The Leak

Last Wednesday at work I was walking from the kitchen into the family room area, in front of the TV, when I noticed that the rug was wet. At first I thought someone spilled water. I briefly began randomly muttering "Who spilled water on the carpet and didn't clean it up?" a few times; then I lifted the rug and realized that all the carpet underneath it was sopping wet. There was no way that anyone had spilled that much water and none of the staff notice it. So I moved the coffee table and rolled back the rug. There was a 2X4 foot area that was wet, with no sign of dripping from the ceiling or walls. I felt under the TV cabinet, and it was slightly damp. So I went to find our director. She agreed that it was probably a slab leak. She called the owner of the building, who eventually showed up (well, his assistant did) and said they would get someone on it "as soon as possible." My coworkers and I moved the furniture away from the leak area and waited. For AN ENTIRE WEEK. True, the day after we discovered the leak, a crew of two showed up and cut two holes...in the wall. Then they left. Nothing was done over Memorial Day weekend, and indeed, nothing was done for two days after that. Today, however, a jack hammer and some shovels were brought in, causing some actual progress to be made, and now our floor looks something like this:

(This is not an actual picture of our floor, although it is quite similar to what I get to look at for the next few days.)

It's actually kind of funny, because the giant gaping hole in the floor is a) blocking the kitchen, so we have to jump over it to get in to the kitchen area, thus putting to the test my nonexistent acrobatic skills, and b) surrounded by dirt, which has the appearance of beach sand. That, coupled with the ocean pictures on the wall that make fake ocean noises, gives the imitation that we are trying to create our own little beach area inside the building. Maybe tomorrow, I'll bring my beach chair and a book with me to work. That'll make the bosses laugh! Or cringe.