Unexpected Breakroom Remodel

One year ago I got a phone call..... "There's a significant amount of water coming out of your building".........

That was at 11 pm as I was just getting into bed after a long day. My first initial thought was fire ....... the second thing I fear most being in business, right behind one of my employees getting hurt.....

By the time I had arrived at the shop, Amy Bertram had already let the Officers into the building remotely to assess what was going on. They told me it appeared to be my sprinkler main, but they didn't want to stick their head in there to see...... so in I went. A whopping 4 degrees Fahrenheit outside and I stuck my face into the closet to get a good facewash and figure out what broke. Sure enough, the flange directly below the shutoff valve 🤦‍♂️

Long story short, there was A LOT of water coming into our building and it took another 30 minutes for the City to shut off the main. For a good hour I sat there feeling sorry for myself and wondering what in the world we were going to do to be able to get the shop up and running the next day, as most of our employees shoes were now floating down Waube lane into the icy intersection.

Then Chet Lamers showed up in the middle of the night to lend a helping hand. Next, good friend Eric Stankevitz made the 40 minute ride in to help out. With those two minds working together, the next thing you know we had a vac truck parked outside the shop and all of the water vacated before 2:30 am!

It's the toughest of times that always seems to bring out the best in people! Forever grateful for both of those guys showing up in the middle of the night to get us out of a pinch.

We were back up and running the next morning..... most everyone was shoeless, but we made it work 🤣