Office Stories

[susan silva]

Do you have any crazy, fun, unique, strange office stories?

[jennika]

A few weeks ago a co-worker found a baby bird that fell out of its nest and just plopped in on my desk.  This tiny bird didn't even have its feathers and had a big red spot on its shoulder (like a bruise).  I was like ...... what am I going to do with a hurt baby bird.  I put it in small container with some tissue and stuck it on my coffee cup to keep it warm, then I called a city run animal rescue and brought the baby bird where they took care of it.  Sadly 4 days later the bird passed, but at least I did what I could.  I don't think I will ever forget her just saying.. here you are the office manager, this is a hurt baby bird. 

[countrigal]

Wow Jennika... Wonder how they even thought to bring it in.... seems odd, but you did so good with it.  I'm not sure I would have known anything to do but throw it back outside.  I'm not heartless, just so far out of my realm of thought, especially at work.

[jennika]

That was my first thought, to put it outside or maybe put it out of its misery, but it was opening its beak like looking for its mother to feed it and was very vocal.  It was trying to move around.  I just couldn't put it out side, i had no idea what to do so Google'd it. I did find out it was a house sparrow and really hoped it would make it. 

[claudiamag]

I'll share a couple with you that I've posted here before.

A few years ago our receptionist got a call that went something like this:

Caller: Good morning, please put me through to Mr. M (FYI - Mr. M's last name is part of the name of our company)
Receptionist: Mr. M?
Caller: Yes, Mr. M. Its very important that I speak to him right away
Receptionist: Who is calling please?
Caller (getting annoyed): This is Mr. S, I was just speaking to Mr. M and got cut off.
Receptionist: Are you sure it was Mr. M you were talking to?
Caller (very annoyed and getting rude): Yes, of course it was. Now put him on the phone right away, its very important that I speak to him.
Receptionist: I'm sorry Mr. S but could I possibly have your phone number and address?
Caller (surprised): Why do you want my phone number and address?
Receptionist: Well, you see Mr. M has been dead for over 50 years and if you were just speaking to him then you must some very strong psychic powers and I want to call you later to see if you can contact my dead grandfather.
Caller: Click......


Another time, while working at a supermarket chain I got a call asking for the model number of our copier.  I asked who was calling and they said it was the "corporate office" (for the record, the office I was in was the corporate office for this chain).  I was silent for a moment and the caller says "hello, are you still there".  I start making little sobbing noises and say "I knew something didn't look right around here with all the empty offices and no desks, you guys moved office without telling me again, didn't you?".  Then I start making louder crying noises and the caller says "excuse me?".  I, now completely hysterical, start screaming into the phone "you promised my therapist you wouldn't move AGAIN without telling me!!!!  I'll find you, I always doooo you know!!!  Why do you guys do this to meeeee??"  The caller hung up.

Another fun day at the office!

[countrigal]

LOL Claudia.... Wish I could have seen you pull the moving office one... quick thinking!!  I'm afraid I wouldn't have come up with anything quite so original and fun. 

[msmarieh]

I worked for a forensic engineering company. My company agreed to do some kind of a training session for arson investigators. My boss during a meeting rather jokingly said, if only we had a house to burn down. I asked him if he wanted me to find one. He laughed and said sure. By the next day, I had found one.

We decided to also make it a training exercise for the local fire department too. We set up all kinds of monitoring equipment (infrared cameras, smoke detectors, cameras, etc.) and then set fires in each room and put them out. We brought in the arson investigators and made a game of it – going through each room and trying to figure out the origin and cause of each fire and determine which were arson and which were accidental (obviously all were arson in reality, but this was a game, so we made some accidental LOL). Then as a grand finale we set the entire house  on fire and burned it all down, videotaping the entire experience. Then we served lunch. LOL. Definitely one of my more memorable projects.

They were able to publish several papers based on that fire. Very interesting experiments.
 
That was a heck of a training!

[crackerjack]

How on earth did you find a house to burn down?

[claudiamag]

Well Countrigal, I do what I can to keep myself entertained during my down time 

[msmarieh]

I am a woman of many talents.

I actually had seen a listing a few days earlier of someone posting in the classfieds that they had wooden floor planks if anyone wanted to come in and salvage them, but they had to tear them up themselves. I called and asked her if she was planning to destroy the house. They said yes. So I asked if she would let us burn it down instead. It would have cost them about $20K to have it torn down, I think, so it saved them some money.