…It pours. At least, that is what seems to happen when your apartment gets flooded. That’s right – our apartment had a minor flood. But really, how “minor” can a flood be? I should start at the beginning.

Yesterday (Saturday), Chris & I were out running errands in the morning. We had gone to Wal-Mart, the library, Staples, & PetsMart, then returned home. While I was unloading things, Chris asked “Is something dripping?”. Famous last words. He opened the closet that houses our water heater, and water was pouring down from the pipes. You know how sometimes you’re just in shock, so even though you should be scrambling to find a solution, you just stare? That is what we both did. We both stared at this water, pouring into our apartment, with confused expressions. I think we were both thinking the same thing: where in the heck is this water coming from?!

So I got on the phone & called maintenance, which normally has been pretty good about responding quickly. I got the answering service, told her that we had a leak and that water was pouring into our apartment, and she was like, “What kind of leak?”. What kind of leak?! I don’t know! All I know is that water is pouring from the ceiling, down the pipes, and around our water heater! I relayed this information to her in a much more calm manner, then proceeded to ask that she send maintenance ASAP. Chris, meanwhile, proceeded to stand and stare at the leak, while I ran around getting bowls and buckets to catch the water.

We could both hear a LOT of water above us, so I asked Chris to run upstairs and see if the girl above us was trying to learn how to swim in her living room. He went upstairs, only to discover that this girl had clogged her toilet and apparently had no clue how to turn off the water. Good grief. She did, however, manage to turn the toilet water-spigot to full blast. Smart girl. So Chris turned off the water after wading through about 3-4 inches of soggy carpet and rugs, then came down to tell me the news.

I called maintenance again, got the answering service again, and informed them of what was going on above us. I made sure to let this lady know that there were inches of water, and that it was now coming down in our bathroom, hallway, and bedroom closet. She once again assured me that maintenance was on its way.

Twenty minutes later – still no maintenance. I called AGAIN to see what the heck was going on, and told the lady that water was now coming down the ceiling into our bedroom, above our bed, and above my husband’s desk. We were running out of towels & buckets & bowls, oh my! She again assured me that maintenance was on the job! A few minutes later, some guy pulls up on his little golf cart and, I kid you not, proceeds to sit on his butt and smoke a cigarette. Right in front of our living room window! Helloooooo, I can see you, you idiot! That was what I was thinking. After he finishes his cigarette about, oh, 2-3 minutes later, he gets up, spits whatever he was chewing onto the car next to him, and goes upstairs to the apartment above us. With a plunger. I was gettin’ pretty feisty right about then, as Chris can attest to, and couldn’t believe this guy.

So he finally knocks on our door, and Chris is about to open it, but I was like, “Oh no – let me handle this.” So I open it, he comes in without introducing himself or saying hello or excuse me, walks around our apartment, and says “Yeah, so I fixed the girl’s toilet above you, so you shouldn’t have any more water coming in. I’ll call the carpet cleaning company and have them suck up the water, and someone will come on Monday to fix the ceilings and drywall.” Uh uh. I said, “Actually, my husband went upstairs quite awhile ago and turned off the water, so that wasn’t really a problem anymore. Do you have a Wet-Dry Vac to start sucking up some of the water, because there was a lot up there and just because the water is turned off doesn’t mean that the several inches on the floor aren’t still going to drip through.” He said he didn’t know anything about that, and left. Grrrrrrr.

So the carpet cleaning company showed up about 2 1/2 hours later to suck up the water, and they were actually very nice. It didn’t take too long, considering that the carpet in our hallway was DRENCHED and water gooshed out whenever you walked on it. They also sprayed it so that hopefully it will not grow mold. But we now have 10 lovely brown water spots on our ceilings & dripping down onto the wall, which will probably be there for awhile. Gross. Oh, and the maintenance guy? You had better believe that I called in a complaint. Who sits there and smokes a cigarette when people have water pouring down their walls & ceiling?

At least it made for an interesting Saturday. It definitely was not how we normally spend our afternoons!