It has nothing to do with any practical benefit, IMO. It should be the same level of training they get for things like earthquakes, fires, or hazardous weather: how to recognize a situation that requires action, where you go to evacuate/shelter and what to do if a problem arises, how/who do you notify. There wont be people storming into the building. single. He doesnt sound reasonable, and I dont think the conversation would go well. So far theres no talk of a repeat but wow. Things have been chaotic and I need a little time to recoop. Unfortunately I really doubt the boss is going to be at all receptive to having his eyes open, just based on the description of him. Another pro-tip for basic make up: if you want to pick out a lipstick/tinted lip balm that will look good on you, apply the sample to the tip of your middle finger then pinch your finger just above the first knuckle. He doesnt care about his employees feelings. Each person should be allowed to decide the risk-benefit of having the training versus the impact on their mental health. No job is worth your life. Click here for full access to" Mindfulness", Click here for full access to "Communicating with Empathy", Self Talk to Promote Wellbeing During Isolation, 5 Strategies to Reconcile With an Ex You Dumped, 5 Psychological Hacks to Deal with Reappearing Exes. The simple answer is that if you are ADMITTED to the hospital then it will probably be an acceptable excuse. I work in an academic library. 1) Get enough sleep the night before. Failure to call before you miss your drill weekend or immediately thereafter is considered an unexcused absence by the military. OP, pick whichever option works for you, but I would think explaining yourself in a firm, unwavering way would not only be empowering to you, but also eye-opening to your boss. Hearing it makes me think well, of course but I might not have thought of that when telling my staff about it. Certainly when there was a real fire at my office, the quarterly fire drills made things worse people were going back for coats and purses , stopping off at the restroom and so on because they assumed it was yet another drill. A person can seem nice on the surface without actually being a truly caring and empathetic person. Typically blanks are fired inside of the building (sometimes without specific warning) to simulate real scenarios.
How to Cancel Plans at the Last Minute Professionallyand Without Burying your head in the sand wont change reality. They were clearly making an effort on all sides not to alarm the kids, and my own kids were totally oblivious that anything was amiss. Career success is just inches from your hands. Often when you are communicating at work, youll need to write a formal email to a coworker, HR, or client. It is such nonsense. But drill arrangements could totally be communicated to adults on an email. But what on earth could take 7 hours for active shooter training alone that would actually be useful? LW, I am so sorry. Yeah, plans with MYSELF to do nothing but LIE ON THE COUCH with a family size packet of LIGHT & TANGY CHIPS. Call in sick, OP. OP shouldnt give a reason for calling in sick at all if they can possibly get away with it. My workplace has fire drills, tornado drills, etc. Maybe there are social consequences to that, I dont have enough context, but they wont be more severe than triggering yourself to this extent. Then laughed. Everyone knows how to call 911. Heres a list of foolproof excuses thatare sure to get you out of any weekend plan. Are you willing to orchestrate an elaborate tale about a fake aunt and her knee surgery? The two are not the same. Most workplace active shooters are targeted. What I really want is to skip it entirely but if I can, how do I explain this request/decision to my boss without disclosing my mental health struggles, explaining (in vain) the anxiety I feel about this training, or looking like the only person not tough enough to participate (as the only woman in my department)? In last couple of days coming home from work, I see what appears to be potential road rage & it scares me. Id never treat a younger person badly for refusing this. Has your boss given you any information on who is putting on this training, what their credentials are, and what evidence they have that this exercise is in anyway effective, informative, or safe? 2) Probably wont happen hereright? I lost someone I knew to a mass shooter several years, and have been dealing with anxiety for these types of situations since, with professional help. As another university admin assistant (also for a dean) who has just spent the last couple of weeks dealing with a real recent active shooting event on a campus: what?!??!! Ive seen it enough years that I opted to just skip past the video in this years training module. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Move away from windows? The kind of situation that can easily develop really complex emergencies that take skilled professionals to safely respond. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. The employer would be viewing and treating it like drills for other types of emergency. Please take a sick day, or do whatever else you need to do to take care of yourself. None of this is a joke, and Im so mad at this LWs boss because the drills are meant to protect people and theyre done out of fear but we cant have TOO MUCH FEAR, mind you, because thats negative somehow. You should probably go ahead and [Insert Activity] without me. I dont need to sit through seven hours of that garbageagain. And dont give up. We do this because it means that most of our friends and loved ones will not have work obligations and will be able to attend and share the event with us. If you decide to go with one of the previous options, I wish you luck, strength and eloquence. I always see college as a priority for soldiers, they are taking the time to progress themselves. Your boss is being waaaay too cavalier, he should recognize the possibility of one of his employees having already lived through a mass shooting, had family members affected in a mass shooting, or experienced shooting drills in school, even if hes not a huge mental health fanatic. Call or text the host andtellthemthat your pet isnot very well,andyouhave to take them to thevet. We all live busy lives and we know that there will be times when we are called on to help out to babysit for a week, a weekend, or even half a day. Many generation Z are adopting the quiet quitting culture and it is not because they are lazy. Just another site. But hes a nice guy . They say that the time for RST has passed. You never know when that may be useful. It can absolutely be traumatizing and upsetting as a participant. Take this as the valuable information about him that it is and think about how long youre willing to work for someone who is totally okay with causing you this kind of harm. If you have a doctors note stating that you are too ill to participate in drill, this is a valid excuse. The self advocacy takes its own toll. Im so sorry youre dealing with this, OP, and that your boss made a joke about directing a shooter to you. Take more than a day offI suggest you take the following day off, too. Our society (U.S.) has gone around the bend and its valuable for reasoned voices to call it out. My cousins little kids all speak so matter-of-factly about the drills. It wasnt all employees that attended, but a large number of people were part of it. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? 7 hour training is Crisis Porn. Believe us,this works every time. I was forced to go through an active-shooter training despite protests, and when a group of us were able to push back as a group, I used the word consent a lot. That's fine. Here are some tips from some of the worlds best mentor for you to jump-start your career to get that sweet promotion and excel in your career. Which is even stupider than forcing everyone to do active shooter training in the first place. Here are the best way you can write a professional email at work! For staff, we simply review our active shooter policy at our annual inservice which mostly amounts to lock-down and hide and pray. Its the worst. It was a tough meeting. It doesnt matter whether youre needed to babysit your grandchildren, godchildren, or your best friends fur babies, lending a hand when its needed is a fundamental part of living in a caring society and being a good friend. Id almost respect that he said the quiet part out loud, except that the quiet part is so thoroughly and totally repellent. A teacher friend told me shes never been so proud and so sad as when one of her students went to the supply closet and distributed scissors and protractors to his classmates during a suspected active shooter event. 1. Im gobsmacked. My 1st grader and her classmates knew all the hiding spots in their school and when they built a model school classroom as a project, insisted they put several into their creation. For example: Due to some past history that I dont want to go into at work, I am going to opt of out Tuesdays training. If he again says something ridiculous like asking if you wouldnt be able to take it, you could say, Yes, so I wont be attending. If he tells you its mandatory and you need to attend, you can say, Then I need to request a formal, legal accommodation to opt out. Which brings me to active-shooter training. Take care of yourself! I had a young kid when Sandy Hook happened, as many of us old folks did, but even those who are childless should at least be able to imagine the trauma these drills can cause. I think state law might require us to do x number a year. If he again says something ridiculous like asking if you "wouldn't be able to take it," you could say . Some of them can be a lot of fun if the team already works well together, but I dont think any of them are useful if the team dynamics are bad. https://www.everytown.org/solutions/active-shooter-drills/. (Voting to change policies CAN help, but not the way were doing it.). also, to clarify, it needs to be an employment lawyer. Jenna Guillaume, 9 Foolproof Excuses To Get Out Of Your Weekend Plans, All The Funniest Reactions To Facebook And Instagram Shutting Down For Six Hours, Dominic Perrottet Is Officially NSWs New Premier So Heres Everything You Need To Know, All The Hidden Clues In Squid Game That Pointed To That Twist Ending, All The Best Squid Game Memes For Those Still Reeling After That Twist Ending, Everyones Crying Over Adams Poem From Season 3 Of Sex Education, Heres The Correct Way To Binge The Marvel Cinematic Universe In Chronological Order. If he doubles down, especicially on the threatening to goad a potential shooter to shoot you instead (seriously wtf?!?!?) My dad was a teacher for 15 years (+7 as a sub) and never had to deal with an active shooter, fortunately. 3) (last resort) try to take down the shooter. He does not understand the psychic toll that shootings have taken on many people in my generation and does not understand that anxiety means something more than just sort of worried about something.. They had to go door to door knocking to tell people to leave. A text like this will save you up from any long unnecessarydetails, especially if you cant come up with any other genuine sounding excuses at that moment. My civilian job has a mandatory work conference from Aug 2-5. Most of them are rifles and shotguns that are used for hunting and kept locked up when not in use, with ammo stored separately, and civilians arent allowed to own semiautomatic weapons. Read More 10 Reasons Why You Should Work From Home Today!Continue. Call out sick. This letter-writer already knows the most common-sense run-fight-hide advice. Lavender Baj, Culture I left the room and the trainer told me if I didnt participate I wouldnt pass the course. I HATED that we had to do these trainings it felt like being given a band-aid for a hemorrhage. All The Hidden Clues In Squid Game That Pointed To That Twist Ending and rejoicing that you get to go home for the day is messed up too. I was when I first went to this unit 5.5 years ago. Often, the employees are the main reason why employees quiet quit their job. If they wouldnt let you out of a fire drill, theyd be unlikely to let you out of this, and I dont know how things would shake out with saying you need to skip important safety drills as a reasonable accommodation. As a teacher I participated in lockdown drills and in ALICE training, which is the run-hide-fight style that I guess is more popular now, rather than the hide-and-lock-the-door style we used to do. In 2019 Never the Right Word was born to fill the gap of how-to websites with copy and paste examples showing you EXACTLY what you need to say to steer difficult conversations into positive outcomes. The introvert/extrovert divide is the most fundamental dimension of personality. We didnt find out until later in the day that it was staged. Edit: please understand I am NOT a highly motivated soldier. Just type I got a call from my father in the morning today, and he is here in town for some work business. Just call in sick that day. As a USAR CDR I'd approve an excused absence and call it a day but really depends on what you ask for an if you have a good chain of command. You're Sick 2. We had a meeting with security at our clinic because now we are also a target. Is that the one that takes place in a bar? (ex. Heck see if you can schedule an appointment JUST FOR THAT DAY. It was traumatizing enough doing that and it only lasted about 5 10 min. This LW has already had a lot of training. Youre going to move on from this job at some point, and his opinion wont matter so much anymore, but reliving trauma sticks with you. I wouldnt be able to participate in one of these drills either and I HATE that they exist. It makes it less obvious that it was about the training. Weve had some real fires, but unless the sprinkler system fails, the building will just flood instead of burning down. As everything that could go wrong did go wrong, they ended up doing a whole a lot more than IT as it basically became an all hands on deck situation. Agreed, why is this training seven hours long? I can give you your card then. As a general rule, you cannot be excused from drill. If all else fails, you may be able to trade your drill weekend with another member of your unit. About two months later I quit that job, but because I really liked most of my coworkers, I sometimes went there and bought a sub or a burger on my way home from college. Minus the psychodrama? If you have kids use them as an excuse. Ive been fine since then knowing in advance it would happen and simply closing my door. Fast forward to this current moment in your life, (whereveryou may be) and youve found that youve hit a certain point where things have taken a massive swing. Your friend would be a monster for thinking that youre anything other than a concerned pet parent who has to look after their sweet child. What do you think of attending college while on Active Duty, Marginal 1059 while attending Drill Sergeant School. I don't know how it was in the reserves, but in the Nasty Guard you had to make up the time and have a damn good exscuse. Really, have no qualms about it. College is not a good excuse for not attending drill. I have never ever called in sick for any reason other than actually being too sick to leave my bed. its kind of a variant on calling in sick but honestly, recruiting a trusted accomplice is what i would do. Thats ridiculous! What kind of work does this company do that they think theres such heightened risk of a mass shooting in their workplace that this over-the-top training is necessary? In addition to being traumatic for employees, it also seems like a poor use of time. But since I am pretty much exhausted, I dont need anything more than my bed and a day, sleep. (Even those who havent had personal connections to any of the many, many mass shootings in recent decades.). But I like a little theatre. Its amazing how many men who dont know how makeup works will be like wow, are you okay, you look tired., Expectations around makeup in the office are unfair so I think its reasonable to use it to our advantage on occasion :P. My daughter had mono in HS and was going to talk to the guidance counselor to see if she could get out of quarterly tests I told her not to wear her makeup that day and she got out of those tests. It sounds like they just decided to do an active shooter drill. He had no sense of humor about such things. That is insane! You may not even know who the person is, but as long as your friends are going, youre good to go. Im very pale, so my under eye half moons have a purplish tone. These are typically held one weekend per month, and they can last anywhere from 8 to 12 hours. But in terms of living vs. surviving, it doesnt affect me at all in the way LW described. I would say that the same principles apply as the LW. When the drill ended, they came back, all laughing how they had been shot and if they were dead, could they go home for the day. I would not be able to control my instinctual reaction to a fake shooter. Im so sorry for what you went through, Doc of the Town. Ive got a serious case of womens issues. this one never gets old. 1) Wont happen herewe are nowhere near the big city where these things happen. So long that the lights went out. If something comes up that requires your immediate attention (such as a death in the family), this is considered a valid excuse for missing drill. All we can do is raise awareness, look out for safety hazards, and hold fire drills and practice our escape routes once in a while. I had a med student with me and I took her into my office afterwards to check in. Im sorry that anyone has to deal with this. Exactly. I literally had a panic attack and left.