Last week, after 45 days of absolutely no rain in Little Rock, we had a flash flood. The ground was so hard it could not absorb the water fast enough, so rain rushed into my warehouse.
Moments before we noticed the warehouse was flooding, lightning struck the cell tower across the street, knocking out my telephones and computers.
Since nobody in the offices could work, we all gathered in the warehouse to start bailing water. The water was just an inch from reaching the bottom shelves of our inventory, so we were bailing fast.
At first, I had everybody with Rubbermaid trashcans scooping water and running to the front door (the water was coming in the back door) and throwing it in the street. We were barefoot with our pants rolled up and the concrete floor was so wet and slippery, I was just waiting for someone to slip and crack their head open.
Then words of wisdom from Kirk, an ex-Navy man: “Form a line to the front door and start passing buckets of water. You on the end start scooping water and passing it. When you get tired move to the other end of the line and the next guy moves up to scoop.”
Glory Be!
We drained the warehouse so fast, efficiently, and with distributed work effort. Thank you, Captain Kirk.
