Why, You Could Say, a Crappy Day

The immediate tip-off that something was amiss was the sight of my department head, who usually works Monday to Friday, 9AM to 5PM, sitting on the low wall in front of the main building. Yeah, that's not ordinary, so it must be an out-of-the-ordinary day. Sometime in the early afternoon, the main line from the bathrooms to the sewer had gotten blocked, and a flood of raw sewage backed up into the basement of the building. Because of this problem, the air conditioning system had to be shut down so that the foul miasma from the basement wouldn't be spread throughout the building. Needless to say, our weekend cleaning contractors, two wonderful, hard-working Latin American immigrants, did heroic work holding back the tide of foulness in the basement. It was comical, however, seeing one of them, a four-foot ten-inch tall woman, wearing a pair of shitkicking boots that would have made me, with my size 11-and-a-half EEEEE feet, proud.

Because of this situation, we had to close the Visitors' Center and gift shop early, and I had to run interference with the tourists, telling them that we were closed for the day. Everybody was lovely, everybody was patient, so things ran smoothly. In the meantime, the plumber/sewer maintenance contractor came on an emergency call and snaked out the system.

The last of the tourists have left, and I closed down the parking lot. The regular duo of cleaners have gone home for the day, but their supervisor, an Anglo dude with a shaved head (he could pass for a relative of mine) is downstairs with a heavy wet-vac, an industrial sprayer full of disinfectant, and a high-powered air-blower for drying out the area. Thankfully, about a month ago, the carpeting in the basement was torn out and a new tile floor put in, so there's no problem of tainted carpeting to deal with.

I am currently sitting outside the main building on a nice little patio, taking advantage of the wi-fi system and the gorgeous late Spring weather. It's been a crappy day, but the main problem occurred before I clocked in, so I really can't complain. I've had my fair share of storm sewer backups and weather-related flooding, but I got off easy today. My typical line is that the job is cushy except when it's not, and that the rough days constitute 'paying the dues' for the easy days. In the meantime, I have to document the fact that the various contractors have done the necessary work, so there will be a small amount of paperwork, but that's okay... it was a crappy day, but I wasn't up to my ankles in the stuff.