save my life. Somehow my tongue always got vacuumed into the opening and stuck. I always ended up in pain and in tears, gesticulating desperately for help.

When I visited the store a few years ago, I was taken aback at how big it wasnÂt. The exaggerated grandeur of a childÂs memory combined with a bit of neglect really took their toll. But since the inevitably early death of my Drunk Uncle, my dad (who is now sole proprietor) and his staff (many of whom have been with us for 30+ years) had really turned the place around. One thing that hadnÂt changed was that comforting smell of latex paint and chemicals that immediately reminds me of my dad.

So my dad and my brother (who now works for him) and all their men get to go to begin gutting and rebuilding on Monday. The insurance agent has given them promising feedback and theyÂre pretty sure theyÂll be able to rebuild itÂ

Part of me is relieved at how well this has turned outÂ considering how awful it could have beenÂ but most of me has been dwelling on a lifetime of memories tied up in this place, and the toll I know its loss is taking on my family. Surprises like these always take a while to get used toÂ

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Comments (14)

calliope
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That's an almost unthinkable event, and I'm sorry it happened to your family. I guess you have to just focus on the fact that nobody was hurt, and that the whole shebang didn't just blow to kingdom come. It could have been just devastating to the whole community had it all ignited. Thankfully, I've never had to endure seeing a lifetime of hard work be gone in a heartbeat although I've known several people who have. It would be very hard to comprehend after the numbness from shock wore off.
Janis_G
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Michelle, I am so sorry this has happened.
Somehow I know that when the shock has worn off that your
wonderful family will take this and turn it into something
positive.
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Please - all you Mamma Bears (said with great respect - I'm a mom too) take a deep breath, stand back, and calm down. I have no doubt that that phone call was upsetting and frightening. Your daughter was smart to call you, and I think you were smart to investigate and also for Dad to call back and make himself abundantly clear. If the caller had bad intentions, he now knows that your daughter has a pissed-off no-nonsense male for protection. That can't hurt. But please do consider that the caller may not have had bad intentions. As you noted Bethpen, your daughter was kind to several young men with poor social skills, any one of whom might have made that call without understanding at all how it might have seemed to her... He may genuinely have considered her a friend, and have wanted to reestablish contact and see how her new job was going, and had no idea how creepy it would have seemed. But your daughter's creeped-out reaction may have alerted him to the fact that the phone call wasn't going well, so he declined to give his name for that reason - not thinking how that would make it all even worse... This type of action and lack of insight would be very typical of a young man with autism. This call was a single action, not a series, that was perceived as creepy because it did not conform to social norms. There was nothing threatening in what was said, but the social inappropriateness (that's the nature of the autism disability) created a perceived problem. A mountain out of what could truly be a molehill. At this point there has been one phone call with a message that was inappropriate and yes, creepy, but not actually threatening. Please try and keep that in perspective, and carefully consider the option that it may not have been meant to provoke fear. That said, I do agree with the suggestions to inform HR where your daughter works, and to ask for specific training about how to handle threatening calls. Given the nature of her work, that can only be of benefit. This post was edited by sweeby on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 14:24
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So sorry to hear about your father, but nice that you got a final phone call. I can see how that would be comforting. When I lived in Culver City (1989-1994) I had a land line with a phone number that had previously belonged to Larry Welk III, a helicopter pilot for channel 9 news. At this time I mostly used the name Larry instead of Lars because Larry is what my family called me, and that is the name that I identified myself by on my answering machine, which had cassette tapes back then. At one point I started to get a lot of phone calls from companies that wanted to sell me insurance for my helicopter, and this would take up a lot of space on the cassette tapes, which I could not fast forward through at that time. Therefore I changed my outgoing message to say, "Hello, you have reached 310 377-8855, the house of NO LAWRENCE WELK music. If you think you have reached this number in error, take two Geritol and dial again in the morning." The calls from the insurance companies stopped after that. However, when my mother heard this message, it made her mad, and she made me change it because she was a Lawrence Welk fan.
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Pidge
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jaz, there is a lot to cheer about in this event. No one was injured, the store is salvageable, and you will always have all those wonderful memories, even to getting your tongue stuck in the pop bottle. And now the place will be as least as good as new. When one thinks of what "might" have happened, it's pretty amazing.

Jaz, the first sentence of your post is a real "literary hook." Who could not read on?
Josh
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jaz, what a horror but what a relief...all mixed together. I immediately thought how fortunate that the fire department arrived with your Dad...he might have been tempted to try going in on his own. Sounds like he will have good support in the coming days from family and staff and can focus on rebuilding, but I'm sure he has lots of good memories swirling around too. josh
mwoods
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
How awful. Our son and family had a fire in the upstairs of their home several years ago with lots of damage throughout. It's a horrible thing to experience, and very traumatic no matter the outcome.So sorry your whole family is going through this.
tibs
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow. What a relief that something that could have been truely awful is salveagble.
beanmomma
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
(((Jaz and family)))
sylviatexas1
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm so sorry.

Your description of the old place is beautiful.

& take heart:

the "comforting smell of latex paint & chemicals" will waft through the new place as soon as it's stocked.
andie_rathbone
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
A fire is always so scary & especially in this instance when you know the store contained so much flammable material. Thank God your dad had insurance teat will allow him to rebuild and that no one was hurt.
meldy_nva
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am so glad that no one was hurt. Paints and buildings can be replaced, people can't.

This is one of those events that is so depressing at the time of occurance, but later -once the mess is cleared up- everyone will be able to think of it as an opportunity for improvement more than as being a narrow escape. And, this gives y'all a chance to really improve the safety aspects.
wandaredhead
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jaz,
How sad for your family to go through this.
Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Even though an event like this is stressful, 'things' can be replaced.
rob333 (zone 7b)
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Bless you dearheart and your family too. I can't believe you found humor in this, but it is typical of you. Well done. Godspeed on getting up and running again.

-Rob
lindac
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I have friends, collectors of art and fine antiques. One
Sunday morning they discovered that their wall over the chimney was on fire. Too much sitting by the fire the night before. The firemen came, chopped a hole in the wall and poured water on it ( in January!..In Iowa!), managed to put down enough plastic to direct the water outside. My friends put a large empty frame over the blackened hole, called it "minimalist art" and we drank champagne to minor damage.
Raising my glass to you with the words..."To minor damage!"....and no injuries!
Linda C
gandle
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
So glad no one was harmed.

Awful Phone Call (long)

Comments (14)

calliope

Janis_G

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