What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

Saturday evening when I attempted to brush my teeth after dinner, I found that the water was out.  That's not unusual in my building: though it's not old, there seems to be inordinate plumbing troubles, and the water gets shut off for repairs every few weeks.  But that's planned for during a weekday; I've never experienced it going off without warning during a weekend or an evening.

So I start wondering: is this something with my apartment?  My floor?  The building?  I figure this is a job for the super.  I could have phoned her, but I've never bothered getting the number, so I head down to the ground floor. 

After travelling a few floors down in the awkward silence of a crowded elevator, I decide to ask, "So, anyone have water problems?"  Yep, that's why all of them are going down.  Also awkward: the super was at the building's potluck that I had neglected to attend. 

When I found her in the crowded lounge, my elevator posse and I didn't even have to explain why we were there.  The super had already answered inquiries from many others and immediately gave us the same spiel: the whole building's water was out, and several nearby buildings as well, and the city was probably working on it but she couldn't get through to them to find out what was happening.

So I went back to my apartment to cross my legs and wait it out.  I also checked the city utilities web page to see if they had any info, but it was just your basic page of unchanging general information.  So I was still in the dark.

Which brings up something I find weird about our world: that there are still so many areas where we completely fail to get information out.  The building's only way of communicating with tenants is notes on the elevator wall.  That's fine for advertising, say, potlucks.  But the only way we can get immediate info is in person or on the phone from the super, wasting her time either way.

As for the city, they just use their web page to offer rental water-heaters, when a quick note about current system status could alleviate our worries.  And if a water emergency had led to a boil-water advisory, we probably would find out about it unless we see in on the local TV or radio station (in which case, I'm a gonner.)

What's frustrating is that it wouldn't be too hard to fix all this.  I'm not asking for any new technology or massive new expenditures.  A few years ago it would have been expensive/time-consuming for a building to have its own web page.  But now any idiot can have his own blog. (Pause for your jokes.)  And it wouldn't be too hard for a city utility to tweet changes in the system's status.

And just so you know, the water wasn't out for much more than an hour.  I take responsibility for fixing it: It was just as I got my coat and shoes on to go brave the pre-Christmas malls that I heard the water re-entering the building's pipes.