The people I work with...
This week we had an accident at work involving the batteries for the UPS for our phone system going bad. OUr HVAC system distributed the fumes throughout the building, which wasn't evacuated until we'd already been working in the stuff for over an hour. Not pleasant.
This crisis taught me a lot about myself and my co-workers. I developed a whole new respect for Michelle and Joan in the way they handled the situation. I feel that they did a commendable job of balancing workplace safety issues with the real need to carry on business as usual in order to service our clients.
When the office was evacuated and people were being carried off to the hospital, I learned which people where smug and judgemental. I learned which people truly have a concern for their health. I learned which people would use the dismissal as a day to play and those who would stick around and help. And I learned that I was the only one of my kind at my office.
We had 6 people who were taken to the hospital. And I was the only one who went to see them. I wished there were two of me so I could have gone to be with Kathy Thurman, but I went to Kaiser because that was were everyone else went. I was the only one who saw how seriously the emergency room staff were taking the incident. I was the only one who saw the evidence of blood draws, of clothes removed by strangers. I saw the oxygen masks, the IVs, the heart monitors, the intermittent swelling of the blood pressure cuffs. I saw the coughing and the trembling and the discomfort and the boredom. I called family members. I sat and talked with our co-workers, carrying word of them to each other, and was warmed by the concern they all had for each other. A concern that was remarkably absent in most of the people in our office the following day.
The UPS was disconnected but was not removed from our facility, so the chemical reaction continued and when the telephone room warmed up the next day (Thursday) the fumes were once again distributed throughout the building. When this happened, everyone who went to the hospital on Wednesday was told to leave the building, and anyone who was bothered by the smell/fumes was told to feel free to leave as well.
Some people in the office really resented it when people left. I think it is really silly of them to think that those people were being lazy or just using the opportunity to get off working...they don't seem to realize that none of the people who were hospitalized wanted a repeat performance. None of them wanted to get sick again.
It is very disappointing to me to realize I work with people who are so self-absorbed that they can't step outside themselves long enough to consider the situation from a different perspective. They have no empathy, and they have no concern for others. Its a huge pity, and they way they treated those who fled the building has caused a change in the way I percieve them. Hopefully it won't change my ability to work with them.
This crisis taught me a lot about myself and my co-workers. I developed a whole new respect for Michelle and Joan in the way they handled the situation. I feel that they did a commendable job of balancing workplace safety issues with the real need to carry on business as usual in order to service our clients.
When the office was evacuated and people were being carried off to the hospital, I learned which people where smug and judgemental. I learned which people truly have a concern for their health. I learned which people would use the dismissal as a day to play and those who would stick around and help. And I learned that I was the only one of my kind at my office.
We had 6 people who were taken to the hospital. And I was the only one who went to see them. I wished there were two of me so I could have gone to be with Kathy Thurman, but I went to Kaiser because that was were everyone else went. I was the only one who saw how seriously the emergency room staff were taking the incident. I was the only one who saw the evidence of blood draws, of clothes removed by strangers. I saw the oxygen masks, the IVs, the heart monitors, the intermittent swelling of the blood pressure cuffs. I saw the coughing and the trembling and the discomfort and the boredom. I called family members. I sat and talked with our co-workers, carrying word of them to each other, and was warmed by the concern they all had for each other. A concern that was remarkably absent in most of the people in our office the following day.
The UPS was disconnected but was not removed from our facility, so the chemical reaction continued and when the telephone room warmed up the next day (Thursday) the fumes were once again distributed throughout the building. When this happened, everyone who went to the hospital on Wednesday was told to leave the building, and anyone who was bothered by the smell/fumes was told to feel free to leave as well.
Some people in the office really resented it when people left. I think it is really silly of them to think that those people were being lazy or just using the opportunity to get off working...they don't seem to realize that none of the people who were hospitalized wanted a repeat performance. None of them wanted to get sick again.
It is very disappointing to me to realize I work with people who are so self-absorbed that they can't step outside themselves long enough to consider the situation from a different perspective. They have no empathy, and they have no concern for others. Its a huge pity, and they way they treated those who fled the building has caused a change in the way I percieve them. Hopefully it won't change my ability to work with them.
posted by KR | 9/20/2003 01:53:00 PM
<< Home