Misnomer's Day Off (no electricity at work)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I arrived at the office at 9:32am, two minutes late for the weekly Publications meeting (wherein all of the tech writers get updated on each other’s projects, and vent about whatever needs venting about). I didn’t even log on to my computer to check e-mail first, I just dropped my bag at my desk and went to the meeting.

At approx. 10:15am the lights went out. We moved to our supervisor’s office, which has a window (she’s out at training today).

At 11am we finished the meeting and discovered that several blocks were affected. Traffic lights were out, and the other office buildings in the area also had no power. We decided to go out to lunch. We’d planned to go tomorrow, but it was suggested that we go today instead in light of the circumstances. (Heh!) After calling the nearby restaurant to be sure they had power, we left around 11:30.

We came back an hour later to discover that the power was still off (luckily the elevators were working on some kind of backup power, because otherwise I’d still be trying to get to the 6th floor). Suddenly our phone system stopped working, too: with no phones, no network access, and no HVAC, we all decided to go home.

About 15 minutes later, I arrived at my lighted, air-conditioned house. :slight_smile:

So now I have just over 4 hours to kill before I have to leave for my Tuesday night class, and it’s kind of cool having an unexpected day off. I can finish the paper that’s due tonight (I know, I know) and still have time to watch a little TV and putz around the SDMB.

Woo hoo! :smiley:

2

“tech writers”? As in plural? Wow. Luxury. I used to have a tech writing co-worker, but she got laid off after she moved out of state. I’ve been the lone writer about half the time in my career.

Anyway, lucky you - enjoy! Here’s hoping the power goes out tomorrow, too.

3

Me, too. I was the lone writer at my last job, for 3 years; I’ve been with this company for 4 years, and we’re up to 5 writers. It’s nice. :slight_smile:

Thanks … but the power is back on already. :frowning: I was able to check my e-mail, and I logged in to IM and verified that the lights are on again. The office is only 3 miles away, so maybe I’ll go back in after I finish my paper.

Shortest day off ever. :wink:

4

When I worked for another smallish county here in Minnesota we had two bomb scares in a matter of days. Both occurred in the late morning/early afternoon. At first we (200 county employees) were evacuated to the teensy library across the street. The commissioners were called, we were told to wait there. We couldn’t leave. After an hour or so some of us started wandering out - went to have lunch or smoke. BUT we could not leave county property. We were not allowed to go home. Finally, around 4pm, the commissioner said we could leave.
Next morning we were told we must use vacation time for the hours we were not at our desks. That didn’t go over so well - we were required to remain near. It had been made clear that if we left we would face recrimination. If we had been allowed to go home, no problem.

When the next bomb arrived we all clocked out and took a vacation day.