Fwd: Re: Youth Protection and a National Failure
(no name) ((no email))
Sat, 16 Jan 1999 21:31:44 -0600
CzarCasm <stanleyb@crl.com> wrote:
>Mike.. I agree with you 99.9 percent of the time but here
>you sound like an apoligist for National
I'm supposed to try to give everyone some idea of WHY it may has
happened from National's perspective (or a perspective that I can
provide which may be consistant with what National would do...)
(since we don't have anyone here to actually *give* National's
"end of it").
I wrote in part:
>>>....In the waning day of the World Jamboree, there
>>> were only three or four individuals tasked to man the "watch".
>>> An oversight on National's part, agreed.
to which Stan replied:
>>No Mike not an "oversite" it was a FAILURE on someones
>>part.....
>>
>>an "oversite" soudns a bit too Clintonese for me/
Okay...okay....don't want to end up in any hearings!!!
*laughter*
I went on...
>>>and ended up first with a recorded message that headquarters was
>>>closed and to call back on Monday.
>>>
>>>Which tells me (as an adult) that perhaps someone there has
>>>stepped to the restroom down the hallway or went downstairs to
>>>get a Coke-cola and a candy bar out of the snack machines. I
>>>would have tried to call again...
Stan replied:
>>Mike what dont you understand about the word CLOSED... If I
>>go to a store and the sign in the window says CLOSED I dont
>>return in a hald an hour to see if it is now open....... what
>>about the above message tells you in anyway that someone is
>>actually there and only steped away???
>>
>>closed/call monday... is pretty clear to me....
I replied:
A lot of times, Stan, I would place our answering machine on for
various reasons: I don't want to be bothered or am doing other
more important tasks; I'm going to or in the bathroom (and don't
anticipate getting out there quickly); I've got another
conversation going on (in the case of someone visiting here at the
home/office) and I don't want to be distractive or the nature of
the conversation is more important...all of those things goes on
at corporate places too, which is part of the reasoning behind
voicemail.
I called one software place on the west coast at NOON time here,
and got a similar "we're not open, our business hours are...."
message. I called back and after four or five rings, I got the
lone man that was working there. His excuse: "I was in the men's
room and couldn't answer the phone so I thought that I had the
recorder on but it gave the wrong message. I'm sorry."
So it's VERY POSSIBLE (seeing how not everyone was home yet) that
the BSA's "point man" or woman was "indisposed" at the time the
Scout called and the Scout got the recording which states that the
place was "closed".
Besides, when the Scout called back, true to what I've stated, the
guard dude DID pick up the phone...which told me that the place
wasn't TOTALLY CLOSED.
I went onward:
>>> That security guard should have been aware of anyone in the
>>> building and had the Scout to hold on while he or she went
>>> around the building to find the person "on duty".
Stan replied:
>>Ah this person in the building this would be the person who is
>>in the bathroom or at the candy machine right????/
And I replied:
Right. I wrote to Stan that I didn't remember if the Operations
suite was on the third or second floor...but..the candy and pop
machines are on the center backside of the first floor, close to
the cafeteria. The mens and women's bathrooms are on the end
"caps" of each floor; at any case, this would require a trip down
the hallway to the end of the hallway in the case of a restroom
break or one or two floors downward in the case of a munchie break.
That, and the fact that "things are slow" isn't going to put anyone
on any kind of rush no matter where they went in the building.
But if there was someone there, the guard SHOULD have been aware of
it and knew where that person is (or had some idea!).
Stan continued:
>>I do agree that the security guard should ahve shown a bit of
>>inititive and called the same person who he might have called if
>>the buildign were on fire.... (after the fire department) but
>>then again.... his beign a security guard says something...
I agreed:
>I don't know THAT MUCH about the internals at
>National, but I do know that they have an "emergency contact book"
>in the event that the press is outside the door wanting to get in,
>or in case there's a water main break or fire breaks out. He
>should have used that same book to contact someone and let them
>know "Hey...I got a phone call from some kid that says he's with a
>Jamboree at the airport."
As I explained to both Phil and Stan offline, I don't know if we
can place the blame squarely on the Operations Group, because in a
case like this, I feel that there's a lot of blame to go around.
In any case, the most important thing gained from this experience,
is that when doing any kind of special activity or event like this:
*There should be a "Plan B", just like going to Summer camp.
*There should be a "backup number" to call in case the primary
number is busy, not being answered or, in this case, has a recorded
message on it. This backup number should be known by all
participants and by all staff members...and this should be, at all
possible, both a work and home number so that if someone is
stranded on the weekend or overnight, individuals don't get stuck
with a work number in which someone *might be there* and *might
not*
*EVERYONE should know and be aware of both the LEAVING and
RETURNING plans of participants; when those plans aren't followed,
it should bring up "red flags" to contact someone to find out why!
Settummanque!
(c) 1998 Mike Walton ("no such thing as strong coffee,...") blkeagle@mninter.net
http://mninter.net/~blkeagle Burnsville, MN 55306-7130 (612) 435-3085
privately at kyblkeagle@aol.com or waltonm@server.kaiserslautern.army.mil
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