Monday the 19th of January was Martin Luther King Day and I had the day off. Fortunately, this was brought to my attention the Friday before, so I knew that I didn't have to work. After the events of the weekend, I had considered going in, to see how things were making out, but after some careful thought I decided against it. I had already had my Sunday ruined by having to go in, why do the same to a paid holiday? Anyways, with everything off the floor and safe, there really wasn't much I could do that couldn't wait until the entire staff came back to work.
Tuesday came and so did the need to go into work. Apparently I didn't get the call telling everyone either not to come in, or to come in a bit later, because when I got there, there were very few other people at the office, and probably for good reason. In my opinion, the place was more of a mess than when there was six inches of water in it. All of the cubicles had been pulled away from the walls, and many were in pieces. The place I once called my work space was a pile of wall panels, shelves and filing cabinet pieces.
Nothing was where it was supposed to be, people's computers, files, and other work related items were strewn all about. The conference room table was littered with CPUs and monitors, most of the ones I had drained and dried a few days earlier. A brief moment of panic set over me, thinking back to the hours upon hours I'd put into making sure that my computer inventory was perfect, and how all that time was now a waste. That soon subsided though; there wasn't anything I could do about it. What had happened was out of everyone's control, it was done and now we had to deal. After a few deep breathes I start to take a few laps around our office space.
It was loud in there. Large industrial drying fans were spaced out through the office with names like "Tornado 3" or "The Wind Tunnel" and there were dehumidifiers with their plastic tubes running out the nearest door or to the nearest sink. The carpet under my feet made a slight squishing sound as I walked as it was still quite waterlogged and the air was heavy... musty... wet. Any walls that were sheet rock had been ripped apart, about 10 or so inches from the floor and any insulation had been pulled out. Bottom line, the place was a wreck.
We convened in our building's cafeteria, which although it was on the first floor, was on higher ground and didn't get any damage. Promptly I was told to go home, which was fine, I was able to work from my house thanks to my high speed internet connection. I was happy to go home, even if I had to work. I wasn't at home a half an hour before I got a call from work telling me to take the day and do whatever I wanted and not to worry about working. How unfortunate that I had nothing to do. Well, a day off is a day off.
The next day I went into work at my normal time. I don't know if it was just force of habit, because again after walking around the office and trying hard to clean things up, I was told to go home. I guess it makes sense, the dampness that the entire area still sustained was a prime breeding ground for bacteria and sickness, and everyone knows how prone to sickness I am. I'm still getting over being sick since the first of the year... and today's the 27th of January. So I went home and actually did what work there was to do, but mostly just watched daytime TV. Just a tip on that: Don't waste your time.
I had no idea how much the fun would continue the next day...
Stay tuned for "The Flood (Part 3) - The Move"...
