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.