“Sorry, there was a second gunshot, can you repeat that again? Yes, those are sirens, police cars are coming now, let’s see, there are 2,3, 8 of them. They’ve got the guy against a truck and 6 cops are standing in a semi circle around him.” That was my side of a conversation with a help desk this week. I repeated the story to someone who responded, that was smart, stay on the line with someone to make sure everything was ok. I squinted my face and said, “No, I was safe. I stayed on the line because I’d waited 42 minutes on hold for help; I was locked out of my email and had work to do.”
I thought this episode emphasized how painful it is to deal with a help desk and the fact that someone thought I stayed on the line in case something happened gave me pause. I have become comfortably numb. Gunshots, people, gunshots, right outside my window. I was not particularly alarmed, never felt in danger, I just stayed on the phone with the help desk and snapped a quick photo. So much for all the emergency training that would say, get away from the window. This week, notice if there are any things that should cause you alarm, yet, you are unaffected. Why?
Balancing on Unstable Surfaces 