They always forget about the IT department
Posted by Mark2_0@reddit | talesfromtechsupport | View on Reddit | 86 comments
This one is from a few years ago but I was reminded of it today so figured I'd share.
My desk used to be near our help desk, which was handy because they could easily come around the corner and ask me questions as needed. It was also a great spot for listening for drama going on. One day I'm working and hear one of our guys talking with a client, everything was going fine until I hear him ask "Wait, aren't we in the same building? Uh, call me back later if you're still having issues."
He hung up and let us know that his caller had said her building was being evacuated because of a bomb threat, then he realized that we're all in the same building. No one had alerted us yet. We were standing there trying to figure out if we should evacuate too when I look over and see people streaming out of the fire exit just outside our office and suggested we do the same. Everything ended up fine, it was a false alarm, but one of our next projects was setting up an alert software that would notify people on their desk phones if an issue like that came up again.
SkylarMills63@reddit
Bruh no way. Someone needs a meeting with whoever is in charge of the evacuation protocols for your building LOL.
Mark2_0@reddit (OP)
It was reworked shortly after that incident, I worked for local government at the time and the building I was in had multiple departments that rarely talked to one another in it. The largest one had alerted their people to the threat and apparently just decided to not tell anyone else on their way out of the building.
Jonny_vdv@reddit
Somebody definitely needs to be held accountable for that. I work for government too, and in our building we've got both building management, and floor wardens who are responsible for the entire floor regardless of ministry or department.
Mark2_0@reddit (OP)
I'm pretty sure someone did, everything was reworked after that. Signs showed up outside the building specifying evacuation zones along with different parts of the building assigned to those areas when events did happen. Rollcall sheets were given to specific people in each department to do a head count once we were outside.
csjc2023@reddit
Just confirmed what we all expected: IT is expendable.
Substantial_Tap9674@reddit
Nah, somebody wanted to finally test how long it would take Marge from accounting to spread a story to the entire building. Since Marge never does any real work she has no interactions with IT. Therefore IT was the control group and OP ruined the experiment by looking out the window
SeanBZA@reddit
Or most likely the old plans had never been updated, and the call tree for IT went to a disused phone number.
lonely_nipple@reddit
Oh, they were updated, they'd just been stored in the basement, in a disused lavatory, in a locked filing cabinet with a sign saying "beware of leopard" for the last five years.
blockCoder2021@reddit
r/unexpectedHitchhikers
Stryker_One@reddit
So, NOT buried in peat-moss?
Speciesunkn0wn@reddit
Past five years. Not past five thousand. Not enough time for the peatmoss to build up yet.
zaosafler@reddit
Was OP written up for playing weatherman?
EruditeLegume@reddit
IT aka the Schrödinger department....
UrbanTruckie@reddit
need a fire warden in IT
scyllafren@reddit
Funny you say that. At my office, the whole IT department are fire wardens. As 1: we know the whole building, as we need to go to everyone if they need help, and 2: we are the only people who can go into the onsite comms room if needed. :)
lawl-butts@reddit
I hate that IT becomes a catch-all for everything.
As I'm older now, I don't volunteer or put up with attempt to be voluntold to do things. Burnt out being the go-to for everything
"Nope" every time they ask.
scyllafren@reddit
It's actually agreed by everyone involved, now we have 15 fire warden for a site what has 60-ish people :) so we barely have to do anything, except the occasional fire drill once a quarter. And it's simple, as we just print out the attendance software "current people on site" part and give it to whoever wants to do it :)
will555556@reddit
Leave us in suspense like what was the problem? She had to call IT before leaving the building because of a bomb, what problem could possible be more important then that I need to know because it probably isn't.
-MazeMaker-@reddit
"I can't get to outlook! All I see are these big red numbers counting down"
Mark2_0@reddit (OP)
I think they were mid-call when she had someone stop at her desk saying she needed to get out.
will555556@reddit
ahh ok I had a user call me to report a fire before so you never really know why they call when they do.
spughetti@reddit
If I had a dollar for every "you're still here? they sent everyone home early today!" oh cool. glad I just worked a couple hours for free I guess
ITrCool@reddit
Oh I’d have billed those hours anyway if I was hourly. If HR pushed back, I’d state that no communications came to me or my team informing us of early leave, thus the hours will be billed to the company for failure to properly communicate.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
For sure this is one of the best things about being in a union. The time an employer left me stranded on a catwalk, and tried to push back on the four hours of premium time was hilarious. “
“You sent me up to a catwalk via a personnel lift. Your steamfitters brought it down and used it to come up, then left it down when they finished. I was 90 feet away at the other end of the catwalk and didn’t know that they had left. What did you expect me to do? Jump?”
RawketPropelled37@reddit
Wtf 4 hours? I refill my water bottle and piss more often than that. Either 4 hours premium time or calling the fire department to get me down, fuck that
LupercaniusAB@reddit
I didn’t have a cell phone at the time, at least not on me.
MidnightAdmin@reddit
I remember working nights at a big office, four times a year or so, they would test the firealarm including the sirens during the night.
Good practice, but probably caused me hearing dammage as I had to so 15m from the alarm bell for 30-45 min several times, sometimes even taking calls during the test.
JoeDonFan@reddit
Had something similar like that happen when I was working at Giant Law Firm in Washington DC, with a Marine LT. The LT was a cannon-cocker in Vietnam (artillery) and was half-deaf. I spent way too much time in front of the speakers at the original 9:30 Club (the one on F St., and this is truly a IYKYK thing) and was one-quarter deaf. We were waaaay in the back around a corner from the main entrance to the IT department--think an L-shaped area, and the LT and I were in the short end of the L. At the corner was a store room, then his office, then mine at the end. The department printer was at the very front of the office, at the top of the L. Anyone entering the department passed the printer first, then a line of offices for the 7 or 8 other IT people, then they'd turn the corner to find me and the LT.
So I printed something and went out to get it, and I noticed no one was in the office....and as I got closer to the door, I could hear a bell. A bell that wasn't stopping...
Yep. Fire alarm.
I grab my stuff off the printer and head back, stick my head inside the LT's door. "Ell-tee! The fire alarm's going off!" He looked at the dead-quiet and no-strobe light going off alarm bell right above my head, sighed and shook his head, then we headed out the appropriate door.
We walked out of the nearest exit, without a care in the world, to firemen dragging hoses into the main doors of the building, right past the Managing Partner (in charge of the lawyers), and the Office Administrator (in charge of the not-lawyers). Their eyes got really big because it turns out there really was a fire and This Was Not a Drill.
If you haven't read my previous story about working with the LT, you don't know that everyone in that law firm, except for me, was terrified of the LT--Vietnam vet and confirmed kills and he's probably an exploding time bomb or something (NOTE: He wasn't). Both the MP and the OA looked at us and asked us if we were just evacuating the building.
A fireman had popped up next to the MP and OA. The LT growled: "Fucking alarm in IT isn't working and us deaf guys can't hear a thing."
The fireman looked at us for a minute, mouth wide open, then ran back to . . . somewhere, then came back with another fireman who had that Air of Authority about him. "You guys have a bad alarm?"
The LT knew his spot and kept his mouth shut, while the MP and OA said they didn't know about it. To be fair . . . no one did. The firm was big on safety and had a drill each quarter, with designated meeting spots, and monitors who were *supposed* to take a roll. All inspections were done as required. IMO, it was just bad, bad luck, honestly.
"When this is over," Air of Authority said, "I'm going back to confirm this alarm is working or not working. Can one of your guys take me back?" The LT volunteered, and, when the small fire in one of the kitchens was put out, that's exactly what the LT and Air of Authority did.
Next day, there were guys repairing the alarm, and there was a fire drill the next week. I joked to the LT he and I should stay behind.
He gave me a Look only a Marine Corps Officer can give, and I decided that joke wouldn't be that funny. We marched out as soon as we heard the bell go off.
I suspect the fines were murder.
ReynareTheDepressed@reddit
What were the fines for, the defect equipment? Imho there would be no grounds for that since you said they were regularly inspected.
Shinhan@reddit
Its not just the fire alarm. There's also the roll call he mentioned and the procedures usually call for the designated people to check every room during the evucation to see if everybody is evacuating properly.
Speciesunkn0wn@reddit
It's claimed they were regularly inspected. The question is how inspected.
JoeDonFan@reddit
Merely speculation on my part. Stuff like that was *definitely* above my pay grade.
SergeStorms42@reddit
No bomb threat, but last week sitting near some server racks with headphones on working on laptop, someone comes up to me and says fire alarm is going off. Take my headphones off. Hear nothing but server fans. Turns out someone pulled the wire to the fire alarm speakers for that zone. If you walked out into another hallway you could hear them. Glad someone remembered I was in there and thought to get me even though it ended up being a false alarm.
StoicJim@reddit
You should definitely call the local fire marshal and let them know.
Comfortable-Scale132@reddit
This happened to me 3x!
I got up from my desk only to realize I was the only one on the floor. A minute later I see staff coming off the elevator. There was a gas leak and everyone evacuated and forgot to tell me. Fire Department even went through the building and completely missed me even though my desk was easily viewable from the hall.
I drove into the office. Different office and leadership, same company. The parking lot was empty. No one told me that the office was closed. I threw a fit for driving 90 minutes one way through traffic to realize I have another drive home.
A planned tornado drill. I heard the alarm and I ducked into the server room. I thought it was a flase alarm but just in case, I locked myself in there. It's got fire doors and very centrally located. They fussed at me for not going to the planned location only to realize IT got the notice.
GWSTPS@reddit
For number two, I hope you got paid for the full shift.
Comfortable-Scale132@reddit
In salaried. Was paid either way.
GWSTPS@reddit
I had a snow day like that. Drove home and took a paid day off without using PTO.
rob-entre@reddit
Similar to #1…
Before I embarked on the IT career path, I was learning arc welding. About half-way through my first rod the fire alarm goes off. We all exit the building and wait for the fire department. Standing outside, we watch them circle the block 3 or 4 times looking for the alarm. Eventually we receive a phone call - they can’t find us. On the phone I give them directions:
1 - Exit the front of your building. 2 - Walk across the street.
I’m not kidding. Our building was directly across the street from the fire house.
My instructor and I learned two valuable lessons that day:
1 - Don’t count on the local fire department. 2 - Don’t setup a welding table directly underneath a smoke detector.
justking1414@reddit
Haha. Reminds me of HS. I'm in a wheelchair so fire alarms were fun. Not a big issue if I was near the main entrance (unless I had to pee, which I usually did), but when they were at the end of the hall, I was kinda screwed. Everyone went out the stairs and I was stuck in a hallway with 5 sets of fire doors that I could only open with a lot of effort.
Pretty sure the school's plan was just to let me burn if a big fire broke out or hope someone realized it wasnt a drill and carry me down the stairs
Fun times.
jasondbk@reddit
I worked on the 42nd floor and we had a fire drill. I said if it’s a real fire I’ll burn to death because I can’t do that many stairs. (Double amputee). One of my coworkers said they would take turns and carry me down the stairs.
justking1414@reddit
Good coworkers. Had a similar encounter a while back. Thankfully I was only on the 4th floor but the elevator was busted and I was trapped waiting for a repairman for an hour. Eventually the fire department was called to just carry me down the stairs.
Thankfully the firefighters asked if they’d tried unplugging the elevator and plugging it back in. Somehow that worked. Weird day
Markprzyb@reddit
Similar story to OP except it wasn't a bomb threat. I worked in a large building as the IT guy. My office was away from the sales/marketing/accounting people. The President was coming in to give a political speech. Secret Service had to vet anyone that was going to be in the building for staff for the event. Certain floors of the building were to be locked down at a certain time prior to the arrival. I'm working doing my normal tasks. The time comes for me to make my way to the server room (Had to swap out the backup tape from the fire safe to the server, that's how long ago this was). I'm walking through the building which seems abnormally quiet. Push the button for the elevator and it's not working. I go to the other elevator and use the code for when it's locked. I get to the admin floor and the 6 people that were staying for the event all look at me as I come walking through. They're the only ones there. I ask where is everyone else? Turns out the Secret Service wanted to lock building early so they sent everyone home 90 minutes ago. Well, everyone except me.
SafariNZ@reddit
On a variation of that, the telephone exchange I was doing a night shift on had a bomb threat. We had so many bells, hooters, sirens to indicate issues I never recognised it was the fire alarm to alert people to leave. When the police turned up, they looked at the six stories of the building packed with equipment that went from on side to the block to the other and asked “You keep the doors locked and they have alarms?” We said yes so they just left as it would have taken days to thoroughly search the building.
No bombs went off.
Wendals87@reddit
"what are IT good for? Don't they manage bomb threats procedures?"
meitemark@reddit
"You have found a suspicious package? Try shaking it. Wires? Pull them."
(distant BOOM)
"Hello? Heeeeello? Guess the caller got it working. Ticket closed."
K-o-R@reddit
"They hung up. Rude."
ac8jo@reddit
This isn't IT, but similar 'whoops, we should have told someone' situation.
I was at a conference at a hotel in Denver. After lunch (which was probably not a small lunch), I went to one of the sessions and sat down in what was a semi-quiet session (it was a workshop on software I kinda knew, so I was half sleeping through it) and all of a sudden we hear several gunshots and a scream. Our room froze (the session moderator instructed us to shut the door, I heard other rooms had people that had been through active shooter training and hid and barricaded the door).
Later on in the conference, the hotel sent us an apology. They were rehearsing for a murder-mystery dinner/event/whatever. However, during talks with conference organizers in the many years since then it sounded like some of the organizers were aware that it was going to happen (or maybe that there was a chance that it could) and nobody bothered to tell the people running the sessions. Or perhaps they didn't bother to say "hey, $hotel_manager, please avoid gunshots, screaming, and other loud disruptions since we will be having people lecturing at podiums and doing workshops and shit in some of the nearby rooms".
ChaiHai@reddit
D: So what's a "sorry we traumatized you, our bad." message look like? Are you ok?
Did you get any compensation? Stuff like that can have lasting effects even if it turns out to be fake. The terror you felt was real.
ac8jo@reddit
No free stuff, unfortunately. This happened 8 years ago, so I don't remember the exact verbiage used. I don't know how other people felt, I laughed it off (once the shock wore off, of course). I imagine if that happened now not only would the letter be different, a few people would probably be promoted to customer.
The conference had an app that occasionally asked for feedback on where the next conference should be - mine made it to the screen during plenary sessions. One was something to the effect of "somewhere we won't get shot at" or "somewhere we don't need bulletproof vests" (the other was due to the weather, we landed in Denver and it was snowing, by the end of the conference 3 or 4 days later it was shorts weather).
ChaiHai@reddit
I like the phrase "promoted to customer".
It sounds like it didn't have a lasting effect on you, which is good. I hope the others you were with suffered no long term trauma.
Ha, yeah, that would be my feedback too. I personally wouldn't want to deal with that venue again if possible if it was me.
That sounds like fun weather, haha. :P Gotta keep ya on your toes.
Deep_Fry_Daddy@reddit
That happened at my last job. An entire office is too far away from the fire alarms, so the only way we know something is happening is when the fire doors automatically close.
**click** oh, i guess we should evacuate.
NDaveT@reddit
That sounds like a code violation of some kind!
AlternativeBasis@reddit
Basement?
Hot-Win2571@reddit
They must be in the next county. Rules are probably different there.
Deep_Fry_Daddy@reddit
That's the law of the desert. What they don't know, wont hurt them... until it does.
mmgoodly@reddit
I like to say: "Until something bad happens, nothing bad has ever happened."
Deep_Fry_Daddy@reddit
Best I can tell, is that it was renovated years ago, and is way more insulated than the original build.
RememberCitadel@reddit
Which is a major change, and most modern countries have fire code requiring it to be updated at that time.
Harley11995599@reddit
I was working on a renovation of a few floors of a commercial tower. The specifications, from the designers, created quiet pods. They were small offices that were sound insulated, Some may see where this is going.
Fire inspector came through during the close to final inspection, he found that you couldn't hear the fire alarms in the pods. They failed the inspection, the designers were upset. to say it mildly. The pods had to have fire alarms installed in each pod to get the ok from the fire marshal. The designers were not happy to say the least, The site super had to put his foot down, they tried to say they would not authorize payment. The general contractor sent a copy of the inspection and told them to try to argue with the the Fire Marshal and that they, contractor, will not do it without payment.
The designers were a pain in the butt to say the least. I was told by a site super that these twits once changed their minds three times in one week. The only reason they had to deal with these people was that it was an enormous software company.
The stories I could tell, designers don't live in the real world.
Edit: reworded a few sentences for more clarity and added a few things that I remembered. It was long ago and I move around to different job sites.
RememberCitadel@reddit
Yep, we always get these types that don't want a strobe in the office because it looks ugly or whatever. Fortunately, nobody has to give a shit what they want because fire code doesn't negotiate.
Same thing for ADA. It is actually nice, because many things I install, I dont have to ask anyone where they want it. It is going to be mounted as high as possible within ADA height.
Technically, nobody should ever have to question the reasoning, but I have had a few do so anyway.
Harley11995599@reddit
Yep, designers really don't live in the real world and have no clue what it takes to do things. Architects have to try to make it happen, I really feel for them.
zaro3785@reddit
In my experience, architects are way worse at this behaviour!
GakkoAtarashii@reddit
The opposite of handy.
whiskeytango55@reddit
Maybe he's tier 2/3? Close enough so people can talk to him about complicated matters but not close enough people ask for password resets
erikkonstas@reddit
I mean depends who you ask...
whiskeytango55@reddit
["They do this all the time."
"They never remember us."](https://youtu.be/p6xK0Hefsq0?si=0zTmtbeMmvPqrge9)
Turbojelly@reddit
"Luckily we escaped before the bomb exploded. Why is it raining body parts and bottles of alcohol?"
meitemark@reddit
Bad alcohol if it does not add to the explosion.
wwbubba0069@reddit
We recently got a new HR and Plant manager. I had a meeting with them and they were going over policies, updating wording and whatnot. I asked if we were going to start doing fire drills again, they ask when was the last one was done, 2002 during an actual fire in the shop... we have pictures somewhere, the silence was deafening.
SamuelVimesTrained@reddit
What do you mean, you want a new PC?
You forgot our IT department got blown up .
Have a notepad and a pencil.
Agile_Guide_7050@reddit
The place where I work had a fire drill the first year I worked there (been here 15+ years now). I was working in the server room at the time of the drill, and between the overwhelming fan sounds and the distance of the closest fire alarm, I never heard (or saw) a thing, just kept working away. Since I hadn't been there overly long, and I was the only IT person who worked there, it took them a while to notice I wasn't out in the parking lot with everyone else. Eventually the assistant director came and found me and asked why I hadn't come out for the fire drill. I asked, "What fire drill?" He then opened the server room door and I could very faintly hear the alarms. We laughed, but realized that if it had been a real fire, there's a good chance I would have been trapped.
After that, people were making jokes about how I "died in that fire". It still comes up occasionally. Within a week, though, they had the alarm company install an alarm right outside the server room door. Apparently, they ordered the loudest one they could find. I have not missed an alarm since.
ChaiHai@reddit
Aww, they cared enough to give you a functioning alarm!
TinyNiceWolf@reddit
Hiring a new IT guy is a pain. Sometimes it's better to spend a few bucks to keep the current one from dying in a fire.
schleproque@reddit
I worked in a machine room where you could not hear the fire alarms. Walked out and wondered why all the fire doors were shut and everybody was gone.
TheFluffiestRedditor@reddit
So.. fallout? Anything happen afterwards?
schleproque@reddit
Nope. At the time I was young and stupid and did not think about complaining about it.
punkwalrus@reddit
I was at the Marriott Baltimore heading to the top floor to deliver some supplies to our staff suite located in the penthouse suite. I exited the elevator, wheeled a large cart of supplies to the staff suite, and looked around for anyone to sign off on it or at least verbally acknowledge. The suite was empty. I wandered around the huge space, but nobody was there. The door had been propped open, so I didn't need a key to get in, so I stayed because I just couldn't leave it open and unguarded. I called on my cell phone to some staffers, but nobody answered. I left voice mail, and just stayed in the staff suite. Minutes ticked by. I made a few more calls. No answer.
I looked out the window to the Inner Harbor below me, and noticed a LOT of people surrounding the building. Now, we were hosting a large event, but why were SO MANY people outside on a cold and windy winter day at the harbor? So early, too. I started to wonder, "was the hotel evacuated? That looks like an evacuation pattern." But there were no alarms or anything. I decided to leave, but as you might of guessed, the elevators didn't work anymore (It got me up there, though). And I wasn't going to go down the 32 floors down the stairs on my own. So I went back into the suite, and used the hotel phone to call the front desk, no answer. I tried calling some numbers on my cell phone contact list from that number, and again, dumped to voicemail. While I was watching the crowds below, I saw the fire engines.
Oh, fuck.
So I was on the top floor of a potential towering inferno. I didn't see smoke or anything but the crowd around the hotel and the fire trucks. So I decided to walk down the 32 flights of stairs. I don't care how fit you are, that's hard, and I am not a fit person. By the time I got to the street level, my legs were rubbery jelly, and I was physically ill (I have asthma).
Long story short, fire in the hotel kitchen that was already contained before the BFD got there. By the time I got to the street level, they were letting people back into the hotel. I sat in the lobby in an armchair, and I could barely walk. My cell phone rang, and my wife was screaming at me in a panic. Apparently, EVERYONE was looking for me. We had an evacuation protocol of verifying safety of staff, and no one could find me. She was furious, you know how when people panic, they just get mad at everything? Her relief that I was alive refused to listen to any reasoning, she just let me have it about lectures how I could have died, what would she do without me, and how stupid and selfish I was.
At first, I was in massive trouble with the company until I had proof I tried to call people, there was no fire alarm in the penthouse level, and I had no way to know the hotel had been evacuated. Then people got my voicemails all weekend, and it turned out that Sprint (my carrier at the time) has some issue with their Baltimore cell towers due to saturation, which is why I couldn't get through during the evacuation.
But yeah, had it been a real fire, I probably would have burned up. This was before 9/11, so at least that wasn't in my fear bucket yet.
AmphibianMotor@reddit
Fear bucket. Love it.
insufficient_funds@reddit
Not as severe as a bomb threat evacuation…. But something similar happened to my team.
Pre-Covid, my team of 13 was all on site, and all in the same room. It was the last workday before a fairly major US holiday though I don’t recall which. The org usually sent a department wide email by about 1p saying to leave at like 2 and enjoy the holiday.
Our manager was out on PTO as was his manager. This year they apparently decided against the department wide email and Instead decided to have management pass the message down the chain to staff.
So now it’s like 4p and a manager not in our chain just happened to walk by and stopped, and said “why are yall still here?” And we said “because we were never told we could leave”.
Yeah everyone just forgot they had some managers out of office and the people covering for them failed to forward us the email.
Note our department is all IT staff, like 300-400 people at the time. Lol
WarmasterCain55@reddit
Oh I would have been MAD.
TexasAggie98@reddit
After my sophomore year of college, I interned with Mobil Oil in their Midland office. Their building was old and run down like everything in Midland pre-shale boom.
I was meeting with my team one morning and happened to look up and notice some little lights blinking. I asked what they were and was told “the firm alarm.”
The fire alarm speakers didn’t work anymore and no one had said anything about a fire drill.
We looked out our window and noticed smoke coming from the base of the building and fire trucks everywhere.
The deli on the ground floor caught fire and everyone evacuated the building except those of us on the 10th floor (due to not hearing an alarm).
WarmasterCain55@reddit
Did they get it fixed?
TexasAggie98@reddit
Probably not.
On my last day before going back to school, the Asset Manager called me into his office. Said that Mobil really liked me, gave me a full scholarship for the next year, a job offer in their NOLA office, and a personal recommendation to stay the Hell away from Mobil and to never come back.
Mobil was not a well managed company at the end; the Exxon merger was more of a mercy killing than merger.
iDoubtIt3@reddit
You gotta love a manager that tells you that you deserve better.
Cmd_Line_Commando@reddit
Same thing happened at a previous job. Renovations were taking place in another floor, builders forgot to isolate the smoke detectors, dust set them off, whole building evacutes, everyone forgets about IT.