Jesus Fucking Christ

[yendi]

I just got an email from Elayna's school, with the subject line:

[Elayna's school name here]: Emergency

The message itself was sent through the same standard mailer the school uses for all mailings, but instead of a text message, there was a WAV file with the same subject line and no text transcription. Naturally (especially in light of the fact that the school had been evacuated two weeks ago over a heating system issue), I scrambled to listen to the .wav, only to find that "this is a test of the school's emergency announcement system."

Christ on a fucking bike.

If you are going to send a test message using this system, please use subject lines that convey that it's a test. Especially if you're using a process (like .wav files) that requires multiple steps.

Comments

[zeyr.livejournal.com]

Not to mention that it begs the question as to what happens when it is received on a client that doesn't support audio...

[lonesomenumber1]

Oh, man. I'd be livid.

[dindin.livejournal.com]

They're not too fucking bright.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Or a user that doesn't.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

Ach y fi.

Wifey and I both jump when they play the DIIIT! DIIIT! DIIIT! Emergency Broadcast tones on the TV, usually meaning SOMETHING VERY BAD is going on: the prime candidate is a ternader, a massive blizzard coming out of nowhere, or a wild swing in the path of a hurricane nearby.

A few nights ago -- literally a few minutes after midnight, and in the middle of some particularly bad weather -- it came on, and I rushed into the bedroom to see what was going down. "THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA HAS ISSUED A 'REQUIRED MONTHLY TEST' ALERT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES..."

Yarr. Bastards.

In your case, as I hinted at above, it may be time to suggest to them that they face a potential ADA suit if they don't get wise.

[letoile82.livejournal.com]

My son's school has an "Instant Alert" phone system. The problem is, they use it for OMG EMERGENCY things (like an attempted child abduction in town) as well as the No Big Deal things (reminder, tomorrow night is a PTA meeting!). So I always assume at first that it's going to be one of emergency things, but it's typically used as an event reminder now. And, I have to sit through an introduction message before even getting to what may or may not be an important message.

[amokk]

WTF. Why .wav files?

Hmph!

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

Bastiches.

[jerel.livejournal.com]

My husband works for a school, and his county is set up with a calling system. We got a reminder about open house (which also went to all the parents), and a message that school was closed because of a tropical storm (which we already knew, but what if we hadn't?)

However...

One night, the county system called to tell us there was a break-in at a middle school. He doesn't work at that school, and it's not even one of our feeders--it's clear across the county. That didn't matter. It called every teacher in the county. AT 2 A.M.!!!!

[texmorgan.livejournal.com]

Reply with a video clip of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Fiasco. It's the only way to do true justice to a system like this.

[yendi]

It's especially annoying as the email alert system is there to supplement the automatic phone tree. So you think it would be going out of the way to avoid audio.

[blazingmoogle.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's almost as past as .mid.

Mp3 or nothing, bitches.

[amokk]

It's not even that. Why use email to send out a sound file? Wouldn't it be easier, lower bandwidth, and more economical to send, oh I don't know, a normal email?

Just a thought.