What's your reason for being late to work?

I have been in my new place for one week and last night I started to get worried that my water tank would run out soon - like in the middle of my shower soon. (Just in case you don't know, most houses and apartments have a tank that stores all the water for their house; which is different from drinking water - that comes from somewhere else. In my current case, the drinking water comes from a faucet in the middle of the courtyard of my building.) The water to fill tanks and the water from the faucet in the yard does are not always working at the same time (unless your source is a well, not the city.) To further complicate things water is only cut on a certain times during the day - you have to know your water schedule and be home at those times. For three days I have opened the valve I needed to fill up my water tank when the faucet (in the courtyard) was pouring water; I assumed that if one was working the other would be too. Not the case. So I was becoming increasingly worried that I would run out of water (which has happened to me before, not the end of the world but not super fun to be in the middle of a shower with no more water either). I asked my neighbor why I couldn't fill my tank in the mornings when the faucet water was turned on. She said, "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't; sometimes the water comes on around 3 or 4, but you work then." So where did that leave me - a little more stressed out. She suggested I turn open my valve in the morning before work and just leave it on until I come home at night and close it then. Great thought minus the fact that when once a tank is full it then begins to overflow. Again, not the end of the world to have a flooded yard expect my tank doesn't overflow into my yard but into a neighbor's yard. As much as I want water I also don't want to be that jerk who floods their neighbor's yard.

This brings me to this morning. When I went to shower this morning (and the faucet water was turned on) I decided to open my tank valve and just see what happened. What happened? Nothing, no water. But I left it open while I continued to get ready for work. As I was leaving for work I stopped in my yard to close the valve. But, what did I feel? Water running! (Yes, I tell if the water is running by touching the pipes to see if I can feel running water). New delima: leave for work with an unfilled tank, leave for work with tank valve open and flood the neighbor's yard, or stay until my water tank fills and be late for work. I took option 3. Now I can rest easy because I know that I have a tank full of water, until the next time that is.