On the other hand, are quite loud and impatient. I have never walked through Dupont Circle without hearing a cacophony of honking from various cars, sometimes for seemingly no reason, sometimes purely to express frustration at another driver over and over and over again. Whenever I try to cross before the pedestrian sign lights up and hear honking, I always get freaked out and think someone is about to run me over, but that's never actually the case.
At work today, I had an exciting mission. I had to deliver important documents (by which I mean our previous published papers) to the Senate. My supervisor gave me a giant yellow envelope, but didn't seal it, anticipating that I would have to present the contents for inspection at the metal detector. I must have looked suspicious, clueless, or both, because at the security checkpoint, they asked if I was making a delivery, told me I can't come in, and directed me to the delivery station - a building that looks like a trailer - stationed on the other side of the parking lot. Once there, I found out it would take 48 hours before the documents reach the recipient. When I called my supervisor to tell her what was going on, she was upset they sent me to the "scary metal box" but said the timing would be ok. At first, I didn't understand what she meant by scary metal box, but thinking back on it, it really is. Here is the procedure they had me go through:
At work today, I had an exciting mission. I had to deliver important documents (by which I mean our previous published papers) to the Senate. My supervisor gave me a giant yellow envelope, but didn't seal it, anticipating that I would have to present the contents for inspection at the metal detector. I must have looked suspicious, clueless, or both, because at the security checkpoint, they asked if I was making a delivery, told me I can't come in, and directed me to the delivery station - a building that looks like a trailer - stationed on the other side of the parking lot. Once there, I found out it would take 48 hours before the documents reach the recipient. When I called my supervisor to tell her what was going on, she was upset they sent me to the "scary metal box" but said the timing would be ok. At first, I didn't understand what she meant by scary metal box, but thinking back on it, it really is. Here is the procedure they had me go through:
- Present my ID so I could be registered in the system
- Turn around and look at the camera
- Place the envelope on a table under the camera in a specific position so that the label could be photographed
- Put the envelope into a big ziploc bag
- Put the envelope into a second big ziploc bag with an orange sticker
- Run the envelope through the x-ray machine
- Put the envelope into the mail slot
By the way, all of the instructions were given over a creepy, seriously crackly intercom and the whole process took 10 minutes. The most puzzling part is why this needed to be done in my particular case. If there was any metal or explosive material in an envelope, it could be detected with the metal detector and x-ray at the building security checkpoint. If there was a biological weapon, it probably wouldn't be hand-delivered it in an open envelope. Basically, I'm just cranky I didn't get to go inside the senate building.
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