The Gods Look Down and Giggle

…or: Why the HistoryDiva is posting something new at 11:00 AM on a Tuesday.

Good morning boys and girl! How are you today? Me, I’m excellent. Thanks for asking!

Confused and or frustrated on my behalf yet? As it is a work day morning and yet I’m sitting at my kitchen table in my blue jeans typing up a blog post? Well, don’t be! Cause there is a story here…are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I’ll begin.

This morning dawned bright and clear and warm and so pretty that I just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep. But I extracted my aching self from the cozy cocoon of covers and stumbled my way blindly into the shower. I got dressed, drove through a local fast food place for some breakfast and arrived at work (ready to be totally shocked???) on time! As I walked through the parking garage I noticed a seriously large puddle of water on the floor of the parking deck, which is odd since it wasn’t raining. Then I noticed that water was running down the wall of the building, which I thought was equally odd.

I head up to the forth floor where I am greeted by our receptionist who lets me know that the bathrooms are flooded so I’ll have to head back downstairs when I need to use the facilities. I head to my little teal green cubicle like the good little corporate cog I am. I go about my morning routine of breakfast eating, report printing, and chatting with coworkers.

At around 9:15 a.m. an announcement breaks through the usual early morning buzz of office noise:

“I NEED EVERYONE TO COME TO THE ______________ DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY.”

So all my coworkers and I file toward one end of the building where we are greeted by a row of supervisors and the head of building maintenance…who inform us that there has been a catastrophic water line break in the building. There are several THOUSAND gallons of water standing on the roof of the building and several THOUSAND more gallons standing to waist height on the seventh floor. Every eye in the room turns toward the ceiling at the same time. In the sudden silence we can hear the unmistakable sound of copious amounts of water pouring down one of the two staircases in the building, and flooding down between the walls toward the empty spaces left on the lower floors.

We were told that we had thirty minutes to evacuate the building, and were instructed to get our files off our desks and into filing cabinets or the upper drawers of our desks to keep them dry. We were told to unplug our computers and get all electrical components off the floor. Soon enough the entire place began to look like a ghost town and pictures, posters, calendars and decorations disappeared from desktops. Computers were covered in plastic bags, phones unhooked and wrapped in garbage bags to keep them safe. My coworkers and I formed a long line and followed each other down the one still accessible stairway, listening to the sounds of water rushing above our heads.

So, I have the rest of the day off to do with as I please…so I’m outta here!

Not my office, sorry, there wasn’t really time to take pictures…!