A situation...

[Moose]

What fun.

Some loser apparently decided to pull an "icing sugar in the mail" scare in my government office today. Probably a tantrum by some ijjit unable to get into college. It's not like our standards are remotely strict or anything. (We're pretty much a "first qualifies, first serve" institution, and most courses only require a high school diploma or equivalent.)

I found out just a few minutes too late to avoid getting caught up in the quarantine.

Apparently they're driving in a hazmat team from Nova Scotia, and they're expecting it to be eight hours minimum before they arrive, let alone there being any chance of getting an all clear.

Nobody seems to be trying to keep a lid on this, so I'm probably free to post at will.

[TriangleMan]

You Maritimers, always up to your hijinks . . .

[Moose]

What's really funny is that the newsies haven't picked up on this yet. It's not like we're being silenced or anything, considering the number of people we had to warn off today, families to notify, and school kids to make arrangements for.

The odd thing is that the cops have been staging a bunch of army helo-supported drug raids out of the field in the back of our office for a few days now (the RCMP station is next door). They get army helos to seize pot plants on the wing, but apparently can't kick loose an aircraft to fetch the nova scotia hazmat team here any quicker.

Glad to know we're right up there on the priority list.

All and all, the office is comfortable enough and folks are in good spirits.

[Kristophe]

You're in NB, right? Why, then, is the closest hazmat team in a neighbouring province? I'd have expected St. John to have at least one.

[Humphrey]

Well at leat you have something to sweaten your coffee with... [runs away] :-P

Seriously. Think of it this way, while they may be too slow to save the life of anyone in your office, at least they had the presence of mind to keep you guys from infecting anyone else.

[TriangleMan]

Glad to know we're right up there on the priority list.

Good point, why didn't they send it to Revenue Canada?

Maybe you should contact people at Revenue Canada for tips, I think they have to deal with irate ijjits on a weekly basis.

[Moose]

You're in NB, right? Why, then, is the closest hazmat team in a neighbouring province? I'd have expected St. John to have at least one.

Well, according to the cop who's here riding this out with us, there's one in Ontario, one in Quebec, and one for the Maritimes. Keep in mind that the three Maritime provinces would fit in Ontario and rattle.

The other problem is that if there's a bright center in the Maritimes, then Campbellton is the city that it's furthest from. Literally. The hazmat team would be conveniently close to the southern cities and would reach Edmundston faster than here. It's further but the route is much more direct.

Humphrey:

[Moose]

Good point, why didn't they send it to Revenue Canada?

'Cause nobody'd care.

Maybe you should contact people at Revenue Canada for tips, I think they have to deal with irate ijjits on a weekly basis.

Revcan folks dip irate ijjits in their morning coffee once they're done chewing the box of salted puppies. Thanks, but I'd rather take my chances with the mysterious powder.

[CJSF]

Some loser apparently decided to pull an "icing sugar in the mail" scare in my government office today.

So, how do you know it's icing sugar (is that the same as confectioner's sugar?)? Are they sending a HazMat team just because they "have to" in a scare, even though you KNOW it's sugar? What a waste of time and money!!

CJSF

[Kristophe]

And suppose it's "just icing sugar" laced with something toxic? I'd much rather be certain than dead.

[Sammy]

Ask us down here for help. We'l alert FEMA and you'll have action in no time!

That "humor" aside, do you get overtime pay? In the U.S., only Fed workers below "management" level get overtime.

[Moose]

So, how do you know it's icing sugar (is that the same as confectioner's sugar?)?

'Cause I tasted it.

Are they sending a HazMat team just because they "have to" in a scare, even though you KNOW it's sugar? What a waste of time and money!!

No, of course we don't know for sure. Our staffer who opened the envelope didn't recognize the powder she'd gotten on her hands. She said it was finer than salt, but grainier than, say, flour, but even if we were certain as to what it was, hazmat would need to check it anyway to prevent a possible outbreak. For all I know my whole office could be dead tomorrow. Still, there's no real point in dwelling on it at this time, is there?

There've been similar "pranks" performed in NB since 2001, they've all been irate citizens with exceptionally poor judgement trying to "stick it to the man". The cops aren't especially worried about it being more serious than that, but because the stakes are pretty high if this were to be a biological agent, they're keeping those who may have been exposed cooped up for the time being.

It's undisputably the right decision to have made, and I say that as one of the ones inconvenienced and potentially endangered by this.

[Moose]

That "humor" aside, do you get overtime pay?

We don't know for sure, there hasn't been a ruling yet that I've heard of. Something like this hasn't really come up in my department before. I suspect the unions would kick up a stink over it were our deputy minister the curmudgeonly miserly type to pull something like that. She's not that type, and I'm not especially worried about it.

Short answer: probably.

[Sticks]

Some years ago during the anthrax attacks, a UK company started sending out powder based materials as part of its direct marketing strategy (some free sample of their project.

This proved the old saying Never attribute to malice what can be accounted for by sheer stupidity.

[N C More]

'Cause I tasted it.

Moose! (*she said with concern*) Why'd ya do that? Hey, Kristophe made a good point when he said there could be something mixed in with the sugar. How do you feel, not dizzy or anything? I'm assuming there will be an analysis of the sugar?...just to be on the safe side! Promise me, no more tasting *stuff*, Ok?

[gethen]

Moose! (*she said with concern*) Why'd ya do that? Hey, Kristophe made a good point when he said there could be something mixed in with the sugar. How do you feel, not dizzy or anything? I'm assuming there will be an analysis of the sugar?...just to be on the safe side! Promise me, no more tasting *stuff*, Ok?

What she said. You tasted it? I'm sure it's just sugar, like you said, but why take a chance? (Or maybe you were just kidding?)

[Moose]

Moose! (*she said with concern*) Why'd ya do that? Hey, Kristophe made a good point when he said there could be something mixed in with the sugar. How do you feel, not dizzy or anything? I'm assuming there will be an analysis of the sugar?...just to be on the safe side! Promise me, no more tasting *stuff*, Ok?

It's okay, NC, I wasn't being serious. I know better than to take stupid chances with substances of unknown origins, and I definitely know better than to mess with suspicious ones.

[Edit: I've never even seen the powder, they had that area closed off before I got back from lunch.]

We're all confident it's a false alarm (we pretty much have to take that bet), but we're not prepared to place ourselves at unnecessary additional risk out of potentially misplaced confidence. "Trust, but verify", sayeth someone wiser than I.

To quote the Gunter Vendt character from From The Earth To The Moon, Episode 3: "We always try to keep it light when we're doing dangerous things."

You should hear my officemates cackling (most accurate way to describe it) in the break room over desert right now.

[Moose]

Oh, why I hopped on, there's some news: the hazmat team is less than an hour away (based on where they were when they last reported in) and the highway will be wide open for them at this time of night, but the constable (I never did get his name. I should) suspects we'll only get the all clear around 3am.

Our office manager says that they won't open the office at all tomorrow if we're here past 8pm, and as I take fridays off with my vacation time, that'll mean a four day weekend for me if (when!) this turns out to be nothing.

[Donnie B.]

So... your office has been used to stage drug raids recently... and you think it was a disgruntled student who did this?

[Moose]

Nah, just the field behind our office. We're not involved. The RCMP next door use it as a rough helipad the few times a year they get air support.

(As I understand it, the field technically belongs to our office building, but I can't see anybody minding if they use it. They don't mind if we use their back lot as an employee spillover if we have a lot of visitors that day, and they allow the local drivers ed companies to train there.)

Usually it's a much smaller cop chopper though, rather than army. In any case, if this was revenge for the cop raids, the mail could have only arrived tomorrow at the earliest.

Update: The hazmat team bigrig just arrived and they're getting briefed. The highway must have been absolutely deserted north of Miramichi.

[Kristophe]

Moose! (*she said with concern*) Why'd ya do that? Hey, Kristophe made a good point when he said there could be something mixed in with the sugar. How do you feel, not dizzy or anything? I'm assuming there will be an analysis of the sugar?...just to be on the safe side! Promise me, no more tasting *stuff*, Ok?

I really hate to point out the obvious, especially after it's all been explained, but... I'm just that kinda person, I guess :P

Moose said that everybody exposed to the powder had been quarantined, and that he was not. So, if he wasn't exposed to the powder, I don't think he was sucking it up with $20 bills or anything.

[Moose]

Correction, Kristophe: I'm just as quarantined as everybody else is, and so is anybody else who set foot in this office after the envelope was opened. I made the mistake of walking into the office area after lunch just moments before they started locking things down. I wrote up the warning sign and locked the employee entrance myself.

I was not directly exposed to the powder, nor were my family. But, I have been in close proximity with people who've had skin contact with the powder, which means I'm in some danger (or have to assume that), though probably considerably less than our mail clerks are.

Neither of them, nor anyone else, are showing signs of exposure to harmful chemicals, and the cops don't seem to be worried about that at all. That leaves biological. Hopefully we'll be able to rule that out completely over the next few hours.

[Kristophe]

D'oh. I could have SWORN you said you showed up too late to get into the office, instead of finding out just a few minutes to late to avoid going in... That'll teach me not to take any English classes in university.

[N C More]

Phew! Thank goodness you were just joking...had me worried there.

Since everyone feels fine and the cops don't appear concerned, it probably is just confectionary sugar. I hope they are able to find out who this "joker" is and really nail him.

[Kristophe]

And/or bake a cake.

[N C More]

And/or bake a cake.

Oohh...that gives me an idea. When they find this "joker", how about we bake him in a cake?

[Moose]

I am so .sigging that. It'll be a little long, but that's absolutely priceless! *rofl*

[Kristophe]

Happy to help

[Fortis]

I guess one question is "Did everyone follow the correct procedure for dealing with this sort of incident?" Strangely most of what you're supposed to do is the exact opposite of a suspected explosive device, i.e. everyone near the parcel stays where they are, the room is sealed and all windows are closed.

[Moose]

Yup, we're all sealed up, and it's hotter than Hades 'cause the windows are closed (with the ventilation off.)

The hazmat folks came in five minutes ago to examine the mail desk, startled the hell out of my supervisor when she came face to face with "the man in blue". And apparently the press finally clued in, every now and again they try and take photos through the window. *chuckle*

No real news yet.