Work darkness

[fbhjr]

At the end of the year, my workplace mandated everyone go through employee training.
One of the classes was what to do if there is a workplace shooter.
As with other places I’ve worked, they made it clear you should run away or hide.
Unlike other places they said “if that doesn’t work, kill them before they kill you”. They were very clear you should not try and talk them out of it, not try and disarm them, not try and capture them, but if you couldn’t run away or hide, kill them.
I thought that was a bit dark, but I do understand if they’re coming after you, you have to protect yourself.

Today one of the electrical people was brining around some baclava that his wife had made and giving it to people. It was quite good.
Our one of the engineers sitting near me looked at his piece and then us.
“Isn’t that guy a contractor, and aren’t they all going to be let go at the end of the month?” he asked.
“No, we hired him on full time,” one of the other engineers said.
“Then, this is probably safe to eat,” the first one said, and ate it.

This led to a protracted conversation about if disgruntled employees might try to poison their coworkers, and how our training on protection might apply if we were to find it was happening.

I guess I am in the minority of thinking that being told to kill coworkers is dark, despite the premise they’re trying to kill you first.
Not saying I wouldn’t fight. I’m just not sure about the purposeful killing part.

“You wouldn’t kill me if I came after you with a gun,” the second person asked me.
“I’m not saying that if I can’t run away or hide I’m going to say ‘you got me, go ahead and shoot’, but I’m saying I’d hope for a non-lethal way to stop you from shooting me.
“And, besides, we’re talking about baclava here. I’m 100% sure I can either run from it, or hide from it.”
“Good point,” the second one said, and took a second piece.
My coworker Frank, who gave his notice this week, seemed to find this all hilarious.

It is true, other places I’ve worked have instructed to run or hide. No other place I’ve worked has instructed to kill.
And, I do find that dark.

Back when I was 22 and told it was my job to get the knife away from the angry convict worker who was threatening people with it, these were not options offered to me.
I’m glad I talked it out of him and no one resorted to shooting anyone.
But, that’s knives, not guns.

Comments

[palusbuteo]

Ugh wow that's unnerving.

Well, let's be real, the whole thing about school, postal, workplace shootings since Columbine has been disturbing and unnerving and
I really wish we weren't living this kind of world, but yet here we are.

I somewhat recently came across a young woman on Instagram who IIRC is a professional consultant & psychologist(?) and her videos
are all about "what to do when the shooter comes" and almost all of them end with "Kill them. Do not negotiate. Do not run and hide. They will not care, they will hunt you down and kill you. If you try to block them or stand in front of your students to protect them, they will kill you and then kill all the kids". Stuff like that. And she doesn't mince a microsecond of it. Also things like "defend yourself with as much violence and intent as possible, and if that means lethal, then so be it"

My 2nd job out of college at the social invitations printer, they had a Big Company Meeting once a year to go over Fire Drill and protocols.
One of the middle managers that none of the printers liked mentioned do not be afaid of grabbing a chair or fire extinguisher or some such to break a window (in the cafeteria/break room) to escape, as the door and path to the door may be blocked, etc.
A number of coworkers laughed and essentially made the comment that they will have no hesitation whatsoever to break out and get out of the building....Not just in case of fire but to get away from this middle manager and the workplace.

It was a little amusing and zinger but at the same time, I understood and I guess "appreciated" what the middle manager was trying to say.
Although it was sort of stating the "obvious".

This was also around the time of the "going postal" thing, and I would at times try to think about what I would do or how things would go down
if that happened there. Other than the "Not Surprised / It was a matter of time", but also trying to make sure I kept my attitude in check so as to not become a potential target. I wasn't looking to make friends but certainly wasn't trying to make enemies. I'm glad I managed to quit that place when I did.

[threemeninaboat]

I took a lot of self defense classes and they were very also, "Talk your way out of it" or "Kick him in the nuts and run." No, if I kicked him in the nuts and he's down I'm going to keep kicking until he's dead.

So I agree with you that this is a new change in defense attitude.

[spaciireth]

Yikes, that's absolutely very dark. I get it... but definitely dark.

[taz_39]

I think that part of this may be to try and get through to the average Joe that an active shooter situation is life-threatening. Like, you see the words "life-threatening" on paper and think you get it. But in the moment, it's got to be a REAL understanding of what that means.

A moment of hesitation, of "He's not really going to shoot me, is he?", because we have all been conditioned to be civilized, and expect civility in return. That moment of indecisiveness, of disbelief in what's happening or empathizing or clinging to civility, is the moment when you die.

When someone is attacking you and has intent to kill, depending on the construct of civility or a peaceful alternative from someone pointing a gun at you WILL kill you. Curling up and cowering is one option. Putting up a fight at least delays the guy from killing others.

Anyway, just thinking out loud.

[fauxklore]

We were always taught: 1) run, 2) hide, 3) fight. They never explicitly said to kill.

[brickhousewench]

No other place I’ve worked has instructed to kill.
And, I do find that dark.

You're not the only one. That IS dark.