Day 1- didn't end with a bang.

Day one of my personal challenge to blog more could have ended a lot worse.  The day was great, I felt super productive, work was awesome as usual and I got to chat with my old boss- even if for something kinda stressful.  I love my job and I enjoy my job.  But at the 4:30 as I'm getting ready to wrap up the day we get a CODE MAROON

I love Code Maroon- I don't like getting them, but the system itself is wonderful.  First a computer message pops up that you have to acknowledge on your screen, if you don't click it right away it flashes at you.  Then my phone goes off.  Twitter notifications, I've been told, is faster even than the computer notice so I turn those on to go straight to my phone too.  This time, unlike the bomb threat a few weeks ago, the outside alarms even went off as an added notifier.  I feel like if there is an emergency on campus, there is no way I wont hear about it (unlike another institution where it took 2 1/2 hours to notify the campus something was going wrong) so I feel good in that regard.

So first notice came saying an "armed subject last seen near University Center Garage. Persons in vicinity find safe place indoors..." My building is attached to the University Center Garage, so I run to my door start locking it and one of my co-workers comes in with me to wait it out.  We turn off the lights, close the blinds, turn off my music and silence our phones.  I am freaking out- not screaming, shaking or crying, but still freaking out and very upset.

Shortly after getting on lock down the second notice goes through

This helps relieve my exit buddy as she figures it was probably just someone taking a gun collection to the corps for display or something- apparently that had happened before.  She's calmer, but I'm still a little on edge.  As it slowly passes 5PM we get more notices just saying to stay where we are they're still searching for the subject.

About an hour after it started we get the final message

Everyone exits their office and starts heading home.  Someone comments that this didn't happen before I got there, but I know it's just in fun.  I ask if I can go home yet.  Most everyone seems to be completely fine and unfazed by the situation.  Obviously I'm relieved nothing worse came of it, but I just worry about other people's reactions to these type of situations.  We always tell students when they ask if we have to take these things seriously that you always do because you never know if it's real or fake, but I feel like we need to remind the professional staff of that as well.  I feel like everyone just assumed it was another fake and so they were so unfazed about it.  I know it does no good to worry about every little thing, but there are some things I don't think I'll ever be unfazed by, or ever stop worrying about, it'll probably shorten my life and give me grey hairs, but I have to take these things seriously and I have to take the appropriate responses.  I'd rather worry and have nothing be wrong than not worry and be completely caught off guard.