A long time ago, shortly after all Americans had color TV in their homes, I was in high school. I took 3 years of Spanish, which my parents disdained, but oh how useful that would be in these current times. During one of my Spanish classes, our teacher called on one of the students, and asked her what the Spanish word was for "death".
"Mierda", she says.
The instructor blushes, thinks about whether he wants to say what this word really means in an all-girls Catholic high school, to an exceptionally pretty young lady, and then decides to go for it.
"My dear", he says, "you just said "shit" in Spanish".
Her face then went red (I guess times back then were more innocent than I thought) and we all laughed. The Spanish word for "death" is "muerte".
Mierda was exactly what I found in my tub this morning when I went to take a shower. It didn't hit a fan; it ventured up through the drain and coated the shower floor. I am used to seeing disgusting things my cats leave for me, so I kind of looked at it and said to myself, I guess I'm not showering here today.
This is actually the middle of the story, but it's the best part (well, depending on perspective) and I am telling it first in order to grab my audience :)
Whoever you all might be. Much to my delight, I have followers. I don't know who they are (except for Gabey, and thanks for reading!), but it thrills me to think anyone would take the time out of their day to read my diatribes. They're not always diatribes, but I have not been feeling too sunny as of late.
Okay, so back to the beginning. Or actually, last night. Andy's dental was scheduled for 8:00 AM this morning. In order to prepare him for the procedure, I had to stop feeding him before 6:00 PM and administer a large dose of Gabapentin, which is what I use to keep him calm so that I have a chance of getting him into the carrier the next day. A story all it's own; but anyway, Andy was sedated and the 3 cats and I dozed together on the couch.
I got up around 10, used the bathroom, and went to bed. All night long I dreamed I heard "glug glug glug" coming from the bathroom. It kept waking me up, but I was convinced I was dreaming. At 4:00 AM, I stopped trying to sleep and ventured toward the bathroom, all 3 cats literally howling and crying for their breakfast.
I watched in horror as the water in the toilet started to make it's way toward the top of the bowl. Just as I started to reach for the shut off valve, it started to recede. I opened the top of the tank and everything in there looked normal. I shut the water valve and flushed again to see if I could get it to work for the time being. After watching the water rise again, I was cursing myself for being an idiot and thankful that once again, it receded.
I had 3 howling cats and was in desperate need of coffee. At this point, I was still going to take Andy to the vet, so I was not feeding anyone. I had programmed the coffee maker to go off before I got up, but when I reached for it, there was nothing in the cup. I had forgotten to put water in it. So I opened it up the coffeemaker and poured water into it, forgetting that it would be very hot despite the lack of water, and almost burned my face. Not scoring too many points for smarts this fine morning....
I texted one of the people on the board, whom I'll can Ken Thomas, and he immediately responded. He advised me to call All Drains, and I am using the real name here because they were fabulous and probably would not mind some free advertising. It was 6:40 AM and I got a live person. Not only did I not get an answering machine, but the woman who answered the phone was pleasant and helpful. I made sure to tell the plumber how impressed I was by this and also by the work he did here.
I called the animal hospital and left a voice mail cancelling Andy's appointment. I also begged for my deposit, which they will use as a cancellation fee if you don't give them 24 hours notice. I have been a client for years, had a genuine emergency on my hands, and I have never done this to them before. When I talked to them at 8:00, she told me they were so busy that it was actually a good thing and they would not take away my deposit. Andy's appointment is now 3/30/21. Incidentally, this is the second time his appointment got cancelled. The first time was last March when all mierda broke loose with COVID.
Drinking coffee without a working toilet is not an ideal thing, so I texted BFD and told him I was coming over to use his bathroom. Poor guy. Hi, it's me, can I use your bathroom for well, guess..... So I drive to BFD's and he says to me, do you want to shower here too? No, I say, it's just the toilet. The shower is fine.
I came home, pulled back the shower curtain and discovered the mierda. Yeah, I get an F for smart thinking today. Perhaps I should have checked the shower before going to BFD's? Um.....yes.
All Drains got here at 9 AM sharp, just like they said. By that time, I had heard from the condo board and found out the issue was affecting the entire complex. The plumber fixed the clog in the main pipe to the building. I have no idea what that entails and I really don't want to know.
Ken Thomas asked me to test the toilet. It worked. The bathtub....nothing moved. I said to Ken, um, I think I need to clean up the sludge first because it's in the way of the drain. Ken suggested I dissolve it with buckets of hot water. I did even better than that and added bleach. It did dissolve, but it still would not leave. All Drains came to my unit and snaked the tub. All systems now functioning.
The original plan for the day had been to take Andy to the vet and then work....even though I had the day off. I am so behind in my work now since I refuse to work weekends anymore that I am not sure it's worth it. One of my coworkers asked me on Monday if I had run into any issues while entering Bill Com invoices over the weekend. I flatly told him I refuse to do that anymore. My fabulous co-accountant, WG, is working furiously to become up to speed on Bill Com, which will be a huge help. But the dam broke before we got the plug and I am still trying to clean up the water, so to speak. Oh....an unintended water metaphor, lol.
I answered e-mails throughout the day, but never actually worked. So I have a mountain of stuff to do tomorrow and I will not make the month end close deadline. Despite all the extra hours I have been working, it will be my fault that Henrietta can't close on time. Many people at my company are also working weekends, and I am not expecting a red carpet for my extra effort. But it would be nice if my manager were more understanding.
Lately I've been having trouble getting motivated to work even when I should. I am working of course, but it's been a monumental effort doing even simple things. I wish I could just walk away; just get in the car and keep driving and driving and driving, to where, I don't know. Somewhere that companies care about their employees and managers are nice.