5 ms·

Why would VPs be interested in using different building entrances?

by cosmotron 4y ago

pclmulqdq 4y ago
The lobbies get very crowded around 9 and 5, and so do the elevators near them.
- datavirtue 4y ago
  Can't have the executives possibly smelling the rabble.
  - galaxyLogic 4y ago
    All executives exit effectively immediately!
stoltzmann 4y ago
At some offices, the exit only doors are in significantly more convenient locations.
ikiris 4y ago
The buildings were designed for much more open access prior to security policy changes that made most of the useful paths exit only.
- jrockway 4y ago
  Oh man, is that something that changed in the last few years? One thing I always liked about the Mountain View campus is that every door, no matter how minor, had a badge reader on it, so you could always take the most direct path between two possible points. At the same time, there were a lot of stories on the internal social network about people walking in behind them, so I kind of get why the policy might have been changed. I would have been one of the people mad about it! (I posted one of these following-me-in stories once; I unlocked the door and someone pushed me out of the way to go into the office ahead of me, and I didn't see their badge. I tracked down security, they reviewed the tapes, and it turned out to be a legitimate coworker. I shared the story with the angle "this is what you should do if someone follows you in", but I got panned for not doing enough to protect my coworkers. I probably didn't post this, but my takeaway was "if your security depends on me being able to beat someone up that is larger than me, you're already dead". One of the few times the internal social media hive mind turned against me, and it was really really weird.)
  - LexGray 4y ago
    Sounds like they need to make reporting dead simple. Put an alarm button on every badge reader. Hit the button. Pre-recorded “intruder who did not badge present. Everyone present please wait for security.” Then locks second internal door. Or even better just automate counting bodies vs badging on every entrance/exit. Lots of nfc/face recognition type technology to tell who is who.
  - bsimpson 4y ago
    I think it was a kneejerk to the YouTube shooter. There are also now rules about how many badge readers need to be between public and private areas. This turns into a mess in historic buildings that have technically-public stairwells littered throughout. (The Munich campus is particularly bad for this.)
    - jrockway 4y ago
      Ah, I forgot about that incident. In the NYC office, when I was there, we definitely had to badge in from a lot of stairwells. Also, the bathrooms that weren't completely contained in Google spaces had number pad locks on them. (I was very annoyed when I worked on a floor that didn't have any dedicated Google-only bathrooms; I asked to have the locks removed just out of principle and was told that "people will wander in from the street and set up camp in there." You had to badge into the building though, so I wondered how true that actually was. I wish for once in my life someone would just tell me the truth instead of making something up to get me to go away. "We don't feel like paying someone to disconnect them, and other tenants in the building will complain if we do." That's totally fair!)
      - bsimpson 4y ago
        There are floors in One Market that are the same and equally nonsensical. The kicker is that Google stocks them with tampons and toothbrushes and all that, even though they're communal, which makes the locking even more silly.
  - stackbutterflow 4y ago
birdyrooster 4y ago
I remember when Sundar became CEO the first thing he did was hole himself up in 2000 Amphitheatre Pkwy and block access to all Google staff not in that building. The next thing he did was get bullied by the board and their CFO, but I digress.
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  In all seriousness, it did seem like Ruth Porat (the CFO) was the real brains of the operation. Sundar is the fall guy.

Why would VPs be interested in using different building entrances?

pclmulqdq 4y ago

The lobbies get very crowded around 9 and 5, and so do the elevators near them.

datavirtue 4y ago
Can't have the executives possibly smelling the rabble.
- galaxyLogic 4y ago
  All executives exit effectively immediately!

stoltzmann 4y ago

At some offices, the exit only doors are in significantly more convenient locations.

ikiris 4y ago

The buildings were designed for much more open access prior to security policy changes that made most of the useful paths exit only.

jrockway 4y ago
Oh man, is that something that changed in the last few years? One thing I always liked about the Mountain View campus is that every door, no matter how minor, had a badge reader on it, so you could always take the most direct path between two possible points. At the same time, there were a lot of stories on the internal social network about people walking in behind them, so I kind of get why the policy might have been changed. I would have been one of the people mad about it! (I posted one of these following-me-in stories once; I unlocked the door and someone pushed me out of the way to go into the office ahead of me, and I didn't see their badge. I tracked down security, they reviewed the tapes, and it turned out to be a legitimate coworker. I shared the story with the angle "this is what you should do if someone follows you in", but I got panned for not doing enough to protect my coworkers. I probably didn't post this, but my takeaway was "if your security depends on me being able to beat someone up that is larger than me, you're already dead". One of the few times the internal social media hive mind turned against me, and it was really really weird.)
- LexGray 4y ago
  Sounds like they need to make reporting dead simple. Put an alarm button on every badge reader. Hit the button. Pre-recorded “intruder who did not badge present. Everyone present please wait for security.” Then locks second internal door. Or even better just automate counting bodies vs badging on every entrance/exit. Lots of nfc/face recognition type technology to tell who is who.
- bsimpson 4y ago
  I think it was a kneejerk to the YouTube shooter. There are also now rules about how many badge readers need to be between public and private areas. This turns into a mess in historic buildings that have technically-public stairwells littered throughout. (The Munich campus is particularly bad for this.)
  - jrockway 4y ago
    Ah, I forgot about that incident. In the NYC office, when I was there, we definitely had to badge in from a lot of stairwells. Also, the bathrooms that weren't completely contained in Google spaces had number pad locks on them. (I was very annoyed when I worked on a floor that didn't have any dedicated Google-only bathrooms; I asked to have the locks removed just out of principle and was told that "people will wander in from the street and set up camp in there." You had to badge into the building though, so I wondered how true that actually was. I wish for once in my life someone would just tell me the truth instead of making something up to get me to go away. "We don't feel like paying someone to disconnect them, and other tenants in the building will complain if we do." That's totally fair!)
    - bsimpson 4y ago
      There are floors in One Market that are the same and equally nonsensical. The kicker is that Google stocks them with tampons and toothbrushes and all that, even though they're communal, which makes the locking even more silly.
- stackbutterflow 4y ago

birdyrooster 4y ago

I remember when Sundar became CEO the first thing he did was hole himself up in 2000 Amphitheatre Pkwy and block access to all Google staff not in that building. The next thing he did was get bullied by the board and their CFO, but I digress.

pclmulqdq 4y ago
In all seriousness, it did seem like Ruth Porat (the CFO) was the real brains of the operation. Sundar is the fall guy.