Back when Hurricane Katrina did its damage, one of the facilities of my company was destroyed and for a long while there were pleas out to the employees of that facility to check in and let someone know they were okay. I remember there were several employees that went unheard from for a long time - to be honest, I don't know if they were ever heard from.
So, in an effort to avoid that type of situation again, my company implemented this emergency program wherein you have to call in to a specific number and "retrieve" messages and let someone know you were safe - or not. And every year they "test" that system to be sure it still works. They do this at the beginning of hurricane season - which is currently underway. (It was utilized last year when Ike hit this area as well.)
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we all received an email asking us to confirm/update our emergency contacts (since Katrina it is required that we have at least one emergency contact in our profile, not our home number). It directed us to list our cell number first, since it would likely be on us if we "fled" town. Well, I refuse to give my cell number as a contact number and just confirmed that my step-father was still listed in the system. Check that task off my "to do" list.
Once the deadline for that had passed, we received another email telling us to test the feature ourselves by calling in to the designated number on June 18 - this past Thursday. Well, I'm getting ready to take two weeks off and I haven't participated in this exercise in the past so I decided to let it slide this year as well.
Then last night I received a phone call from my step-father. We typically communicate via email so I was a bit surprised to see that he was calling me. First words out of his mouth were "Are you alright????"
Me: Um, yeah. Why? What's going on?
To make a long story short, when I hadn't called in to the designated number as instructed, my step-father, as my emergency contact, was contacted! He said he was told it was a "test" but he was told that they were trying reach me to be sure I was okay!
Oy vey!
He said he figured I was okay but since my company had called him saying those things, he just wanted to be sure.
Oops!
Next year I'll do what I'm told. lol
3 comments:
I understand completely! For the first time, I read down to the end of "that" email and saw that line. My only reason to comply. (grin)
He, I'm terrible at following directions. I'm so impatient! That would have happened to me too!
Oops.
It's nice to know the system works.
Enjoy your two weeks off, L.
Post a Comment