Strange Things in the City

This morning, I was driving in to work listening to WTOP to get those ever vital traffic reports, just like every morning. I heard this strange bell-like sound, very faint and rather annoying. Then one of the news anchors says "if you're hearing bells right now, don't be alarmed it's coming from your radio. There's a fire alarm going off in the building." WHAT?!

For a good twenty-five to thirty minutes, the anchors told the thousands of eager WTOP news listeners that the fire department had been called and that we shouldn't worry because they were ok. They told us there was a funny, smoke-like smell, but they were safe where they were. Inside the building, with the alarm blaring just outside the closed newsroom. "Don't worry," they said, "we're fine."

Of course, many many people listening to that alarm ringing away did not think they were fine, and called whatever number they had to make sure. Lisa, traffic guru who works in another building, even started off her report saying that lots of people are calling in and wanted to be doubly sure they were ok and would get out before it was too late. Eventually, the alarm stopped and one of the station managers came on and said fire officials had found the problem (and it was an actual fire) and were dealing with it.

Maybe it's only in the news room, but any other sane person should have heard the alarm and gotten the heck out! It sounds like they need a disaster recovery site or something. We, meaning me and a million of my closest friends (as in WTOP listeners) may not know them personally, but Mike and Bruce are still like friends. They join us every morning for what tends to be a rather stressful period of time while we're all going to work, and we rely on the information they give us and the company that they provide. It sounds kind of silly when I say it that way, but that's really how it is. Despite those two anchors constantly telling us listeners not to worry, we did worry. I may not have been one of those people who called in anyway, but I worried! With almost every update, I was shouting to the emptiness of my car, "but, guys, if there really is a fire, you need to get OUT!" They're a part of my morning, a very important part of my morning. I think people will just worry anyway until we know everything is ok.

In other news, this morning WTOP's TV affiliate was reporting that an illegal immigrant managed to pass background checks and land a job at the FBI and later the CIA. This pisses me off so much, and it's not even about the classified information that she stole. How is it that someone who isn't even supposed to be here can get a top secret job with the government where I, a naturally born citizen and damn good worker, cannot?

I live in a seriously messed up country.