We’ve just had a two hour power failure in the office. When that happens you realise just how little work you can do without the power. I read a couple of documents in the gloom of my office and then made a few phone calls but after that it was a choice between the indoor cricket game or the blackjack players. When it was announced that power would not be restored until noon, most people drifted off to an early lunch. And I bet that they don’t return in a hurry.
Where I live, the power lines must be made of toilet paper, because it doesn’t take much to cause a power outage. My office has a couple of big windows, and I use a laptop, so I always feel guilty hanging out with everyone in the lobby, the other place where there’s some daylight.
Even with decent light and a computer, my efforts to be productive are derailed very quickly by the inability to use e-mail or access the internet.
And then there’s the issue of having to carry a flashlight in order to use the restrooms…
My company had a power outage last summer. My office is in the basement, so when the power went out I was in total darkness. I couldn’t see a damned thing. (Or a blessed thing, if you prefer.) And due to the fact that my workspace was designed by a syphilitic bonobo, the route from my desk is unnecessarily convuluted. I was not happy about having to feel my way around for the twenty or so twisted feet to my office door. Fortunately the emergency lights came on about thirty seconds later.
The good part was my boss let me leave early. 
You really need to do something about this as a health & safety matter. Well, a matter of life and death, really. Had there been a fire and the lights gone out, you might have been overcome by smoke in that 30 seconds. Smoke kills.
When I worked in an office, we had a couple power outages. The building was basicly windowless. Oh, there were a few offices with windows, but the main part of the cube farm was in the middle. As were the bathrooms, kitchen etc. It was a rabbit waren of rooms with cubes.
I was the only person who carried a flashlight. I was very popular on those days.
Our power went out a month or so ago. I got to play Sudoku and refill my stapler. Fun times!
The building I’m currently in has power outages all the time, along with network outages, water leaks, and false fire alarms. Our employment contract forbids us from going home when the power’s out, so we all just sit around gossiping until it comes back on. Sometimes this goes on for hours. Luckily there’s only one floor and plenty of windows, so it could be a lot worse, but still. I could get a lot more work done at home than I can in the lunchroom with the other rumormongers.
Well, lucky for me that my department is being shut down at the end of next month.
The building where my office used to be was a converted warehouse. While there was some minimal emergency lighting in the hallways, there was none in the office bays, and no windows anywhere except the administration corner, so when power went out it was headlamp time. Also, the fire doors would slam shut, blocking out what little ambient light might come in from the main doors at the end of the forward hallway. (I almost always have at least two light sources at hand, so no big deal for me, but it seemed seriously unsafe.)
Stranger
We once lost power for about 4 hours one day at the truck stop where I used to work. Couldn’t sell any gas, obviously, although we were able to whip out the sales tax sheet, open our cash drawers, and continue sales inside (to the amazement of the customers, who seemed to be under the impression that we were mentally incapable of counting change). Customers were few and far between, though, so we sat around and played rummy for most of the day.
We’ve lost power once or twice in my current job, too, which is a whole 'nother ball of worms. When we lose all radios and all phones, that means our cops and medics and firefolk are out there with no one watching them, and anybody that dials 911 is gonna have a delay - they’ll still get answered, but by the agency in the next county. Fortunately, since our new boss was hired 6 months ago, and he actually fixes things (a refreshing change), it hasn’t been a problem.
Well, I have to work anywhere anytime, so if the power goes out it’s no different than if I’m in a taxi or at the airport. Laptop has a few hours of juice, my windows mobile5 pda connects to the internet and exchange server so I’m never without email.
If office power goes out, it’s a minor inconvenience but pretty much work as usual.
I work in the Network Operations Center for a telecom company. Without our computers, we are completely dead in the water. Even if the computer stays up but the Lan goes down, we’re 99% useless. Bout all you can do then is play solitaire.
Does your building not have a backup generator? I’ve worked in a few places in Sydney, and all the major office buildings I worked in had a backup power system. It meant you had to reboot your computer, and sometimes the phones went a bit screwy for a few minutes but you were able to get on with work (unfortunately).
My morgue is located in the Health Dept and we have a backup generator. Our power goes out about once a month. It’s dark and all the computers fizzle for about 10 seconds, long enough to lose whatever you were working on (the gnashing of the medical transcriptionist’s teeth can be heard 30 feet down the hall*). Then everything comes back on except the air conditioning. The backup generator isn’t big enough to run the air conditioning.
It does run the refrigerating unit in the body cooler, though. Can’t have those folks getting warm. No sirree.
It’s only when the aircon cuts out that you realize you were always used to its background whirr. Quiet without it. So very quiet.
Somebody always makes the joke “It’s as quiet as a morgue in here!” At least they used to, until we killed them.
*Yes she does have automatic save every minute, but she can type 100 words in a minute, and she loathes retyping them.