Simple things that will ruin your day, analog issues meet a digital world.
So just before the December holidays our office building sprunk a leak. Some roof shingles came off from a windstorm and the next time it rained, we started to get water in the office. But wait for the kicker – the leak was right over the top of my desk. Our landlord (we rent our office) ran around and found a roofer to get up there and put a tarp over the top of the affected area. This worked great, until another windstorm came and blew the tarp off the roof, just before New Year’s Day. So after me calling the landlord 3 days in a row and the landlord calling the roofer 3 days in a row to get the tarp put on, it proceeded to rain – A BUNCH!
I had left the office assuming the tarp was being put back on and left some documents on my desk and a laptop as well. Suprise on Monday – documents ruined and water all in the laptop – and NO TARP ON THE ROOF. Those of you who know me, understand that I remained calm (not!), called my landlord calmly (not) and explained the situation calmly (not!).
So this week, they are working on resolving the roof issue, but as you can tell – I now have a bunch of documents I have to recreate and a laptop which MIGHT be able to be salvaged (we’re still trying to dry it out and see if it will start). So what are the lessons learned from here?
- Never assume someone else is going to do something they have shown they are not going to do
- Plan for the worst, a simple thing like a roof leak can cause major damage
- Know what to do and who to call in the event of an emergency or issue.
- Be persistent when an issue is not being resolved to your satisfaction
So an analog world issue causedhavoc in my digital world – a simple water leak causes digital damage and sets me back a day of work. What would you have done in this situation? Should I have done something different? What’s your plan if something like this happened?
