Much has been written about the stress executives face working long hours however, the other night I discovered a new peril of late night working…
Having been working quietly away in the office, I packed up ready to go. On walking into the main office space the burglar alarm went off, “oh b*****s!” I thought “everyone must’ve left the office and set the alarm…”
I then raced to the alarm panel to try and reset it. Unfortunately my sprinting wasn’t up to it and before I got there the super deluxe security anti thief (or on this occasion anti chairman) deterrent starting blowing out white smoke whose purpose is to disorientate intruders and prevent them from seeing anything of value. On this occasion though it had the affect of disorientating yours truly preventing me from calling for help. It also then set off the smoke detectors on the fire alarm system!
I eventually managed to disable the intruder alarm, figure out the bells still ringing were the fire alarm system, disable that and secure the premises…
Working long hours can definitely be stressful!
1 Comment
Tom
When Cari and I landed our first major commission from Proctor and Gamble in 95 we used to work late in their new Broock lands Head quarters office.
Only problem was all the lights were on motion sensors to cut down on energy use. Which means late working was occasionally interupted by a quick sprint around the floor so you could still see to work. Leave it too late and it was like being in a horror movie as the lights switch off in sequence across the office.
regards
Julian Hakes
Hakes Associates Architects London