May 22, 2003
Dammit.
ARGH. I just listened to a cop yelling at our poor custodian for about twenty minutes because he left a box out on the floor (because he needed to empty his trashcan before he could put more in). Apparently, someone jumpy because of the bomb at Yale yesterday said the box looked "suspicious"---so they're blaming Tony the custodian for a bomb scare. Of course, he was just doing what he always did, and nobody ever told him otherwise. And their advice to him was to, in the future, leave boxes like that next to a trash can or something, so it wouldn't look suspicious. What kind of rank idiocy is this? If we're scared about bombs in boxes, then a box should be no less suspicious sitting next to the trash can than it would be five feet away against the wall. And we're in an academic department here---do you know how many boxes there are around here? People receive books, computer parts, computers; and they all come in boxes which are then discarded. (I'm not even counting all the assorted fast-food containers that pass through here.) And why stop at boxes? Someone could leave something in a trash can. Or a cabinet. Or on a high shelf. Or under a table. We can't live in fear of bombs like this. If we get bombed, well, then we do. Reporting "suspicious-looking boxes" just gets innocent custodians in trouble, and has no tangible benefit.
"After all, let's face it, evil is easier, more fun, and better paying."
--Sam Walker
Posted
by blahedo
at 6:31pm
on 22 May 2003
