So a few years ago I worked for a reproductive health non-profit as the office manager.
One day, early on in my employment there, the fire marshal stopped by to do an inspection. No big deal, I let him in and let him do his thing. He noted a few things that needed fixing (one coworker was linking power strips together—I had never noticed or I’d have already fixed that, because holy fire hazard Batman). Then he suggested we install a lock on the conference room, as that would be our best place to shelter in case of an active shooter situation.
Being that the crazies meant we only ever used our PO Box address publicly, and the horrible reality that reproductive advocates often are threatened with harm (and, sadly, sometimes killed), I thought I should take his advice. No big deal, I shot off an email requesting that the building maintenance stop by and install a lock. Took me all of a minute and they promptly sent someone to install the lock.
I didn’t think anything about it, but when my performance review came up, I was absolutely shocked that the executive director reprimanded me for this, under the guise that I was wasting time installing locks. I was very taken aback. This woman worked with Doctor Tiller back in the day! (He was murdered for performing abortions.)
I explained that it was at the direction of the fire marshal, and typing the request took me all of a minute. She seemed surprised that I hadn’t installed the lock myself… But then again, what would she know. She had spent all summer “working remotely” from Europe with her family.