Tuesday, October 10, 2017

KIDS!

           

August 24.  Home after an exhausting day at the office, I parked my carcass on my couch when the Lobby Door rang on my office cellphone.  “Can you buzz me in?  My mom’s visiting her friend and I don’t remember the number,” said a teen girl’s voice.
               “Who’s the friend?  What unit?”  I asked.
               “I don’t remember,” she said.
               Having been the mother of a juvenile delinquent, I was suspicious.  “Can you tell me something about the friend?  Do they have a dog?”
No dog. “What floor?”  I asked.
               There was a pause, then, “I just know where it is!”
               Call me cynical but I didn’t buy it, “I don’t know who you are, so I’m not letting you in,” and I hung up.
               About five minutes later I was enjoying my pre-dinner snooze when I hear screams.  “No!  Stop!  Don’t do it!  I don’t want you to die!”
               That got my attention.  I scramble out onto my balcony and there, dangling over the 12th floor catwalk railing is a teenage boy doing his best Cirque du Soleil for the audience of six terrified teenage girls.  “Hey kid!”  I yell, “Get back over that railing NOW!”  I take this photo.  He climbs back.
Soon he’s scrambling away with his gaggle of female fans.  I pressed the button on my floor and hopped on the elevator with the young perps.  “What the hell were you thinking!” said the Mom voice coming out of my mouth.  No answer.  I pulled out my camera and started shooting video.  They instantly buried their faces in their phones.
               The voice of the Lobby Door Girl sing-songs, “Don’t you know it’s against the law to take videos of minors?”
               “DON’T YOU KNOW IT’S AGAINST THE LAW TO TRESSPASS!”  I barked.
               Soon we were in the lobby and they high tail it down Wilbur.
               I ran the security camera back.  Sure enough, just minutes before, they were calling me from the Lobby Phone. The girls went around trying the other lobby doors but the acrobat stayed behind trying every intercom button.  Soon, someone exited the building and the sly miscreant quickly tossed his backpack in the opening and motioned his rat pack in. 
               My reason for recounting this story is to warn you - if you see strangers in the outer lobby, please don’t let them in.
You might be saving a life!

Karyl Miller, Building Manager