# Fuck the modern office as security obsesses prison camp **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 15, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436 "2008-04-15T13:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/1 "2008-04-15T13:48:24Z")
There’s a war going on here at the office. The inmates want to prop the stupid “security doors” open so that they don’t have to take their identification badges to the toilet with them. The camp guards on their rounds remove the wastebaskets used to prop the doors open. I mean, come on, what has this society come to. Why are we such security-obsessed cowards? First of all, this company is not a target for anyone. No one has even heard of it. Second, we all have to have badges to _get into the freaking building_. Why are our movements restricted once we’re inside? Third, what kind of incident are we trying to avoid? Bombers? Why can’t they set their bombs just outside the security doors? Dylanklebolds? Aren’t those kind of people likely to already have security passes? (And why aren’t there windows on the security doors so we don’t plaster someone standing on the other side when we open them?) Our society is going down the fucking paranoid security toilet. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/2 "2008-04-15T13:52:40Z")
One assumes the security doors are also _fire doors_ and therefore may not be propped open. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/3 "2008-04-15T14:11:15Z")
Shouldn’t fire doors be kept unlocked? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/4 "2008-04-15T14:18:58Z")
Wait. Let me take that back. _Of course they should be kept unlocked_. That’s the whole point of my OP. Why are all the fucking doors locked? ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/5 "2008-04-15T14:20:58Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Why are all the fucking doors locked? [/QUOTE] From the inside? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/6 "2008-04-15T14:23:41Z")
:smack: I’m clearly not getting through. You’ve all already been bodysnatched. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/7 "2008-04-15T14:26:59Z")
Assuming the mechanism works, door locks should be disengaged when the alarm sounds. Doors are not locked to prevent terrorist attacks. Doors are locked to prevent access to the floor be several types of ‘undesirables’ - salespeople (especially office supplies), former workers (and not just because they might be armed, but because they might enter the computer system to steal mailing and phone lists, or other even more sensitive information), other corporate espionage agents, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/8 "2008-04-15T14:29:30Z")
**D\_Odds** , I’m talking about interior doors. Doors between our offices and the toilets/elevators. Undesirables would be stopped at the main entrance where there is a security guard who demands to see your pass. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/9 "2008-04-15T14:32:37Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] **D\_Odds** , I’m talking about interior doors. Doors between our offices and the toilets/elevators. Undesirables would be stopped at the main entrance where there is a security guard who demands to see your pass. [/QUOTE] Is your company the only tenant in the building? Surely you don’t want the nefarious financial analysts from Vance Refrigeration to be able to enter your cube farm, even though they’re allowed in the building. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/10 "2008-04-15T14:34:09Z")
Yeah, because who knows what havoc they might create. We own the building. Someone does rent two of the floors, but, they are also white-collar drones. Again, why is our society so paranoid? Can we get to the bigger picture here? Why do we put up with so much security bullshit in our society? We spend more and more time at our places of employment and our places of employment are getting more and more restrictive. What’s the point of being free of restraint from our government, if we’re just handing over all our freedoms to our employers and service providers? (And it seems to me that the Vance guys can come and go as they please.) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/11 "2008-04-15T14:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] We own the building. Someone does rent two of the floors, but, they are also white-collar drones. Again, why is our society so paranoid? [/QUOTE] Be happy your management is taking reasonable steps to prevent terrorists from hijacking your building and crashing it into an airplane. You never can be too safe. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/12 "2008-04-15T14:50:28Z")
So you’re saying that your cubicle farm is, like, on the third floor or whatever? And the main door from your cubicle farm out to the public access third floor hallway, which has the main doors from other cubicle farms opening out onto it, where the bathrooms are, is kept locked? And you have to show ID to a guard at the entrance to your cubicle farm from the public access third floor hallway in order to be let back in? As a woman who wouldn’t want to have to lock up her purse in her desk every day, and as a former receptionist who once had a favorite candy dish stolen from her front counter, I support this policy 100%. Undesirables have many and nefarious ways of getting past the security guy downstairs, and then wandering around offices looking for what they can steal. It’s got nothing to do with terrorists, and everything to do with being able to leave my laptop on my desk when I step out of my cubicle. Just take the friggin’ ID badge to the potty with ya. Sheesh. Doesn’t it have a clip thingie, or a lanyard? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/13 "2008-04-15T14:56:20Z")
I have the same situation at work. I think it’s lame. I understand having badges and security at the entrance, but more than that, it is truly silly Simon Says horseshit. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/14 "2008-04-15T15:01:00Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] **D\_Odds** , I’m talking about interior doors. Doors between our offices and the toilets/elevators. Undesirables would be stopped at the main entrance where there is a security guard who demands to see your pass. [/QUOTE] Well, that _does_ sound pretty stupid. I assumed it was stairways you were hopping down. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/15 "2008-04-15T15:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] And the main door from your cubicle farm out to the public access third floor hallway [/quote] It’s not a “public access” hallway. It’s only accessible to those who have already have legitimate access to the building. We don’t have merchants or customers wandering around here. > [@](#): > > And you have to show ID to a guard at the entrance to your cubicle farm from the public access third floor hallway in order to be let back in? No, we have to show identification to the guard to get into the building. We have to use our badges to swipe the doors to get from the toilet to our offices. > [@](#): > > As a woman who wouldn’t want to have to lock up her purse in her desk every day, and as a former receptionist who once had a favorite candy dish stolen from her front counter, I support this policy 100%. The only people who can steal your shit are people who already have legitimate access to the building. How could this possibly stop them? > [@](#): > > Undesirables have many and nefarious ways of getting past the security guy downstairs No they freaking don’t. No one gets past the main guard desk without a badge or escort by someone with a badge. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/16 "2008-04-15T15:14:15Z")
Our building is the same way. Show your pass to get into the building. Scan your pass to get into the office. Enter the code to get into the bathroom. Cut your palm and offer a sacrifice of blood to use the elevator. I think that this is really unnecessary when all employees have their badges taken from them on their last day and their pictures are posted with the security in the lobby and all that jazz. I appreciate that they are trying to keep employees and company information secure but honestly it feels to me like it is more for show than actual security. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/17 "2008-04-15T15:20:03Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] No they freaking don’t. No one gets past the main guard desk without a badge or escort by someone with a badge. [/QUOTE] Which is access to the building. Theoretically, the guy delivering Chinese food (assuming he gets escorted up to the floor because of a heavy load) can then stop at every floor on the way out. The fired worker who ‘forgot’ his badge upstairs but is friendly with the security guards can get let in. The temp in the mailroom downstairs can get access to your office. These are not hypotheticals. These are all things that have happened to firms I have worked for. The delivery guy didn’t steal anything, but spammed the building with menus (which got the restaurant blacklisted from delivering to the building). Fired worker went to a different floor than his usual floor, drafted in behind someone who recognized him (as did the temp, but no one recognized him and still let him in), and both proceeded to swipe phones and iPods, and in the case of the former worker the entire firm Outlook contact list. Caught the former worker (dumb stealing in a place where you are recognized, but he had a gambling habit), never got the temp (who never returned to his employer or his temp agency - led everyone to believe he was a professional thief). ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/18 "2008-04-15T15:30:08Z")
Keep your phones and iPods with you. If I invited, lets say 20 of my closest friends over to a party at my house, I’d still probably not leave my valuables laying about. Why do people do this in offices and think it’ll be all right? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/19 "2008-04-15T15:32:24Z")
The security measures are asinine since they don’t work and as you’ve said, are just a pain in the ass for employees. I’ve worked in lots of buildings with lots of security pass doors, and they all had problems with theft. The only thing secure doors _might_ help with is keeping homeless people from sleeping in your hallways, and probably not even that, since someone would just hold the door for them anyway (or they’d draft in). While we’re at it, can we talk about passwords on computers, too? Let’s see a show of hands - how many people keep all their passwords written down and in the top drawer of their desk because they can’t remember five different 10 digit, capitalized with numbers passwords that need to be changed every couple of months? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2008, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436/20 "2008-04-15T15:35:17Z")
Another factor might be that your company wants to keep a detailed log of your comings and goings so that if you use the john too often or leave the building surreptitiously, they can use it against you should they want to get rid of you someday. Mr. brown’s previous company did this; apparently they used scanning records of his leaving his building by a side door to help trump up a firing case against him. He was actually going to other buildings on campus to do his job, but it was difficult for him to show proof of this. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-the-modern-office-as-security-obsesses-prison-camp/445436.md?page=2)