An Element of Danger

One of my co-workers accidently hit a panic button while moving a table today. Of course, we hear nothing, the call goes directly to the security control room. My first inkling of something happening was when a couple of security guards show up at the office door looking, well, alarmed.

I, acting in my professional capacity, asked what I could do to help them, having no idea what the heck was going on. "You have an alarm going off in your office!" Where? I was clueless and could offer no assistance so they then proceeded to investigate. It turns out the alarm had been set off during a briefing in an attempt to set up audio-visual equipment.

Still. It gives me pause when occurrences like these happen. So far, I have had only a few somewhat-serious incidents or threats, although none life-threatening, which had to be dealt with. My job (and those of my co-workers) does have an element of danger, considering the scope of what we do, the often-inflammatory subject matter or crises that occur, and dealing with the constituents of a city of a half-million people. Panic buttons. Cameras. Security guards. But it's not fool-proof. It's the fools I worry about.