A real shitstorm

Some people talk about how much their job stinks, but last week I had them all beat. (Beaten? Whatever.) Ever since we moved into our new office building in June things have mostly been great, except that the bathrooms have been out of commission for a day or so every few weeks because they haven't been able to fully unclog the drains. So last week they replaced the pumps that clear these things out. Problem solved, they said.

Shortly after this I was working away on my computer and heard a load splashing sound. When I looked up, I saw that water was cascading out of one of the light fixtures and onto the floor. A lot of water. Maybe 12 feet from me. The entire 2' by 4' light panel was gushing. Then the smell hit. Both my neighbor Sparky and I yelled at the same time, "Crap, that's crap!" If only I had the words to describe that smell. Well, it's better if I don't. Not good.

After about 30 seconds the water was pouring out of the next ceiling panel over from the light. The one closer to us. Still onto the open floor though. So far anyway. We shut down our computer equipment and rushed over to the computers directly in the path and grabbed them as quickly as possible. Fortunately this tragic rain stopped before it actually landed on anyone or any computers. It turns out the new pumps were too powerful for the old pipes, or maybe there was a clog that got loosened, so a 4 inch drain pipe in the ceiling had burst. It took us about 15 minutes to get all of the computer equipment out of the way of the workers (who were now trying to figure out how much more shit would rain down on them/us when they cut the pipe section for the repair), then I was out of there for the day. Thank God for an internet VPN connection, I can work from home and crap hardly ever falls on my head!