Over the course of the weekend I managed to forget that on Friday I had worn my heavy winter coat to work. Most likely this slipped my mind due to the fact that the weekend weather was so unseasonably mild, which, don’t get me wrong, was a boon that allowed me to hang the outside Christmas lights on the house easily enough. But that same mild weather was still in effect early Monday morning, and thus I reached for the same light jacket I had been using Saturday and Sunday. And thus the badge which grants me access to the building remained in the inner pocket of my heavy winter coat, at home, as I made my way in to the Big Gray.
So I slapped my forehead when I got to the front door and reported to the security office, surrendered my driver’s license as collateral, and got a temporary visitor pass. At that point I required an escort, but as luck (or my poor planning skills) would have it again, my cell phone battery was completely dead. Therefore I could not call any of my co-workers to come down to play minder for me, because even if I had asked to borrow the phone in the security office, I don’t have any of my co-worker’s numbers memorized since they are stored on my phone. Instead I simply assumed sooner or later I would recognize someone coming into the lobby where I was cooling my heels, and fortunately, one of my co-workers walked into the building about five minutes later, so that worked about as well as I could have hoped.
So I spent eight hours at my desk, technically forbidden from wandering outside of the office suite unaccompanied (also logistically, as the suite doors would have locked behind me if I had left and only a badge can swipe them open). Luckily I had brought my lunch. I also had brought my phone charger, as usual, so I got through the day and got things back on track as best I could.
Until the end of the day, of course. The co-worker who had escorted me up had assured me I should let her know if I needed anything else throughout the day, and since I didn’t take her up on it at any other point I felt only slightly abashed asking if she could escort me back down to the lobby. She agreed and we left the suite, got an elevator, rode as it stopped on almost every floor, and finally hit ground level … at which point I realized I had left my cell phone connected to the charger on my desk. Somehow I managed to convey this to my co-worker without spontaneously combusting in shame, and to her credit she just laughed at me and escorted me back upstairs so that I could grab my phone, then escorted me back downstairs again, when we were finally able to part ways.
I really don’t understand what the difference is between having my badge on my person and being allowed to move around the building of my own solo volition. I know that such a thing as visitor badges with No Escort Required exist, but I don’t understand why that isn’t the default provision for people who work in the building every single day and happen to forget their badge once in a blue moon. With a visitor badge I still wouldn’t be able to unlock the suite door but at least at the end of the day I’d be allowed to show myself out without interrupting anyone else. You would think they could keep a computerized record of who works in the building and has a badge issued in their name and look people up when they forget their badges and give them hall-pass privileges, but no. In fact the sign-in/sign-out process for the visitor badges literally involves a pen and sheets of paper on a clipboard. I suppose it’s just not enough of a priority to get any bleeding-edge upgrades.
Anyway, you would think that with no recourse to physically wander off I would have had plenty of time yesterday to blog, but didn’t I lead this whole thing off puncturing the value of “you would think”s? This is just going to be a wobbly week (tomorrow is the office Christmas party) and the blog is going to reflect that. When things get back to mostly normal (I did manage to remember everything I needed today, at least) you’ll be the first to know.
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