The new building

Some of my academic colleagues have moved into a new building. It is all new and shiny. Well it will be once the cleaners have thoroughly vacuumed and mopped it. The building is accessed by means of swipe cards, and gets locked with a key lock at 6pm.

WTF?

Now I can see the merits of having a system where you need to use your key card to get out as well as in, it makes it harder for the local chancers to nick all your equipment. And apparently all the doors (should) open if there is a fire alarm. But.... locking lecturers in the building when they are working late? WTF?

The caretaker (let's call him Fred) was left to stand by the door as Mike the administrator left the building just after 6, and as he went, Mike assured Fred that that was the last of the staff left in the building. Oh yes all the administrative staff had left... but not several academics. Fortunately for some of them, Fred wasn't convinced, and he stuck to his post, and sure enough, several more academics needed to leave the building subsequently, including me as I'd just popped over there for a look at the new lecture theatre. Poor Fred had to then put up with me ranting at him that 6 o' clock was very early for many hard-working academics to be leaving the building and Mike had had no business saying that (especially as there were obviously lights still on in various offices).

Even then, there were a few staff who remained in the building long after Fred had gone. They then had couldn't get out, because the building was locked and they couldn't phone the security staff because, as it was a new building, the paper phone lists hadn't been distributed yet, and the online phone lists are useless. I am told they had to resort to rather extreme measures to get out, involving a door that isn't really meant for human use...

We are told they are going to fix the swipe cards so that people can get out of the building after hours.