Locked in a Bank after hours,

I couldn't think of a subject to write about in my post this week. Then while chatting to my dear friend @lizelle the other day, she reminded me of the time I was locked inside the Bank.

Omg!...that was a day and a half, I laugh about it now, but at the time, it was a very unpleasant experience.
So I thought I'd share my hair raising story with you.

I was employed as a Banking Clerk for seventeen years before retiring a few years ago.

I had this terrible phobia of being locked inside the Bank after hours.

So the story goes like this.

It was just the beginning of the Summer rains around the month of October in which we experienced some unusual rain falls in Kwa Zulu Natal South Africa.

Some how, with all the rain the Bank got flooded in the teller area and back office where I had my desk.

There was talk of closing the bank early that day, I didn't take much notice as I was concentrating on catching up on my backlog of work due to my weeks leave.

While my Manager was deciding whether to close the Bank for business or not, as the tellers couldn't operate and service the clients.
Well... I decided to continue with my work in another empty office on the other side of the Banking Hall.

Source of image: Engin Akyurt - Unsplash

I closed the office door so not to be disturbed by the customers drifting in looking for a Consultant.
Anyway, oblivious to what was happening outside my little den a couple of hours had passed by.

Suddenly I felt uneasy, I could hear the phones ringing continuously in the distance, but couldn't hear the normal chatter, of people or staff members, just the phones ringing continuously. It seemed everyone was so excited to leave early, that they'd forgotten about me in the other office.
Suddenly I felt my automatic nervous system move into overdrive...Oh yes!, panic stations.

I opened the door of the office and looked across the hall, it was deserted, my worst nightmare had suddenly materialized.

Source of Image: Alexander Krivitskiy - Unsplash

I knew if I stepped out of the office I would set the alarms off and I'd have security here in no time...being in the Banking environment and having security procedures rammed down one's throat, I was quite aware what could happen, it could turn out quite dramatically for me.

The security phone numbers were pasted on the wall in the back office. I had to get there to phone the key holder and the person with the code to stop the alarms and let me out.

I felt panic rise up inside me, my mouth was dry and my heart felt like it was going to pop out my mouth at anytime.

I had to make a dash for it I had no option, but I would have to be fast... I mean really fast.

As I stepped out of the office space, the alarms went off, I could feel them vibrating in my ears, I've never moved so fast in my entire life, I think Usain Bolt would've been in competition with me that day.

The list of numbers on the wall suddenly looked foreign to me, I just couldn't comprehend what I was looking at, there wasn't time to have a panic attack now I thought taking a deep breath, then nervously dialed the first number on the list.

Source of Image: Lisa Gageler - Unsplash

I grabbed my handbag and went and sat in the middle of the banking hall where everyone could see me.
I was sure the security would be the first to arrive, I wanted to be visible, so that I wasn't shot at by any officer who might've thought I was a miscreant or bank robber.

Fortunately, the key holder and person with the code arrived first, laughing their heads off at the sight of me.
Well!...the next morning an urgent staff meeting was called, some heads rolled including my Supervisor, because the security officer on duty didn't check all the offices like he should've and she was supposed to check with him , especially the ones with closed doors.

After that day, I made sure I was the first one out of the office, I wasn't ever going to be locked in again.
Not a pleasant experience at all.

Don't get locked inside a Bank after hours Hehe!

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Original content by @artywink