Right now I’m at work doing updates on our servers so they’re happy. Several minutes ago, however, things went a little off track..

I got to work from school around 10:30. I came into work, cracked open an ice-cold Mountain Dew, and busily prepared to get the servers ready for their downtime. Around 11:50 a fellow employee came into the office. I didn’t notice them until I saw some light outside my office. I investigated and saw someone leaving the copy machine. I went back to work, then got up around midnight because I wanted to check a computer in the office. As I walked, I heard an alarm. I quickly dashed to the other side of the office–in pure darkness, mind you–and unarmed the alarm system. I realized at that point that my mystery copy machine user had entered and left and never knew that I was there (despite the lights and music in my room, and the alarm system being disarmed when he entered), arming the system behind him (with me inside).

I walked back to my office, a little shook up just because I set off an alarm, but assured myself that everything was OK because I disarmed it in time (the alarm pad was counting down to 0, and I got it at 6). I kept working in my office. Then around 12:15 I heard some yelling outside my office. Curious, I got up and started walking towards the door. That’s when I heard someone yell “HANDS UP, THIS IS THE POLICE!” My hands shot up instantly. “WALK OUT, SLOWLY, AGAINST THE WALL.” I walked out, and glanced to my right. There were two Grafton cops, guns aimed directly at me. I stood against the wall, and the cops padded me down to make sure I wasn’t carrying any weapons. Then one of the cops walked the building while the other stayed by me and questioned me about my vehicle, my working situation, etc. Then a fellow employee came and assurred me that everything was fine and the cops left.

As he said, “There’s your new employee initiation. Welcome.”

In closing, despite all my worries when I started at the RadioShack at 76th and Capitol, I never was “held” at gunpoint there. Whereas here, it only took me one day on my own to get not one, but two guns pointed at me.

I’m telling ya, there’s just no love for us IT folk.

~Jaker

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