There was no order to the evacuations, and panicked kids - mostly high school graduates and some that didn't even graduate, scared to death saying it was chaos. Some just sat on the curb and smoked cigarettes because they became desensitized and traumatized. Myself, I needed to prove I could return to work and not let everyone down.
When the fire alarms went off we were not permitted to use the elevator.
I was lucky because of a hearing deficit for which I was required to provide documentation, I was permitted to sit where I chose. So it was on the 3rd floor by a window, with a grass lawn below. I figured I could survive that jump as tough as I have learned to be. I sized up the quality of the panes and figured I could toss my chair through the window. Maybe the firefighters would have one of those things on TV they catch people with. But as I said, they stopped coming after a while and I also happened to choose a seat where they drove up front and I could see when they were there.
There was a young woman on the floor above me in a wheelchair. I prayed for my safety and the safety of my friends, and of course my cats and family, but most especially those above me who could not walk down those stairs.
Tornadoes - we have them down here in Kentucky. Lots of em. When the tornado sirens would go off, sometimes we were permitted to leave, sometimes we weren't. Sometimes they evacuated us to the basement, sometimes they didn't. The first time it happened I just left and drove home, thinking that my chances of survival were greater meeting a tornado on the Gene Snyder freeway than in that building, and on the Gene Snyder, if you''re doing 80 you need to be in the slow lane. I was penalized for leaving that night. But there was a 100' high crane boom eye-to-eye with me a couple hundred yards away outside, and that thing waved in the wind like the World Trade Center used to
You learned quickly to ignore the strobes and the sirens. Charter did, after all, want a genuine focus on the customer, and I always tried to be loyal to whomever signed my paychecks - I finally received my final commission check from April 2007 last week. It wasn't easy.
Funniest thing - on the rare occasion we were evacuated, I happened to be in the lunch room having my dinner by myself. Since that was a frequent occurrence I just stayed in my own little world reading the paper. I didn't realize until I'd gotten back upstairs they had been evacuated to the basement and let back up again, and those strobes were kind of like elevator music to us after a while, except those who suffered epileptic seizures.
No one even knew I was missing, and no one checked the lunch rooms. Whatever.
So we prayed for ourselves, our friends and our families, but maybe we should have been praying for Charter's customers since they still have to deal with them.
People used to smoke upstairs. I did bring it to management's attention. Didn't stop it though. That's ripe.
Funny too because now I work for an excellent company whose actions are consistent with their exposed Mission Statement, and when they test their alarms I do not even notice it. Just like a Veteran, some sounds you know to listen for and some you learn to tune out.
Being from the state I was (NJ), I was well familiar with corruption. Having had an honest Fire Chief for a significant other for a good number of years, I was also quite attuned to fire safety, having heard the horror stories of trapped buddies who burned to death, and what it was like on 9/11. I actually have not watched TV since that date. Having been a municipal inspector I was also quite attuned to what constituted an honest inspector and what didn't. Funny that the country jokes about corruption in New Jersey. But most New Jersey buildings are safe now to the best of my knowledge.
The firefighters near Charter, after all, had to follow orders, as did we, or we would lose our jobs because those that spoke out were quickly terminated (fired).
This particular call center in Kentucky employs close to 800 kids to the best of my knowledge - they are after all, entry level positions. Do you really understand why your telephone support is outsourced? India has safety standards for buildings such as this. I don't see any around here, but hey, maybe that's just me.
So what have we learned since 9/11? Not much, in my opinion. Except how to ignore even more than we did before.
BUILDING SKETCH
Building Characteristics
Type GENOFF : General Office
Year Built 2000
Element Detail
Exterior Wall
Roofing Structure 1
Basement/Foundation
Condition EX
Bldg Type General Office:001
Stories 7
Full Bathrooms
Half Bathrooms
10300 Ormsby Park Pl
Parcel ID 320800200000
LRSN 1015123
Assessed Value $16,350,170
Acres 10.19
Old District 21
Property Class 445 Com Office
Deed Book/Page
Fire District Lyndon
School District Jefferson County
Neighborhood 80 / COMMERCIAL
Satellite City Lyndon
Sheriff's Tax Info View Tax Information
Land Value Improvements Value Assessed Value
$3,568,250 $12,781,920 $16,350,170
Area Type Gross Area Finished Area
Main Unit 153,100
ASSESSMENT HISTORY
Exemption Date Land Improvements Total Reason
None 09/28/2005 $3,568,250 $12,781,920 $16,350,170 R
None 02/14/2001 $299,440 $14,896,700 $15,196,140 R
(February 12, 2005)
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