americanna

So today, I felt violated and unsafe.

In my office building, we have several different companies, one on each floor. The entry system is just a buzzer at the front door with a little camera screen. Guests most often have to buzz to get in (unless they get in while one of the other hundred employees go in and out). To be honest until today, you could say anything and I’d let up the stairs to our office. To paint the scene, I work at the group of desks closest to the door.

A young man came and knocked on the door, and my coworker politely let him in as you know, probably 20 different people do a day for meetings and deliveries. He spoke little english, smelled a bit, and seemed very confused. He kept pointing to a newspaper asking for a flat. My coworker said i m sorry, I dont understand you. He walked over to the girl next to me, put the newspaper on her desk and kept pointing. A group of three were around him, and people were starting to notice something was off.

He suddenly turned around and dashed to the door. The whole interaction was not even a minute. We looked at each other for a second, like “he was weird”, and then my colleague realized the guy had stolen her Iphone!!! We tried to see where he went but he had bolted out of the office.

UGH!!! The thing that worries me is that about 7 people had the same feeling about this guy, but nobody did anything (did we learn nothing from Kitty Genovese and the Bystander effect??). You really must act on your instincts, they are usually right. However you never really know what this person may have on them or how they may act at any given time. Luckily he only took a phone but it could have been much worse - so scary. At least our management is now beefing up our security.