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Last Five Entries
Veteran's Day and an Etiquette Question
2004-08-31 - 4:34 p.m.
Wow---What a Monday!
Wow.. What a Monday!
My Monday started out like any other Monday. I woke up, stretched, and thought hard about staying in bed.. but nooooo.. I did the responsible thing.. I got my sorry butt outta bed and into work.. After all, I was sposed to work overtime.... I have to be at work to work overtime and get paid for it.
The morning was uneventful as usual (one of the programs I use on Monday mornings blew up and chunked all over the place, but that's normal). I continued with my data entry in peaceful oblivion.
Since I didn't bring lunch with me, I thought I'd order a pizza and save half of it for dinner since I was working til 9:00. Lunch came, and it was good.
I listen to the television on my radio during the afternoons... At 3:15 a beep beep beep came and said there was a tornado warning for the Dinwiddie/Peteresburg area. I charmed my love into going home to take care of the dogs (they were outside). (Okay.. I didn't charm him as much as I aggravated him into it..but still)...He left for home, got home around 3:45 and all was well. I went back to my data entry.
At shortly after 6:00 I looked up and decided I was thirsty. I took my 64 oz. water container to the break room, grabbed my leftover pizza and headed back to my desk. As I faced the window headed back to my little hole.. I saw it... a WALL of water. It looked like someone had thrown a white sheet over the windows. Ennnh.. okay.. the rain from Gaston is here... so what... no big deal.. it's just rain.
I went into my cube, plugged my headphones in my ears and started to bang out more forms. A few minutes later I heard two of the attorneys in my office let out a scream "MY CAR!" I jumped up and went to the window. When I saw what made her scream... her car (or what was left of it) was almost completely covered with water. The entire parkinglot behind our office building was under water. Not just a little water, but upwards of 5 FEET of water. I went downstairs in the elevator to see it with my own eyes. I got to the first floor and turned left towards the doors. What I saw was just incredible.
There were two cars that appeared to be parked against the glass front. The water had picked them up and "parked" them carefully right against the doors. I looked past the cars to see a BFI dumpster floating by the building; followed by other cars all leisurely floating like a ride at the Kings Dominion water park.
I went upstairs to the fourth floor to find the receptionist in tears. Her car was one of the ones under water. I got her calmed down and then went back downstairs with her. I took the elevator and I heard the sound of rushing water (the same as when the elevator shaft and basement filled with water during the last hard rain). I didn't really connect the dots until the elevator door opened on the first floor and I started to step out and found the sock inside my shoe was damp.. then I looked down and blinked twice. I saw a cascade of water that was flowing into the elevator shaft.
To explain a bit.. we have the street, then we have a curb and the doors to our building are even with the curb. You walk in the front door and you have the option of using a handicapped ramp or taking four steps. By the time I got back down to the first floor, the water had risen up the four steps to the elevator and down into the shaft.
I hit the 4 button on the elevator and went back up to the fourth floor. I went over to the window and looked at the parking lot again.. It was just surreal.... I called my love and he offered to come get me. I just told him to stay put, there was no way I was going to be leaving any time soon.
I went into the stairwell and I could see the water creeping up the stairs, and I knew it wouldn't reach us on the fourth floor, but people in the office were freaking out (we have a lot of first job people and those out of college), and once everyone got resigned to things it was okay....
We got orders to shut down our computers because they were certain the electricity would go out eventually. We shut everything down and then all went to the conference room. One of the partners in our company decided to raid the vending machines and make some microwave popcorn to give us something to munch on. Just as she had bought the last bag, the microwave became nothing more than a good idea... the electricity went out.
There was about 60 of us.. we left the door to the stairs open and several people noticed a "smell" as we walked by the stairs and the elevator. It was gasoline. The floating cars were leaking gasoline due to the water leaching out the gas... to add insult to injury, we had a few people in our office who decided they needed a cigarette, so they hid out in the stairwell and tried to smoke a few cigarettes. When our office manager found out, she went ballistic. We opened the windows to try to alleviate the smell of gasoline, but people complained that it would get too hot, so they closed the windows. The smoke alarm on another floor went off and as you passed the elevator and the open door you could hear it. I kept praying the one on this floor wouldn't go off or we'd all be deaf and crazy (it's one of the most annoying sounds I've ever heard!)
We looked out the windows as the Swift Water Rescue team used their inflatable boat to go past us to Bottoms Up Pizza and rescue folks from the second floor of their restaurant and take them to dry land. Yes, it was that bad. We watched them make several trips and I knew that as long as we were safe in the building there wouldn't be a rescue for us, we'd just have to wait it out. I just had that feeling. The worst part was, from our vantage point on the fourth floor, we could see dry road. On a clear day it would be a five minute our less walk... but tonight, we couldn't even get there if we swam.
I listened to the radio give one bit of bad news after another about the weather. At one point, our local NBC affiliate got a phone call from someone trapped in our building (our building has a right and left side and the two sides don't connect). Someone from the other side gave them an interview. Somehow, they were much better off than we were, they had electricity and the vending machines were working.
By 11:00 the rain had ended and the world started to dry out... Reports were that the water was down to knee height and we decided it was time to go. We were able to walk down the stairs and trudge through the sludge that was once the lobby of our building. The water had decreased and was nothing. Getting down to the second floor from the fifth (they decided we needed to move to higher ground, so we were at the top of the building when we decided to go) was a piece of cake. Not a problem at all. I was prepared to wade through knee high water if that's what it took. As many of you know.. I hate my job and many of the people I work with... I had been trapped with many of them for a LOT longer than I intended. I was more than ready to swim and James if I had to. We got to the stairs leading to the first floor and they were wet and slimy with gasoline water. We slipped and slid our way down to the first floor and then we stopped dead. What we found on the first floor was just beyond belief.
As you exit the stairwell and look straight ahead there is a concrete wall that's really there for aesthetics and not much else. There was a mud-water line in the concrete that came up to my shoulders (I'm 5'7" tall) so it was something close to 5 feet high.. add the stairs and the water was somewhere close to 7 feet at its highest. There was broken limbs, leaves and clothing, soggy paperwork and all sorts of trash and mud.. lots and lots and lots of mud... the greasy, oily, stinky mud all over the place.
The mud was several inches thick and my tennis shoes are still covered in it. Several people I work with took off their shoes (they're lawyers, they didn't want to mess up their shoes).. We walked out of the building to a post-apocalyptic scene Steven Speilberg would be proud of.
There were still two cars at the front door, but they weren't against the building. One was still pointed head in, and the other had actually been parallel parked by the water. The water had picked up the car and placed it so it was against the side of the building and the green a/c power box outside the building. It fit perfectly with no outside damage. The driver's side door was flat against the building, but again, no damage. There was more tree branches, leaves, dirt and oily mud everywhere. One of the people in the building with me opened the passenger side door to the car and what we saw was just horrendous. What the water didn't get to, the mud did. The mud was several inches thick inside the car. You couldn't see the water line on the car (it was under water for a while). You could, however see the water line on the building door. It was over my head by a good margin.
I called my love before I made my start down the stairs in the dark (i'm putting a flashlight on my keychain TODAY) on the way down the stairs so he could get a head start to come and find me. We had to make our way across the street and around the corner so my love to could pick us up (me and a co-worker of mine who lines about a mile and a half from me.)
Valerie and I very carefully slogged our way through the mud to the road that the Mayo Bridge uses. That walk across the street around the corner and up to the next block was the longest two block walk I've ever had. We made it with no mishaps and then chatted with people who walked past as we waited. Everyone was friendly and in shock I think. We waited there for a good hour for the most wonderful sight I've ever seen.. my husband aboard our trusty white steed we lovingly refer to as "truckzilla" We shoehorned the three of us into the truck and left Richmond behind.
We dropped Val off at her house and then made our way home. My love told me his saga of what it took to come get us and why it took almost two hours (I'll let him tell that story). I got home, took a hot shower, looked at my shoes and socks and pretty much determined I'm never wearing either again, took two sleeping pills and went to sleep. I figured I'd call in when I woke up.. I didn't even care when that was... I'd call in whenever and I don't really think anyone would care at this point.
I woke up at 9:00 this morning and tried to look at the news. Since the early news had already ended, the usual "closing crawls" had stopped. I went on the web and found NBC 12's closing list and found that my office was closed for today. I read the news a little bit more and found out that the streets between 14 to 18 and Broad street to the river have been "condemned" until they can be assessed and all offices and residences in that area are closed. No one's allowed in the area for ANY reason. Hence, the reason my office is closed.
For how long, remains to be seen. If I know the two people who own my company, they will find another place at least for the moment, but that's going to be difficult at best, and it won't be something that will happen overnight. OUr electrical system will have to be inspected and our water supply will also have to be tested, the mud will have to be cleaned and the whole place just made habitable again.
I woke up, checked things, went back to sleep to try and nurse my gasoline and stress-induced headache. It's finally over and I'm back to being me.
I did come to a conclusion though... I don't want to work in Shockoe Bottom for one day more than necessary. I want out and I think that this was just the thing to do it.
We're looking down the barrel of another hurricane (Frances is her name); and while right this minute they're predicting she'll hit Florida and over to Texas, they're not sure. They're calling this rain the "Hundred Year's Rain". All I know is. They call it Shockoe BOTTOM for a reason.. it's the bottom of Richmond... Rain ALWAYS drains to the lowest point.. and you know.. after last night, I'm TIRED of being on the bottom!
So to recap.. I went to work at 8:30, got home at 1AM. I have no idea if I'll get paid for anything past 5:00 or not; but I do know one thing... I HATE SHOCKOE BOTTOM and you can't get me to go down there for "Richmond's Best ANYTHING!"
Please don't forget to answer my survey... it's research for a small business idea... all comments appreciated, no reasonable offer refused!!! It won't take five minutes, I PROMISE!
