Water! Cool, Clear Water.


We had a little hiccup at work over the weekend. I wasn't there when it happened but since I typically work Saturday's and Monday's I have had a front row seat to some great excitement (and great expense for the poor owner of our little establishment).

On Friday at around 2:16 PM the girls working the front desk heard a large crashing sound above them. They said it sounded like someone had dropped something like a TV or housekeeping cart in the room above them. They all instinctively looked up and to their utter shock and surprise water began pouring from the light fixtures above their heads.

They scrambled to put buckets under the leaks and to cover the exposed computer's. Water was everywhere and the buckets were filling rapidly when, on top of everything, the fire alarm went off.

At this point you can imagine that they all raced out of the hotel not sure what the heck was going on and watching in horror as water destroyed everything at the desk.

About an hour after this happened I received a call from a friend of mine who works nearby at the Alumni Association (and does a lot of business with the hotel) she'd heard that the hotel was closed due to water damage and since they had about 15+ rooms booked for that night wanted to know if I had any insider information.

I was clueless! She knew more than I did. So I called down and got my boss. She explained that as far as they could tell a sprinkler pipe (see left) had frozen and cracked.

The damage was unbelievable! If you can't imagine the losses our hotel just incurred I'll give you a brief overview.

1. Our typical rate is between $110-120 a night. We were closed for two days and forced to cancel all reservations for those evenings.

2. We lost all of our computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, paper shredders, etc.

3. There still had to be an employee staffed 24 hours a day.

4. The sheet rock on the walls at the front desk, behind it, around it and into my bosses office had to be torn down because of water damage.

5. The restoration crew has been there everyday since Friday evening and I know from personal experience (with water damage) that if they charge less than $60 an hour they are VERY cheap.

6. We lost all that business from the Alumni Foundation... you can imagine how well that went over.

If I wasn't so desperate for money I think I might offer to do some free time for them. My boss and the owner are about the nicest people you'll meet. They go out of their way to make sure that the employee's are safe and I hate to see them get hit so hard. But I'm not that great of an employee nor do I get payed enough to be, so I come to work and sit in the lobby (because we have no front desk) and manually check people in and watch Man v. Wild on TV (I've never seen it before and I have to admit some fascination with the whole show).

What a great employee I am.

Comments

Sara said…
That is so crazy! We had a similar problem with a paint can being stuck in our pipes from when it was being built and for some reason we lasted 6 months without anyproblems until finally toilets wouldn't flush and baths wouldn't drain and then gushing water could be heard within the walls. Luckily we were under home warranty but it was still a pain to have workers cut half our walls down. I didn't know you were working again? Who watches the kiddos?
Cannwin said…
I just work a few nights a week and so Ralexwin is able to be home with the kiddo's. We don't really have a choice about me working since he can't (law school rules). So I trudge into work and endure. lol.
Lisa said…
I feel so bad for them...

And Man Vs. Wild is an awesome show.
Claire said…
Well, I'm really hope they have insurance! I'm sure they do. I can't imagine a frachised hotel being able to operate without insurance. Hopefully that will cover their losses! Additionally, I hope that the fire system will be better insulated with the new installation. Having frozen water in the sprinkler system would be sorta bad in a fire situation, though I suppose it would defrost soon enough...
Cannwin said…
Claire... good point! Who wants frozen pipes when the building is burning down.

Sara... a paint can in the pipes?! what the heck happened there?

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