Not really CF-related but the story reminds me of when I lived in an apartment and a circuit breaker tripped, rendering most of the place powerless and dark. At night. I called and they said, "We'll send someone in the morning."
"But I have no lights and the fridge is out. Someone can't just run down and reset the breaker?"
"...emergencies only...etc"
Sigh. So I went out and broke into the machine room in the building.
Required only a credit card to push the door latch in. Nothing destructive. Real secure! Found the breakers. Located the tripped one. Reset it. Problem solved. I hated that place.