I feel like I've been practically living at work the past few weeks. I wake up, quickly get ready, head for work, work, work some more, work even more, head home, eat dinner, relax for not very long (if there is time) and go to bed.
Needless to say, we've been crazy busy! Last Friday, we had two simultaneous events in Tempe and Tucson. Thursday night is by far the latest I have ever stayed at work - it was about 8:15 p.m. when I headed home only to grab something off my computer when I got there and take it to Kinkos to be printed.
I would not have been at work nearly so long, except apparently while I figuratively live at my work, there is at least one person in the world who literally lives at my work...or just outside of it. You see, the printer broke in our building, so we had to run to the building next door to pick up 70 copies of the press release and fact sheets off of the printer. Several people stayed late to help me, so while I was typing away on my computer and gathering supplies, Amanda (one of my favorite people) ran next door to pick up the print job. While she was there, Sharon - the only person left working in that building - walked by the front entry way to find a homeless man curling up for a long night's rest against the door and five more homeless men staggering down the alley behind our office. She did what any rational female would do in this situation...she freaked out!
Amanda and Sharon called the non-emergency police line to let them know a homeless man had made himself at home in front of our office. The police told them no one should leave the building until they arrived...which left Amanda stuck in the other building with our copies, while we waited in our building to take those copies and stuff them in press kits. (For the record, I requested a picture of the homeless man for this very blog, but she told me no! How rude!)
So we waited, and waited, and waited for the police to arrive. We sent text messages to family and friends, and our boss that said: "Still at work. Stuck here until police arrive to remove sleeping homeless man from parking lot. Eating cookies and crackers to survive."
Finally, about 30 minutes later we got tired of waiting. Alana and I had just decided that the one sleeping homeless man separated from our door by two small fences and a patio was not going to attack three of us, if we were together. Alana opened the door to go get Amanda, but Amanda and Sharon had gotten tired of waiting as well. We walked Sharon to her car and then ran quickly up the stairs and locked the door to our office. We commenced stuffing press kits, grabbed everything we needed, turned off the lights, set the alarm and walked each other to our cars.
It was then and only then that two cop cars on patrol rolled through the alley behind our building to rescue us from any unwanted visitors. I think our homeless friend was gone, probably scared off when he heard people still inside the building.
Finally, about 30 minutes later we got tired of waiting. Alana and I had just decided that the one sleeping homeless man separated from our door by two small fences and a patio was not going to attack three of us, if we were together. Alana opened the door to go get Amanda, but Amanda and Sharon had gotten tired of waiting as well. We walked Sharon to her car and then ran quickly up the stairs and locked the door to our office. We commenced stuffing press kits, grabbed everything we needed, turned off the lights, set the alarm and walked each other to our cars.
It was then and only then that two cop cars on patrol rolled through the alley behind our building to rescue us from any unwanted visitors. I think our homeless friend was gone, probably scared off when he heard people still inside the building.
