Don’t pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. – Phillips Brooks
The first few months were better than expected. Things were going great. The holidays came and went without incident. Our first New Year’s Eve was a huge success and we served just under 300 people. A feat many employees did not think possible and had questioned when we would stop taking reservations. The answer to which was “we’re not”. And without a doubt, the entire staff pulled together and made it one of the best nights yet.
And then, a couple months go by and suddenly we are experiencing what we refer to as ‘The Great Flood of 2020’. Just as the night is wrapping up (Friday night of course) around 9:30 pm, an employee says there is water coming out from the bar. As we start looking into that, thinking the bar dishwasher was probably leaking, someone else says there is water coming up in the kitchen. The next thing you know, there is water coming up from every drain hole in the building. And it wasn’t just water, it was sewer water! And it was rising at a remarkable rate. No mop was going to clean this up. We quickly cleared everyone out and the massive clean up began. All the mats had to be tore out behind the bar so we could get it cleaned and dried before it became a bigger issue. We were so grateful for the few customers, neighbors, and staff members that stayed until wee the hours in the morning helping us get this under control. Here is a snapshot of the chaos. After a lot of phone calls and investigating, it was determined that there was a random blockage in the underground pipes, but it had eventually worked itself loose. We remained closed to sanitize, sanitize, and sanitize until it was safe to open back up. Despite, the shock and stress of it all, we realized there will always be things out of our control. We just thought if there was ever a flood, it would be the little creek out back.
Thank you to all of our customers, staff, family, friends, and social media followers that continue to make all of this possible. These are The LJ Chronicles.
All the best,
Your LJ Family
