When the lights come crashing down . . .

[Kevin]

When the lights come crashing down!

So I hire this guy who cleans windows and does electrical work to replace a bank of lights in the warehouse area that we use as our mailing area. For those of you who came to the Open House this year, it’s where I ran my game, and the year before where we held the panel talks. It’s one of those long eight foot flourescent bulb units.

Bulbs keep burning out too fast and I figure the unit is going bad. I hire this guy on Thursday to replace it with a NEW unit. I give him $150 to buy the unit. He calls Saturday morning to say he’s ready to install. Shows up around 11:30 A.M.

First, I’m not tot happy, because it’s the same unit, dust and all. He says no problem, that it was a minor repair. I guess that’s okay and think to myself that I should have a sizeable refund coming. He’s alone and says he’ll have it up in no time if I give him a hand. He’s the expert, so I figure he knows what he’s doing.

He uses my ladder, I help hand him the unit up the ladder as he pulls it up by the chain that is used to secure it to the rafters 20 feet or so up. He’s got it by the chain at the rafters when . . . snap . . . and the damn thing comes dropping straight down like a pile driver!

Everything snaps into slow motion as adrenaline kicks in. For a split second I consider lunging forward to try to catch it. Thankfully, I think better of that, and I begin to turn and run as it slams into my favorite five foot folding table. (I know it’s silly to be attached to a folding table but it’s been with me 26 years and is . . . er, was sturdy and reliable).

The heavy light fixture cracks the table in half, flourescent light bulbs bounce out and shatter on the concrete floor. I manage to turn and close my eyes just as a hail of glass and bits cover my back and spray the right side of my face. A little while later I notice a smudge of blood and realize I have a few tiny scratches, I guess from the pelting glass (bulbs broke maybe three feet away from me).

After the lighting unit pile drived into my folding table, the unit falls away from me (otherwise it might have hit me). And hits the wall, sliding to a stop 4-5 inches from Palladium's $6,500.00 leased, Pitney Bowes postage machine!

After a short exchange, the guy agrees to replace the wrecked light fixture with a new one and provide me with a replacement table (Hey, it was his fault! And there could have been a heck of a lot more damage and injury!!!!) He helps me sweep up, apologizes and in the heat of the moment, confesses that he was “breaking every safety rule in the book" taking a short cut on what he figured was a simple, indoor job. Sheesh.

I spend another half hour cleaning up glass that flew everywhere in a 40 foot diameter. He tells me to relax and says he’ll be back Tuesday with the new light. I sure hope so. Dang. I had paid for a new fixture to begin with.

It’s 1:30 as I sit down to write this and I’m still wired. The muscles in my neck and back ache, I imagine from being so tense. Thank God nobody got hurt. Of course, we’ll be out of lighting for another three days in that area. I’ve been too wired to edit or write, so I unclogged the kitchen sink, vacuumed my room, called Kathy and Wayne to vent, and wrote this murmur. I hope to try to edit and write some more now, but all I can think about is getting home and showering off the glass particles in my hair and down my shirt. Thank goodness I had moved about $1000 worth of uncut Rifts CCG sheets just five minutes before he arrived.

Grumbling, mumbling and murmuring me.

Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist and Safe, Thank Goodness
© Copyright June 2, 2007