OK, the first week back after vacation is tough enough. Alarms going off again at times you resent, the boss having some crazy idea you’re supposed to work five days in a row.
However, coming back really wasn’t that bad…until Wednesday night.
I was home relaxing, when unbeknown to anyone at work, a pipe broke in the dentist’s office across the hall. Our offices are on the third floor, which meant the dentist office suffered serious water damage….but ALSO the counselors on the second floor….and, even worse, the cat-scan facilities on the first floor. Rumor has it that their machine that was killed by the flooding was easily in the $100,000 range…and will take two months to replace…which means a temporary one inside a semi will have to be parked in our parking lot, which already barely has enough spots for all the employees.
Then, Friday morning, I came out of a meeting to see a half-dozen employees looking out the window. I asked, “What’s up?” and was told the Lynnwood Police were outside, guns drawn and coming into the building. The company went into an immediate lock down, we made sure no one was in the bathroom and then waited to hear what was going on.
It turned out to be a disgruntled client for the clinic on the first floor. I don’t know what he said or did, but I do know he left the place in handcuffs after 45 minutes or so.
During that time, we were unable to reach the folks on the 2nd floor by phone, so the business manager asked if I would accompany her down to take a peek. I felt like I was in a really bad “Die Hard” movie. We carefully went down the stairs, opened doors quickly and checked things out and everything turned out to be fine. I figured if shots started flying, I could always hide behind her.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the first week of the new year. I’ve gotta feeling that 2010 is going to be far from dull.

Tim Hunter