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This is my first effort to actually write about stuff that I keep saying I'm going to write about and not getting around to writing about.
Ever since I started working here, we've had a weird smell in the place. It smelled like natural gas, or, at least, the stuff they put in natural gas to make it stink. For a while, I didn't think it was gas. I mean, we don't have a gas line or anything to use it on here. No heat, no hot water, no kitchen.
But lately it had gotten to the point where people asked about it frequently and complained about it, occasionally to the point of leaving the store. Taking my money away is bad. I had to do something about it.
Well, so I tried to call the city and find out what to do about it. And I called around to all sorts of things, public works and the like, trying to find out who is in charge of utility lines. They said they didn't know what to do and call the fire department.
Well, that didn't sound right, so finally I tried actually calling the gas company. I even called the wrong one, at first, trying to be intelligent by looking it up in the phone book. It took a while to get through, even so, because all the phone menus kept leading me to having to enter my account number, which I didn't have. "No, I seem to have gas, but no account. You see the problem?" I explained to the person I finally talked to.
Now, Claire, my co-worker, had told me that the gas people had been out before looking for a leak but couldn't find one, so I was really surprised when they said they'd send someone out. They even put it on 'emergency' status, although I explained that it had been going on a while.
A couple of hours later, a man showed up. He had a wand that he waved around, and it made beeping noises when it detected gas. It went nuts when he went in the bathroom. He said that gas was leaking from a line somewhere nearby, and, seeking, as it does, a way to get "out," it had traveled along the outside of the sewer line and was coming out underneath the toilet.
The rest of Thursday was spent waiting for the guys in the truck. They finally showed up around 6:30. But I didn't mind, I was completely happy, because the first guy said they couldn't just go away and forget about it. Having established there was a leak in their service area, they had to fix it.
They were there all day Friday, looking for it. They poked around in the stores on either side of us and banged on walls looking for lines that might be hidden behind new(er) construction. These were all different guys from the first one and they seemed to have some doubts about his theories. For a while, it seemed like the mysterious gas line might be an old one that was unknown or unmapped.
But the next few days I was off, so, frankly, I went home and tried to forget about it. When I got back into the Quarter the next week, the sidewalk was torn up in front of our store. And the smell was gone.
I didn't even realize how strong is was until it was missing. I thought, Bathroom smelly, back room of store musty, but really, it was gas.
When they came in and put the new sidewalk in, I drew kitty ears and whiskers in it. It's covered with people's names by now. Which is really funny to me.
Ever since I started working here, we've had a weird smell in the place. It smelled like natural gas, or, at least, the stuff they put in natural gas to make it stink. For a while, I didn't think it was gas. I mean, we don't have a gas line or anything to use it on here. No heat, no hot water, no kitchen.
But lately it had gotten to the point where people asked about it frequently and complained about it, occasionally to the point of leaving the store. Taking my money away is bad. I had to do something about it.
Well, so I tried to call the city and find out what to do about it. And I called around to all sorts of things, public works and the like, trying to find out who is in charge of utility lines. They said they didn't know what to do and call the fire department.
Well, that didn't sound right, so finally I tried actually calling the gas company. I even called the wrong one, at first, trying to be intelligent by looking it up in the phone book. It took a while to get through, even so, because all the phone menus kept leading me to having to enter my account number, which I didn't have. "No, I seem to have gas, but no account. You see the problem?" I explained to the person I finally talked to.
Now, Claire, my co-worker, had told me that the gas people had been out before looking for a leak but couldn't find one, so I was really surprised when they said they'd send someone out. They even put it on 'emergency' status, although I explained that it had been going on a while.
A couple of hours later, a man showed up. He had a wand that he waved around, and it made beeping noises when it detected gas. It went nuts when he went in the bathroom. He said that gas was leaking from a line somewhere nearby, and, seeking, as it does, a way to get "out," it had traveled along the outside of the sewer line and was coming out underneath the toilet.
The rest of Thursday was spent waiting for the guys in the truck. They finally showed up around 6:30. But I didn't mind, I was completely happy, because the first guy said they couldn't just go away and forget about it. Having established there was a leak in their service area, they had to fix it.
They were there all day Friday, looking for it. They poked around in the stores on either side of us and banged on walls looking for lines that might be hidden behind new(er) construction. These were all different guys from the first one and they seemed to have some doubts about his theories. For a while, it seemed like the mysterious gas line might be an old one that was unknown or unmapped.
But the next few days I was off, so, frankly, I went home and tried to forget about it. When I got back into the Quarter the next week, the sidewalk was torn up in front of our store. And the smell was gone.
I didn't even realize how strong is was until it was missing. I thought, Bathroom smelly, back room of store musty, but really, it was gas.
When they came in and put the new sidewalk in, I drew kitty ears and whiskers in it. It's covered with people's names by now. Which is really funny to me.
