23:59 - 03.02.06
Alarm - ing News
So Monday passed and Tuesday came too early. Today was scheduled for Canada Post to come pick up our 300 boxes. An email at the last minute from headquarters directs me to keep back about 10% of the documents. Why? Well, because we think you might need them again very shortly. Owwww. All my staff catch the meaning of that little chestnut very quickly. And so, how soon are they expecting the next election. I call Ottawa and state that I don't have enough space in my home to store that much material in addition to all the other material that is taking up a full room now. Well, you are allowed up to a hundred dollars a month to rent storage space. Right. We rented space last event and it was more expensive than that then. A quick check of rates and it is obvious there is nothing available under $250 per month from a commercial body. I could rent from a private individual I suppose, if I can find one I feel is trustworthy and who can provide the level of security necessary to meet ECs requirements. My Dad has called to set up time to pick up their equipment and jokes that I can use half his garage. Front drive on to a main street - don't think that will play well down east somehow, but it is very tempting at the moment.
The Canada Post staff arrive around 10 and the first thing I get is a blast from the first postie to walk in. He had surgery last week and isn't well enough to be doing this. He is really angry and states that his union boss is trying to kill him. That may be so, but I have no control over their assignments. I comment to my assistant that I think I'll call our contact and ask for someone to replace him, since he is so distraught. My assistant thinks I am not being very nice, but someone keeling over dead or going postal isn't a scenario I am prepared to deal with right then. The other postie is a very big man and he says he can't understand the assignment of the other person either - figures it is revenge by the union boss for some infraction by the sick postie. Oi. How vicious can someone get. Not long after, the postal rep that is our contact arrives and realizes the seriousness of the problem. She sends the sick postie back to the plant and calls for a replacement. A slip of a girl is dispatched and she does her best to be helpful. Fortunately for all concerned, the really big, strong postie doesn't seem to mind carrying the weight of the assignment - literally - and just cheerfully does his work at a pace he can handle. He and my assistant seem to be having a good time flirting with one another, so I just leave them to it while I try to get the next layer of deadlined paperwork complete.
It goes slowly because of all the interruptions from voters, staff, and political parties. A call from Ottawa about a complaint from that one woman who was upset about her father who was handicapped. I try to explain why we had to choose this space including the fact that not even Canada Post or Canada Public Works could offer us space or find any through their contacts that was available until February of this year. This space was used by the Multiple Sclerosis Society for over 4 years and they held their regular support meeting in the offices right next to ours. Obviously they deemed it accessible enough, if not perfect. Perfect would be nice but not for the time and circumstances we have to deal with. Sigh. I finish off essential deadlines for paperwork for the one day and we go home very drained.
Wednesday is pick up day for all the furniture not covered by computers and the training and kitchen appliances. Calls start coming in about wages - where's my money? Remind staff that polling day payment isn't due until Friday, but some other ED staff have already been paid fuelling the fire. If our staff knew how difficult it was to get their hours approved, I'm certain they wouldn't press so hard but they only know they haven't got their cheques while their friends have. Hard to explain that one of the most politicized departments we deal with is finance. If they feel like sabotaging you, there is very little defence available. When I work downtown it is readily apparent that the same dynamic exists there too. The one department that is flooded with gifts and treats during any special time, like Christmas, is the accounting department. Random bribes (treats) arrive at a regular times as well. Just keep the hand that holds the purse strings happy, eh. Again a lot of coming and going, but I manage to get the next set of statutory documents ready for shipment on time. At 4:30 pm we walk in to the post office and dispatch another 60 pounds of documents back to Ottawa just on the deadline.
Thursday I go into work with my head recruiter, my assistant wants the day off and that is fine. My recruiter and I spend the morning going through all the details of each polling day's staff member's performance and attitude to try and decide who are keepers and who need to either learn their job better or get an attitude adjustment. Some very nice surprises among some of the new people who felt like Hail Mary passes, as well as a few disappointments from long time staff who just barely made it through. As mentioned before, everyone gets at least one chance before I decide they aren't election worker material and personal crises seem to be the theme of this election. Could it be that Grand Astrological Cross that occurred at the beginning of the year? The one that plays out in the signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius?
I was thinking of the description in Revelations of the angels with four faces - the same four images - bull, lion, eagle (the higher vibration of Scorpio) and human. Uh huh. Interestingly enough among my staff I am an Aquarius, my assistant is Scorpio, the local rep for Ottawa is Leo and my tech is Taurus. Now between opposing Scorpio and Taurus there was attraction, but between opposing Aquarius and Leo mostly friction. Why? Two very different views about priorities and goals. Mine was simply to get my work done so that polls opened and my staff were well supported. Hers were that she be informed everytime someone inhaled the wrong way. Why? So she could help of course. Problem is that when one needs a Heimlich manoeuver for that wrong intake of air, phoning her and asking for permission to do that or waiting while she calls Ottawa for instructions is ludicrous. Did she really think that in the middle of that little crisis on polling day with the double ballot lady I was going to ask every one to stop and wait while she vetted the request for direction through her supervisors. Apparently she did and was deeply incensed that I dealt with the police, the principal, my polling station supervisor and the warring parties directly. I was already on the phone with one of only a few people in Ottawa who could give me the responses I needed as the situation unfolded - a filter was not only useless but dangerous as well. Oi. Leos are strongly attracted to my part of the playground, but I can't be bothered playing worshipper at their shrines. I'm certain they are all very deserving but not on my time, thank you very much. Climbing trees and watching moonbeams is much more my style don't you know. Whew and wasn't that venting.
Anyway the statutory deadline for Thursday was the Report of Proceedings - my afternoon task since it took two hours to work through after dealing with a number of interruptions. It is a huge multiple choice document that allows no comment or explanation on any given point, because they leave no margins to write in even cramped comments. Nor does it allow for any input other than what is requested in the half dozen issues that those questions concentrate on. Firstly, using a likert scale ("out a scale of one to five or one to ten" rate the following:) measures emotional responses to issues. It is a very poor tool for gathering meaningful statistical data - just the facts ma'am. Secondly, it was apparent that those issues that were most a problem and that had the greatest impact on our ability to get our tasks completed, such as budget constraints and bad software, barely got a whisper of attention. What was asked about most? The community outreach program - how effective was it in getting more voters out. Since we didn't have exit pollsters at the voting stations, how would we know especially given that the target populations aren't delineated in our reports and statistical databases. Nor should they be given that kind of data gathering is illegal - by race, age or gender. A lot of questions about phones - fix them. Were staff in Ottawa pleasant to us when we called with questions or requests for help. Personally I can deal much better with some crusty old curmudgeon who growls at me, but gives me the answers or support I need as opposed to little Mary Sunshine who is unfailing chipper but can't follow through on anything or gives responses that are misleading or dead wrong. I prefer substance over packaging, but packaging was the overall theme of the so called report. I asked for an extension on the deadline so I could at least add in commentary about those things of substance, like the integrity of the electors lists and the problems with the conflicting interfaces among software that needed to be synchronized. It was turned down flatly, with the response being withheld unil the end of the deadline period. I had asked one day prior, already knowing I couldn't assemble a coherent package of information and fill out the stupid "survey says" package all on time. I did get it sent in, but made it clear that it was done under protest and duress. I don't believe that my real opinions are wanted at all. Took me long enough to figure that one out didn't it?
When I began the day Thursday, there was only one other staff member - my recruiter - with me. She left at 12:30 PM. A candidate's representative made a brief visit around 2:30 pm. Of the three doors leading into our office two were deadbolted and stayed that way all day. The main entrance was left closed and locked for the entire time I was in the building. I locked off three quarters of the office just after the candidate's rep left, after carefully checking the unlocked rooms because all that I was using in that part of the building was the tech's office with the server in it, the kitchen and the washroom. I shut them off then, because access wasn't necessary anymore. I am always thorough about checking that secure area, because the server is there. The staff member who had been working with me in the morning called at 4 pm and said she would swing by and pick me up shortly. No other people had been in the office other than the two mentioned, so I checked the open offices on the way out,armed the alarm system and locked the deadbolt on the front office door before meeting her downstairs at 4:15 pm If someone had somehow slipped in unawares - the building managers do have master keys for the non-secure areas - I think the activated motion and door sensors would have been set off immediately wouldn't they?
I arrived home and sat at my computer trying to take the material I've written in your posts since last September, dear diary, when the pre-writ work began to turn it in to a comprehensive Report of Proceedings. I had just reached page 53 and the beginning of December, when the phone rang. It was a call from the security company that monitors our alarm system this evening, just after 6 pm local time. I had armed the alarm and left for the day at 4:15 pm. The security dispatcher said the alarm had been set off and no attempt to disarm it had been made. Could I attend it? I don't have a vehicle, so I called my Assistant. The two of us went over to meet the police as requested by the caller. We arrived around 6:30 pm and waited for a while, talking with one of the cleaners who has looked after the our office, as well as the rest of the building, since the beginning of the election. He said he had heard the alarm, but hadn't seen anyone around our entry ways. He stated that video surveillance cameras had been placed at all entrances on the main floor, but not on the second floor. The doors are supposed to be secured after six pm, unless one has a security pass, but as we were talking a group of people entered the building without having to use theirs to return to work. We tried the doors ourselves and found that the secure pass system had been compromised and was not working. We went upstairs to look at our office, but saw no evidence at an attempted forcible entry. There is a fire exit directly across from the main entry, but there was no one visible on the stairs at the time we looked. The second floor boardroom was in use by a group of people and there were staff still working in the office that is south of ours. After waiting quite some time, I called the security company dispatch back to ask if the police were on their way. She stated she would check on the status of their estimated time of arrival, then call me back. Shortly after she called to say that they had already been to the building, driven around the perimeter and then left. We asked the two male cleaners to accompany us into the office to check it ourselves since we had to rearm the alarm system anyway. We found no evidence of an intrusion so rearmed the alarm and went home at around 7 pm.
I received another call about our alarm system being activated at 10:53 am this morning - the first Friday that I have had a sleep in in over six months. My ARO and I attended the office again arriving 20 minutes later. That is the travel time from home to office. There were again no visible signs of force. We asked the tenants in the office just south of us if they had seen anyone, but their response was negative. Their office is not in direct line of sight from ours so it would be possible to approach our door from two or three other routes and not be detected.
We entered the office and again checked all the locks and offices, finding that none of the secure doors had been opened and also that one light that I had turned off the evening before was now on.
We returned home and I received a call from the building maintenance supervisor shortly after. He asked for the elevator key back that we had borrowed for the days before. I explained about the two alarms and he stated that it had been one of his staff that had entered our premises this morning "because they thought we had gone". He was quite defensive and said that he did not know what purpose that person had when they decided to enter our premises. He wanted me to return immediately to the building so he could retrieve the key, but I told him it would have to wait until I had dealt with other issues.
I then called the building manager to ask him why his staff were breaching our lease. I pointed out that 24 hours (I think) notice has to be given and consent received from the tenant, except in emergent circumstances. I also pointed out that there was confidential and protected information in our offices, as well as a suite of computer equipment, that had been put at risk by the two attempts to enter. I asked him if it had been his cleaning staff who had tried to use their keys last night. He became very defensive stating that they "have to clean the offices you know". I reminded him that we had, at the beginning of the event, discussed the security issues we had with our data with him and had agreed, and subsequently instructed the cleaners, not to enter our premises unless we were present to ensure that our security wasn`t breached. The cleaners conduct subsequent to that indicated that they both understood and respected our requirements of them.
When I pushed a bit more it seemed to me that he had told them to enter our premises, even though he would not say so directly. The only other explanation would be that he had tried to enter the office himself in order to show the space to prospective tenants. When I had wanted to see this space in September during the prewrit work, I was told I would not be allowed in until the other tenants had moved out, so it is obvious that the realtors do know they have to have consent for that. It was not until about October 3 that I was able to view this space, even though that was past the deadline for submitting our rental details to EC's specialist. He was flexible about that for me because it is so difficult to rent space in this electoral district. There was no other space available at that time even though I had also tried to get space with or through Canada Post and Public Works.
The Building Manager then tried to insist that they didn`t know that we were still on the premises, so I reminded him our lease was until the 13th of February and that they were not to enter without our knowledge, consent and presence again. Later when the Maintenance Supervisor arrived at the office to pick up the elevator key my ARO and I again went through the discussion with him and secured agreement that they would not try to enter the premises again. It was apparent that he was aware that his staff should not have done what they did, but it also appeared that he was covering for the fact that his boss - the building manager - had likely told them to get in and get the place ready for showing for future tenants.
Hopefully what was said to the two of them will be enough to keep them out of our offices until we can remove all the sensitive documents and equipment left.
I reported all the incidents to the head of security in Ottawa as they happened, adding more details upon request. After the second attempt I stayed in the office while my assistant took off for her other life, both to ensure the premises were secure and also to begin the purge of our computer suite, with Ottawa's permission, with the assistance of my assistant tech so that any other break in attempts would be less problematic. The response from the head of security was even stronger than what I had said to the two gentlemen in that he felt breaching my office security, the building manager and his staff may have committed a crime. He said the actions I had taken already might be enough to convince them that I meant business. The next comment was the shocker though, when he suggested that I tell them that the next illegal entry on their part would be reported to police, since it can be deemed forced and illegal entry in our courts. That Grand Cross operating again I think. Wonder if he's a Leo too. I would be happy to worship at his shrine instead of the local rep, since he is the crusty old curmudgeon type who cuts to the chase and gets me the support and information I need.
�
�
