Strange start to my day.

[rbnyc]

I had an early meeting this morning, so I was the first one in. I work in a not-for-profit independent community cinema. There is a back door that opens to a foyer where there are stairs that lead up to the office and two doors, one to one of our theaters (theater three) and one to one of our projection rooms. These doors are both shut and locked every night. When I arrived at the back door, I could hear our security alarm was going off. I opened the door, and indeed, our alarm was blaring and flashing, indicating a disturbance in theater one. I entered my code and turned off the alarm. I didn’t know how long it had been ringing. I expected the alarm company had called and since no one was there to answer and give the code, the police must be on their way. I decided I would search downstairs. This was probably not the greatest idea, but I felt like there was probably a reasonable explanation for the alarm and I just didn’t feel like I was in any danger.

I looked at the theater three door and at the projection room door, both closed as usual, and decided which one I would unlock to pass through to the lobby and the rest of the first floor. I chose to go through theater three. I search the other two theaters, our lobby and café area and found nothing and no one. I went back through theater three to the foyer intending to go up to the office, but when I arrived in the foyer, I saw the projection room door was now open.

This seriously creeped me out. So instead of going upstairs to search the office, I left the facility and called 911. I explained the situation. About 15 minutes later a police officer arrived. I explained what happened to her. She searched the facility, questioned whether I was really sure the door had been shut when I came in, questioned whether I was really sure the alarm was going off, then said that a mouse had probably triggered the alarm and that the door probably wasn’t really shut in the first place. The she advised we call our security company because our alarm had never been phoned in and she left.

It turns out that the alarm had not registered with the security company. It also turns out that the security company called recently to investigate an alarm that was reported to have gone off but actually had not gone off at our facility. The operations manager and the security company are checking all the systems. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow what they find.

My co-workers are teasing me and suggesting (all in good fun) that I imagined the whole thing.

But seriously, when I came back out into that foyer and saw that the door that had been shut was open, I knew someone had exited through that door and it did not feel right.

I will probably never have an explanation for any of this. My suspicion is that our alarm wiring is fucked up due to recent electrical work and needs to be fixed, and a homeless person tried to spend the night in one of the theaters. It’s getting cold and a lot of people have lost their homes.

[trof]

1. Solar flares?

;-)

[kayakjohnny]

2. You sure have a great knack for writing. That was very captivating and articulate.

I felt like I was seeing what you were seeing and feeling.

Glad nothing freaky happened.

You were pretty brave traipsing around like that.

It had a real detective vibe.

Hope you find out what the deal really was.

Good post.

[rbnyc]

4. Thanks.

I like writing.

:)

[annabanana]

3. This is one of those situations where it's good to go with your gut.

Your "most likely scenario" may very well have been what happened.

[BiggJawn]

5. Might have been Mr. Walker?