Twenty-Four Hours, Zero Brain Cells

I work IT for a retail company. A few years ago, before lockdowns and global ick, we moved into a new office building. This building was still in the downtown Seattle area but instead of being near Westlake, it was more in the business district. And they seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of what twenty-four-seven means — which our service desk support is. There were several issues in the immediate move, but the most hilarious one for me was my first Saturday after the move.

I got off the train and tried to go in the entrance I normally used, but it was locked because of the weekend. It was a face-palm moment for me, but I hiked up to the regular entrance and then couldn’t get in. I swiped my badge a couple of times and nothing. I tried every door I could see with a scanner and nothing.

Now, I’m female, and at the time, I was about twenty-seven, I was wearing a black backpack, jeans, and a bright red sweatshirt, and my hair was blue and purple — probably not the most threatening picture, I’ll admit.

I was walking back and forth between these scanners, in full view of the security guard. And he did absolutely nothing. He didn’t come and tell me to take a hike, didn’t even call for help, just half-stared at me.

I finally managed to get a hold of one of my coworkers upstairs, and he came down and pointed around the corner to the door we were supposed to use. I’d already tried it, but I headed over and tested it again, and it still didn’t work. He opened the door and double-checked a few things. I didn’t have the badge next to another one, for example, or next to my transit pass; we had discovered that if those badges were even touching something else that could scan, they’d throw a fit and not want to behave.

Coworker: “[Manager] is aware. Luckily, this isn’t affecting everyone’s badges, but when you get up to your desk, send him a message. He’ll give you the next steps. You can use mine if you need to leave for lunch.”

Me: “Sounds good. I didn’t call [attendance line] yet, though. Do you think there’s going to be an issue since I’m like half an hour late?”

Coworker: “Nah, just tell [Manager] and probably stay a little late. You’ll be fine.”

Before I could respond, the security guard had finally gotten off his butt and come over.

Security: “Hello.”

Coworker & Me: “Hi.”

Security: “How can I help?”

Coworker: “We work in the building — [Company] up on fifteen.”

Me: “Yeah, my badge didn’t work so he came to get me.”

Security: “Well, the badges only work Monday through Friday.”

[Coworker] and I kind of blinked at him.

Me: “Uh, well, we’re a twenty-four-seven helpdesk, so that’s not a good thing. And he was able to get in just fine.”

Security: “Well, they don’t usually work on the weekends.”

Coworker: “Our manager is already aware of the issues and is working with the building.”

Security: “So, are you guys going to be here all day?”

Coworker: “Uh, yeah. Someone will be on the floor all day. We are a twenty-four-seven helpdesk.”

By this point, we’d gotten to the elevators and pressed the button. While we were waiting, security kept watching us.

Security: “Well, the badges usually don’t work on the weekends.”

Coworker: “Our manager is getting that fixed.”

The elevator finally arrived and security left us alone. When I left at the end of my shift, the guard was gone, but every Saturday after that he would be there in the morning and he always seemed to watch me a little more. I’m not sure if it was just me or the rest of my coworkers and I just didn’t notice because on weekends we were lighter staffed and usually pretty staggered on shifts, especially early morning.

Our manager finally got the badges working for everyone. He had to explain to the building multiple times that twenty-four-seven meant that we had people who needed access all the time, but it finally somehow got through.

I still don’t understand why that guard just sat there while I was trying to figure this out. I’d even waved at him a couple of times and gotten nothing. Again, I acknowledge that I’m not really all that threatening, but, uh, why not offer to see if there’s a problem?