Same. This sounds like the episode Emergency Response from Parks and Rec, so interesting to hear about a real-life counterpart of it/how true to life that show really was. I could have written this post myself. She has nothing to gain, and something to lose, by trying to play it by the book. But if you dont know what the siren sounds like, how are you going to know what it is? On a serious note this post and the sheer volume of responses speaking to this issue as being so common scares me so much. A few years back someone actually did bring a gun into our building, attempting to commit suicide by cop. This means if you click a link and/or buy a product, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I graduated high school a few years before Columbine, but can still completely empathize with what people who are younger than me have been through. Dropped about $1500 which basically emptied my bank account. None of this is a joke, and Im so mad at this LWs boss because the drills are meant to protect people and theyre done out of fear but we cant have TOO MUCH FEAR, mind you, because thats negative somehow. Given the reaction youve gotten from trying to push back, I wouldnt bother trying to explain why this is a problem. Given that shes already on record as not wanting to participate and the boss reaction, this might be the first time I would ever consider advising someone to just no-call no-show and eat the occurrence. No one is filling the hallways with smoke and heating door knobs during a fire drill. To find out moreabout NTRWandourrecommended tools, you can do thathere. But in my opinion, your older colleagues have ZERO excuse for not empathizing with your concerns. It traumatized her. (This shooting range has since gone on to have neo-Nazi ties and host fundraising events with certain family members of certain politicians. My current campus is in a denser urban core, and what my director has decided to do is to ask our public safety team to come in and evaluate our workspaces one-on-one rather than do some kind of generalized training that would probably be of little use. This goes on your permanent military record and can affect your career negatively. We should be marching and burning government buildings and performing citizens arrests of corrupt politicians and 1%ers over this. Most units require at least a month notice, but the sooner the better when it comes to requesting to be excused from drill. The builder is intuitive. Some of that context may help OP decide how they want to push back. Im sorry you are going through this, OP. Oh my! What do you MEAN they didnt know what to do?? Unfortunately, many of our politicians (and the people who elect them) would rather our children live in danger than lose lobbying and stockholders money. Your sporting team is playing in the finals. Which will be entirely true. If youre curious I can expand on that, but I dont want to derail the thread. Hope you dont get cornered! The babysitter just called and told me she c. nt make it today Thats all you need to say to them. I hope LW is able to realize his insensitivity is plenty of cause for reconsidering her stance on him and using all her effort to pushback on such terrible behavior from him. - Short answer, no. Your boss can think you are a snowflake all he wants, but the fact is your boss is being an insensitive jerk. Balance this wisely. My middle-schooler was completely ho-hum while describing how their orchestra room is actually the best place to hide because it doesnt have any windows (to deaden sound.). Instead of a drill, why not just some quick tips on what to do and not do? Yeah, the duck and cover drills for nuclear war were equally not reassuring when I was a child, Im not clear on how those were helpful. I agree that I dont think active shooter trainings are all that helpful, and I may be zeroing in too much on the wrong thing here, but telling you all to wear comfortable clothing is ridiculous. Some people believe working on the weekends is bad for your productivity. But they made the change less than 30 days before drill. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. We never needed to do it more often than that, and I am so thankful we never needed to do any other type of drill. My workplace does building-specific workplace shooter training and it lasts maybe 30-45 minutes tops. The entire video was him sitting in an empty conference room talking. I started a new job recently, one where I wanted to impress and have significant imposter syndrome. And if my boss gave me grief about it Id jump straight to calling a lawyer. Im so sorry to hear about the stomach bug you got the day of this drill. I definitely feel safer that the administration deems it more likely that we need immediate access to bleeding control than an AED. The irony of school kids being taught run-hide-fight when theres so little that they could use to fight withat my desk I have tons of makeshift weapons that could indeed inflict great bodily harm if I had to. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "adc1af5dd80e55ae1e3f646224ebba55" );document.getElementById("a603c4a483").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Subscribe to all comments on this post by RSS, Email (Optional will display your Gravatar). Theyll know all the doors to block, all the hiding spots, all the weapons to hide. This boss is unreasonable and is likely to suspect the real reason; the fewer things he can attempt to disprove, the better! The LW said this drill was being run by law enforcement. If they dont know you very well, theyll definitely think youre an irresponsible flake. Even if that number never shows up. I hope that, some day, no child anywhere will ever have to even think about doing something like that. Hey [Name], sorry to be that person, but Im exhausted from everything going on this week. Only if you think the person will understand. 9 Best Practices for Career Success in Your 20s, no.7 get you Promoted, 10 Effective Ways to Deal with Gossip at Work, 7 Common Types of Spam Emails and How to Identify, How to Write a Professional Email At Work (with Examples), how to tell your boss you are not working on weekends professionally, between 10 and 14 days of paid vacation per year, US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, importance of fostering a work-life balance, How to Introduce Yourself at First Day of Work (with Examples), 5 Best Types of Goal Setting Techniques (Succeeding at Work), 10 Basic Types of Leadership Styles and How to Find Your Own, Bad Boss? Its not as full on as what the OP saying, theres no law enforcement or reenactment. However, the opt out usually looks like being told ahead of time what will happen and standing with a non involved officer rather than participating. by by Weve had some real fires, but unless the sprinkler system fails, the building will just flood instead of burning down. I told her that going forward, I would like the opportunity to work remotely on the days of drills or just use my leave entirely and she seemed open to it. Anyway Ive been thinking about it a lot recently because of the Oxford and MSU shootings. -You are sick or injured (documentation from a doctor may be required) Took a grand total of an hour and I was crying furiously by the end. To enhance the dramatic effect, you can fill up your voice with tears and can have a catharsis you were longing for. if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'nevertherightword_com-large-billboard-2','ezslot_4',182,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-nevertherightword_com-large-billboard-2-0');report this adThis site does not constitute legal, mental, or medical health advice, please consult a competent licensed professional. How are you doing? She looked at me and said I went to Columbine High School. I can still feel the bottom dropping out of my stomach. For additional context, I am the only woman in my very small department at a larger organization, which overwhelmingly skews much older. Doesnt matter that the only reason that day is the only day available is because you told the office to schedule it only on that day. Being broke sucks and everyone knows it. I work for a public-facing government agency. Maybe you suggest lunch instead of drinks. The drill was ultimately canceled after my employers legal counsel also reviewed the release and advised that an employer should not be asking employees to sign it. To assist you in this challenging situation, weve written 25 fantastic excuses to get you out of an unavoidable social gathering that you dont want to attend. This kind of boss only considers puking in a trashcan as sick. He remembers Columbine and Virginia Tech and Aurora and Sandyhook and Parkland and Pulse . What possible benefit is there to be gained from crouching and hiding for hours? New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Go somewherea hike, a spa, a museumon that day. You could call in sick that day. We love the unique finds, social media templates, vectors you name it they have it. cristina's restaurant salsa recipe. Not to mention, what are people with physical disabilities supposed to do? Im so sorry youre dealing with this, OP, and that your boss made a joke about directing a shooter to you. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your experience in the Drill Army Reserves: Thats just totally unreasonable. There is no active shooter education for the workplace that should take seven hours, unless maybe if your workplace is law enforcement or something where you will be the ones actually dealing with a shooter. They used to kind of joke about the fire alarm being pulled and then a school shooting happened where a fire alarm was pulled and kids were shot leaving their classrooms/building. Youve already got a serious medical condition, and now you get to worry that if your blood sugar plummets or your pump fails during an active shooter situation that it will get all your friends killed. Im sure that wont hurt kids mental health at all. This was a school-sanctioned event!! One year we had an active shooter trainer come in who said anyone in the lobby would be killed right away, including our receptionists (we didnt have bulletproof glass)! Its been really hard to deal with for them and me as their mom who couldnt protect them from this happening. Wishing you all the best with this difficult situation. Many would not even know to run if we told them; they cannot comprehend the danger. Likenever mind the snowflakes, what about the combat veterans? (I mean, safety is great, but this person is hilariously the most accident-prone person we all know, and always has a story about falling down the stairs or getting a ticket for speeding on the way to work. He had no sense of humor about such things. Hearing it makes me think well, of course but I might not have thought of that when telling my staff about it. They were clearly making an effort on all sides not to alarm the kids, and my own kids were totally oblivious that anything was amiss. Oh god. If theres a way you can make a suggestion for future years, our district moved to virtual trainings that we now have the ability to complete over the summer on our own time. My husbands previous job did an active shooter training at their factory, with different employees pretending to be the shooter, complete with something like a pellet gun or paint gun (I dont remember exactly what was used). Yeah, hes insensitive and unempathetic. He took one look at me and sent me home, I was obviously in no fit state to work. Are you getting a lot of spam which is very annoying and want to avoid them? Fast forward to this current moment in your life, (whereveryou may be) and youve found that youve hit a certain point where things have taken a massive swing. In one, most of it occurred in the park across the street from campus (which was lovely, and we always had to tell new students that it looked nice, but it was Not Their Park), and wed get a text alert to stay away from the windows on that side of campus. Ugh. I grew up in the Seventies and Eighties in the UK with the IRA. And if they press you too hard, start crying. Works a treat every. It will not be possible for me to participate.. One of our providers is a speaker in an education day for LGBTQ+ providers and there was a threat called in to the event this year. It doesnt need to replicate the emergency as realistically as possible. My apartment building has so many drills (false alarms) that maybe 12 people out of 102 units (some with 2 people, so more than 102 tenants) bother to evacuate when the alarms go off in the apartment AND hallway. The session before it was about what to have in your desk emergency kit in case of an earthquake. Id feel the same way. And leaving them alone would be a big question mark to the whole face of humanity. something to consider! I cannot begin to explain how much I am dreading this training. Its super stressful and also completely irrelevant- I work in retail, we dont even have doors that latch, let alone offices to hide in or barricade. Ive opted out of CPR training because I cant tolerate being on my knees for any length of time (5 seconds is my absolute maximum). Im sorry you have personal experience with this. Hey you! I think state law might require us to do x number a year. Now that I think about it, my workplace gives building-specific info for other types of emergency preparation i.e., I know where were supposed to evacuate and gather in the case of a fire, I know where in the building we should shelter in the case of a tornado/severe weather, but the active shooter training module was only a generic video with a generic office building showing fear and the run/hide/fight scenarios. This was not that, its just callous. Save yourself the heartache and the stress. Not to deal with the threat to the campus. No?). Even so, the vast majority of cops who do carry spend their whole career without firing a shot except on the range. When you want to enhance your professional skills with expert-led, online video tutorials, the only place to go is LinkedIn Learning (Lynda). Seven hours at work, doing not-work how much of a backlog will there be the next day? Typically blanks are fired inside of the building (sometimes without specific warning) to simulate real scenarios. Also, your boss is a horses ass. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. I am tired and frustrated that my unit has decided to disrespect my schedule and time. Oddly enough I think my boss would have been receptive to the OPs situation and absolutely understood if an active shooter drill was too much for some people but she would have never understood my objection to the mandatory fun (which she was super excited about). A seven hour training is rediculous, even actual drills for emergency services dont last that long. Weekend is a great excuse to get out to the movies. Wed also be delighted if you shared this article and joined us on social media too! But last summer I had to attend one of these trainings at work (though much shorter) and I completely melted down. Between the GUN SHOTS outside the classroom, and the unbelievably unqualified instructor who gleefully talked about all the times his hyper-vigilance protected his girlfriend on the mean streets of our farm state, it was too much. Its pretty clear from the letter that it is an all day training. But its hard, if not impossible to learn anything when in the throes of a panic attack or PTSD symptoms. There is no value in a seven hour training for something that would last from 5-30 minutes, realistically. Everytown has some resources regarding that as well. We have to let the videos play and take multiple quizzes to get a certificate, but Ive now done them enough that I can let the video play while not really paying attention, and my anxiety has disappeared over the trainings. Seven hours is unbelievable, but sounds more like a training event for the police than your workplace. elizabeth baptist church pastor oliver. We all live busy lives and we know that there will be times when we are called on to help out to babysit for a week, a weekend, or even half a day. Survivor of gun violence here. Oh Heck no, no, no. Seven hours of training is far more likely to be a poorly designed hands-on training that will only cause stress, fear, and trauma, possibly leading to worse outcomes if there ever is a real shooting. I wish very much I had opted out. Hey [Name] I think Ive got to stay in tonight and take care of [Insert Roomates Name]. and rejoicing that you get to go home for the day is messed up too. If anything would persuade me to learn how to do make-up well, its this lmao. Plus employers (not mine, fortunately) discourage/forbid their employees from reporting assaults on their person and tell them thats part of the job. As I'm boarding the plane I thought for sure I was going to die or wanted to. its kind of a variant on calling in sick but honestly, recruiting a trusted accomplice is what i would do. Could we catch up at a less hectic week? Understanding how to tell your boss you are not working on weekends professionally can help you to say no, with confidence and courtesy. Oh my god. Its just telling the kids that if a lockdown gets announced, then we lock this door, hide here, be quiet, the door handle will get tried by the headteacher, and this is the announcement that its over. Basically it was a whole thing staged as if some classmates had gotten in a car with a drunk driver and died, involving the local law enforcement, paramedics, etc., and framed as if it was actually happening and not a drill. I have interceded on employees behalf from that position many times, i.e. Read More How to Write a Professional Email At Work (with Examples)Continue. But I like a little theatre. A text like this will save you up from any long unnecessarydetails, especially if you cant come up with any other genuine sounding excuses at that moment. Im very pale, so my under eye half moons have a purplish tone. But in terms of living vs. surviving, it doesnt affect me at all in the way LW described. Yelling about justice on the Internet and casting anemic votes isnt going to work. Multiple employees thought it was real, panic ensued, injuries occurred, and theyre all traumatized. To use this excuse, you need to make a story of how awful that Tinderdate went to be described later to the party host. My daughters friend since pre-school was killed in a mass shooting during her freshman year in college. So. I wouldnt outright say it was a mental health day, since this boss almost certainly wouldnt consider that a valid sick day given his opinions on mental health. It could also make the shooter more effective because it could very well be an employee in this training that becomes the shooter. Professor at a college that had a mass shooting. This means that even though the weekend has traditionally been a time of leisure, modern workplace trends mean that a lot of people work on the weekends. There is a debate you can maybe find evidence of online as to whether this is effective. Or maybe if no one from your department is going to be there. All branches of the armed forces are also open to women, currently our highest-ranking female officers are lieutenant colonels. (Even those who havent had personal connections to any of the many, many mass shootings in recent decades.). Worst case, they might show up to work armed, and their colleagues would assume its all part of the training.. Call in sick, OP. If my staff had this conversation to me, Id take it immediately back to leadership b/c my leadership is older than me. Its a 5-7 minute trip (if youre sprinting) to the nearest building with one of those. That he has somehow tricked you into thinking this is okay is horrifying. Editor-in-Chief & Career Development Expert. You're going to an important family event, 9. And if my boss gave me grief about it Id jump straight to calling a lawyer and what should OP say to this lawyer? You can approach the second-in-command, if you believe that person will be more receptive than your boss. You say hes a nice guy, but Hey, apologies for flaking, but my babysitter just called and told me she couldnt make it today. Some of these excuses are a little ridiculous, others are genius (if we do say so ourselves)! You should be wearing whatever you would normally be wearing at work, which just further underlines to me the uselessness of the training other than to provoke anxiety and fear. My boss, who is also the only person to whom I report (no grand-boss applicable), is much older, which I mention because I think hes just coming at this training from a totally different perspective. Read More 7 Common Types of Spam Emails and How to IdentifyContinue. I was there for maybe 20 minutes in total before my shift supervisor missed me and came along to investigate. Wtaf. I once worked in a building owned by a community college even though my office was unaffiliated with the college, and we would go into lockdown when the rest of the community college did so.) Is there something about your workplace that makes this a particular concern? Local law enforcement trains other law enforcement organizations. Good Reasons to Call Out of Work (Physical Jobs) 1. If you have a doctor's note stating that you are too ill to participate in drill, this is a valid excuse. Absolutely unnecessary. If youre super close with them, theyll probably just laugh and say theyll catch you later. This article may contain affiliate links. According to the National Guard, these circumstances include but are not limited to: They also talked about throwing things like your chair or a pencil (?)
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