It was suggested to me that i should crosspost this here. This is that i posted in tales from tech support...I will do my best to anonymize this story as best I can.This tale goes back to my time working for a local government. I was a member of that organization's helpdesk. As a helpdesk employee, there was generally no overtime or after hours work. When your eight hours for the day were up, you were done. There was one exception. The helpdesk provided IT support for city council meetings. These meetings started at either 4pm or 5pm and happened three times per month. A typical meeting might last 2-3 hours, but some meetings went on for 8+ hours. They were always on the same weeknight.This was not that weeknight. My girlfriend had called me and expressed an interest in going to see a movie with a friend of ours. I got off work at 5pm, but our friend worked until 6pm. My girlfriend and I had planned to grab a light supper before the movie.My boss came in at 4pm and informed me that there was a budget meeting starting at 5pm and since it was my turn in the rotation, I would have to cover it. I called my g/f to let her know that I had to work late and I had no idea how late it would be. She decided to go hang out at her favorite coffee shop a few miles away from the theater until I could let her know what was going on.The meeting was relatively uneventful. The video streaming software that recorded the meeting crashed a couple of times, which was not unusual. Otherwise, the meeting went off without a hitch and actually ended around 6:30. I let my g/f and friend know that I was now free and made my way to the theater. City hall was much closer to the theater than either of them and they both needed a little time to get ready, so I was sitting in the parking lot of the theater on a conference call with them as we tried to work out what movie we were going to see.We finally decided on a movie and ended the call after maybe 10-15 minutes. I was tasked with buying tickets for us all so that we wouldn't have any delays getting in to see the movie. I was maybe 20-30 feet from the ticket counter when the doors burst open and people running out. It was surreal to see these people moving QUICKLY, but with very little sound. The only thing I heard people say was "Get in the car!". I stood there for maybe a second or two trying to process what was going on when the person whose car was closest to me got close enough for me to hear him telling the 911 operator that there was an active shooter.I turned and ran back to my car to tell my g/f and friend NOT to come to the theater. Each of those calls probably took 10 seconds or so. By the time I was able to start my car, the first police car had rolled into the parking lot.My friend later asked why I hadn't gone back in to help. Besides being an IT tech, I'm also a firearms instructor and concealed carry instructor in my state. I asked him how he would differentiate between an active shooter and a good samaritan with a concealed handgun permit. I asked him how the police entering the theater would know whether *I* was the active shooter or a good samaritan with a concealed handgun permit.My wife still believes that fate presented me with some unexpected overtime to prevent us from being in that theater... via /r/CCW https://ift.tt/2LKHbfY
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