Re: Bombs in the Workplace

[Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com>]

On Thursday 08 August 2002 10:23, Kathy Mizell wrote:
> I would not mention the name of the company in the item
> you are writing.  Unfortunately, their attitude shows up
> elsewhere.  My company used to lease the 8th floor of a
> 18 story building.  When leaving for lunch one day,
> several of us encountered police and fire personnel. 
> Since there had not been any type of alarm, we asked what
> was going on.  We were informed that that a bomb had been
> discovered in the basement of the building.  Building
> management decided that an evacuation would be disruptive
> so nothing was said.  

I think there are two issues here. One is to avoid grief by 
explicitly naming the company that displayed the unfortunate 
attitude. The other is to convey the illustrative 
anecdote/case-study in your document with sufficient weight 
and convincing detail that it is believed... and not 
dismissed as a fairy-tail, designed to bolster the 
document.

So, why not refer to "Corporation 'XYZ' at their widget 
plant in southwest Scarborough"? And give the date. And 
maybe identify the relevant police precinct.

The 'XYZ Corp' is a standard non-identifier -- be sure to 
check the Yellow Pages for any company actually called 
"XYZ" in your town -- used to avoid lawsuits and other 
reprisals.
I don't think you can catch flack for giving indirect 
evidence that people CAN follow if they wish to 
investigate/validate for themselves. Public record is 
public record.  Hey, if there was a newspaper story on the 
event, you could name the paper and give the date, section 
and page number...  Nothing actionable there, either.

-- 
** DIR-ty DEEDS, and they're DONE dirt cheap. (Sing it, 
now...)
    

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Want to support TECHWR-L? Get shirts, bags, hats, clocks,
and more from the TECHWR-L Store. All proceeds support TECHWR-L.
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=techwhirl

Save up to 50% with RoboHelp Deluxe. Get 2 great products for 1 low price!
You'll get RoboHelp Office PLUS RoboDemo, the software demonstration tool
that everyone's been talking about. Check it out and save!
http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.